Method for making a cyser?

I'm going to start my first cyser in the next couple of days, using a variant of the Fall's Bounty cyser in Ken Schramm's mead book. However, the instructions on the recipes in that book are a bit lacking (for the newbie) once you get past the very first mead.

1) For a cyser, does one heat up half of the cider as if it were water, add the honey to sanitize it, and then add the warm mixture to the remaining cold cider? Or do you just toss it all in the fermenter at room temperature?

2) I see lots of agreement that the must should cool to below 80 deg F before adding the rehydrated yeast (which is rehydrated in warm water, ~100 deg F). Is there a minimum temp the must should be at or above as well? Keeping my question #1 in mind, if I were to use room temp cider, water, and honey for the recipe, we're talking about a 60-65 deg F mixture. Is this too cold too soon for the yeast after its rehydration?

3) Adding solids to the must. This will be my first time doing this! In the primary for this recipe there'll be brown sugar, dates, and raisins. Are these just free-floating, or do I add in a muslin bag? I assume they're then filtered out when transferring to the carboy for secondary?

I've got my fingers crossed here. I tried the "newbie mead" recipe in the aforementioned book and it came out great, so I'd like a repeat performance here!

Thanks,

i'm starting my first cyser tomorrow! I have the same questions you do!

okay "wise ones", can you help out us noobs please?

cheers,

robin850

i just started this cyser on sept 25th. I just tossed everything into my bucket and mixed it for about 5 minutes. And the book didn't call for a muslin bag so i didn't use one.
Also i did not heat this, i have read in the cider forums that heating cider sets the pectins ( i think that's what they are...) which would make it not clear. To me that is no big issue, but then you also get into the whole thing about heating the honey.

Anyway, so far so good.

StarmanTTLB said:

I'm going to start my first cyser in the next couple of days, using a variant of the Fall's Bounty cyser in Ken Schramm's mead book. However, the instructions on the recipes in that book are a bit lacking (for the newbie) once you get past the very first mead.

1) For a cyser, does one heat up half of the cider as if it were water, add the honey to sanitize it, and then add the warm mixture to the remaining cold cider? Or do you just toss it all in the fermenter at room temperature?

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What's in honey that needs sanitising ? It's the most naturally anti-septic substance on the planet. Heating apples or apple juice usually gives it a "cooked" flavour, so at most, the only heat I'd suggest would be to gently warm the honey in a sink of hand hot water until it's runny enough to pour - if it's runny enough already, then just use some of the juice to rinse out the honey jar/can(s), then just (or shake) mix the hell out of it to aerate.

2) I see lots of agreement that the must should cool to below 80 deg F before adding the rehydrated yeast (which is rehydrated in warm water, ~100 deg F). Is there a minimum temp the must should be at or above as well? Keeping my question #1 in mind, if I were to use room temp cider, water, and honey for the recipe, we're talking about a 60-65 deg F mixture. Is this too cold too soon for the yeast after its rehydration?

Click to expand...

Well it depends on what mood I'm in, as to whether I actually bother to rehydrate or not, sometimes I will, but as per the Lalvin instructions for GoFerm, yet other times I just sprinkle it on the top. The only difference is that if it's not rehydrated, you might have a slightly longer "lag phase" where the yeast is multiplying, rather than fermenting. Either way, I just leave the must at room temperature. Don't forget, that with some yeasts, it's important to maintain the must at the lower end of the yeast fermentation temperature (D47 being a good example - it needs to ferment below 70F otherwise it can produce a lot of fusels), so check the temp range of the yeast you're gonna use

3) Adding solids to the must. This will be my first time doing this! In the primary for this recipe there'll be brown sugar, dates, and raisins. Are these just free-floating, or do I add in a muslin bag? I assume they're then filtered out when transferring to the carboy for secondary?

I've got my fingers crossed here. I tried the "newbie mead" recipe in the aforementioned book and it came out great, so I'd like a repeat performance here!

Thanks,

Click to expand...

Well I don't know the recipe off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to get the book out. Does Kens recipe actually use brown sugar ? If no, then don't add it. Apart from some small amount of molasses type flavouring, it's only gonna add ethanol/alcohol, with no other benefits. All your fermentable sugars would normally come from fruit and/or honey - but if he suggests it, then use it.

The only thing I'd do with the actual fruit, is to make sure there's not stones/pits in the dates and then chop it all up some as that would allow the yeast to get at the sugars quicker. Some would say to use a muslin bag, personally, unless the fruit debris is likely to be small enough to clog my racking cane, I don't bother. I suspect it will all need stirring on a regular (daily ?) basis anyway, that would help keep any fruit debris below the top of the liquid, though there's little chance of a problem with it, as it'll be blanketed by a layer of CO2 for the main part.

Dunno if that helps any.

Plus, here's some handy reading for the newer mead maker....

fatbloke, that helps a lot! Of course, it leads to some more questions

fatbloke said:

Well I don't know the recipe off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to get the book out. Does Kens recipe actually use brown sugar ? If no, then don't add it. Apart from some small amount of molasses type flavouring, it's only gonna add ethanol/alcohol, with no other benefits. All your fermentable sugars would normally come from fruit and/or honey - but if he suggests it, then use it.

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The recipe calls for 1 lb of dark brown sugar. I thought this was strange myself, since the cider is adding so much sugar already, but I'm new enough that I'll just assume he knows what he's up to and follow established recipes

I suspect it will all need stirring on a regular (daily ?) basis anyway, that would help keep any fruit debris below the top of the liquid, though there's little chance of a problem with it, as it'll be blanketed by a layer of CO2 for the main part.

Click to expand...

Stirring?! This is a new concept. I thought that once you seal the must up in the primary, you didn't open it up again until fermentation was done! Is there any special method to this, or do I just pop the lid off, stir with a sterile spoon, and seal it back up?

Thanks again! I'll spend the rest of the morning reading that link you gave!

I made a cyser 2 years ago, and what I did was just mixed cider in the same ratio I would water to make a mead. Cider has a OG around 1.060, so you are adding considerable sugar, just keep that in mind. I did not heat anything, I just dumped it in a fermenter, mixed it up to get the honey into solution. I then added yeast nutrient, and I also sulfited the must. Let it sit for 1 day, then I added wine yeast, and let it rip. It fermented out completely in about 3 weeks, then I racked it off to a carboy to age. If you are going to add spices/other fruits, I would wait until primary is completed, add those to the secondary (you can use a bag soaked in vodka if you want, or just toss the spices in. Fruit I just cut up, freeze, and then put in the carboy and rack on top). Let it sit until you like the taste, then rack off again and bottle. I would avoid stirring your cyser once it is fermented, that will introduce more oxygen that can give you off flavors. Good luck!

StarmanTTLB said:

fatbloke, that helps a lot! Of course, it leads to some more questions

The recipe calls for 1 lb of dark brown sugar. I thought this was strange myself, since the cider is adding so much sugar already, but I'm new enough that I'll just assume he knows what he's up to and follow established recipes

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If it's in Ken's recipe then fine, go for it. It's just an ingredient that I wouldn't normally use, as honey is the best source of fermentable sugars for mead.......

Stirring?! This is a new concept. I thought that once you seal the must up in the primary, you didn't open it up again until fermentation was done! Is there any special method to this, or do I just pop the lid off, stir with a sterile spoon, and seal it back up?

Click to expand...

Stirring or other forms of aerating (some go as far as bubbling pure O2 through an air stone - but that's a bit over the top to my mind), is often carried out twice daily, as the yeast does need oxygen in the early stages. They'll stir/aerate twice daily (I do it once a day) after the yeast is pitched, they'll also take a gravity test (it's easier to start the brew in a bucket fermenter, as it contains an eruption better - if you get one - plus it's easier for sampling/measuring as well as stirring etc). That way, you know when to add nutrient if you're doing staggered additions (which is the norm pretty much) and you know where the 1/3rd break is, and when to move it to secondary etc etc. It's all in the Gotmead NewBee guide (well it is pretty much anyway).

Thanks again! I'll spend the rest of the morning reading that link you gave!

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Ok, well once you've ploughed your way through that, have a think about it and see if there's anything else that you need to ask - I'm not the only one who'll have read your post, just the quickest to answer :rockin:

I started a recipe a month ago that looks amazing and is doing quite well, which I think I got from someone posting on Homebrewtalk, called Christmas Cyser. Anyway, I'm copy-pasting it from my own notes. By the way, readers, if you are the original author, I'm sorry for not giving you credit. Just credit yourself in the replies (note: I did edit this for my own tastes. Don't get mad.):


Christmas Cyser
Ingredients
(for 5 gal)
2 lbs (16 fl. ounces) honey
5 gal pastuerized apple cider
1 lb brown sugar
10 cinnamon sticks, crushed
palmful crushed allspice berries
palmful crushed cardamom
3 tsp lemon peel
3 tsp orange peel
1 pkg Pasteur Champagne yeast

(for 1 gal)
2/5 lbs (6.5 fl. ounces) honey
1 gal pastuerized apple cider
1/5 lb brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks, crushed
small palmful crushed allspice berries
small palmful crushed cardamom
1 tsp lemon peel
1 tsp orange peel
1 pkg Pasteur Champagne yeast

Methods/steps
Heat 1 quart cider to 160 d F.
Add honey, brown sugar, and all spices.
Keep at 160 for 15 minutes, stirring to dissolve honey and brown sugar.
Put 3 quarts cider in 1 gal glass container. Hold back 2 cups reserve for later.
Add hot must to container, straining out spices (I didn’t, but I racked them out after a few days.)
When temperature drops below 80° F, pitch yeast and add yeast nutrient, such as raisins, then agitate container with top on to mix well.
Airlock and let sit for 1 month, then add last gallon (2 cups) of cider, and boil 2 cups (1/4 cup) water and steep 5 sticks (1 stick) of cinnamon (crushed) for 15 minutes.
Remove cinnamon and add water to must.
Add honey dissolved into boiled water as needed to enhance flavor and body to taste.
When the ferment is complete, bottle the cyser and let it age at least 1 month.

Thanks to all of you, 2nd batch of mead is "in the bucket"!

cheers,

robin850