New Batch of Cyser

I have been a long time lurker and finally decided to make a post.. Sadly its a week late. But either way, I thought I would share my latest batch. I've made this recipe on and off now for a few years, but this time with a twist....

17 lbs of Local Honey (Jacksonville Florida)
5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (Sam's Club no preservatives/additives)
6 Cinnamon sticks broken into smaller pieces (about the size of a marble)
10-15 cloves
White Labs English Cider Yeast (WLP775)

I poured the honey and a half gallon of Apple Juice into my cook pot to warm up to about 190 degrees... then poured that into my sterilized primary... I then added the rest of the apple juice and stirred to evenly distribute the honey through the must.

In another small pot I took about two cups of apple juice and brought it to a boil, I added the crushed cinnamon and cloves to the mix. Mainly to sterilize the additives so I wouldnt introduce some nasties into the must. I then added these to the primary.

The primary is a 6 1/2 gallon bucket, and my mix filled it to the 6 gallon mark.

Once the temperature of the must was acceptable, I pitched the English Cider Yeast and put it in my closet to give it some privacy for the next week.

Of course over the next couple of days I would open the closest door to get a whiff the process..

I wasnt able to measure the SG of the must before It started fermenting, since I had dropped my hygrometer on the garage floor.. (they dont bounce too well). But I did use the online calculator on www.gotmead.com. So the estimate was as follows:

17lbs Honey (79.6% sugar),
5 Gallons Apple Juice (12.4% sugar)
6 Gallon Target

Came out to an estimated initial SG of 1.158 or (19.78 ABV) WOW

This week, after doing some reading I decided to go ahead and stir it up as some recommended, so I took a sample aside and measured the SG of it today. According to the new handy dandy hygrometer the SG is 1.07. Which if correct is 11.73%. So I may be questioning the initial estimate a little considering how sweet the must still is (I had to sample for quality control purposes you know). But I do have to say it has a very unique flavor at this point that I am looking forward to drinking when it's done. It definately reminds me of the hot apple ciders I used to have while skiing in the rockies.

I am figuring the primary ferment will run for four weeks, then I will rack it off into the secondary for another couple of weeks to clarify, then bottle...

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Money says someone is Gunn tell you that heating honey is wrong, but I'm right there with you, I make sure everything I put in my booze has hit 160 for at least 20 minutes. Who know what kind of yeasties and beasties are in ingredients, better safe than infected. Sounds like a good recipe too, what's the abv tolerance of that yeast and how vigorous of a ferment is it?

gizmohd said:

Once the temperature of the must was acceptable, I pitched the English Cider Yeast and put it in my closet to give it some privacy for the next week.

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Lol... Interesting way to phrase it.
The yeast - "Hey buddy... Could we get some privacy in here please? It's kind of hard to get our groove on with you looking in the carboy every 10 minutes".

Steady but not overly vigorous. I am going to pick up some nutrient today and pitch that tonight to give it a hand.

bodhi86 said:

Money says someone is Gunn tell you that heating honey is wrong..........what's the abv tolerance of that yeast

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Wouldn't say wrong, just damaging to aroma and flavors........

WLP-775 is reported to have an ABV tolerance of 14%

Two weeks in and my sg has reached 1.055 in the primary. Original gravity was estimated at 1.158 using the online calculator. So estimated ABV is 16.87% at this point. It is still fermenting and slowly bubbling in the airlock. I will be moving to the secondary midweek (had to order a new Carboy) and there it will sit for the next month.

Taste is good at this point. Still sweet, but nowhere near as sickly sweet as last week. But i do taste this awesome flavor that reminds me if a mulled cider with loads of honey added. I'm curious at this point where the finally gravity will end up considering the tolerance of the is supposed to be 14% I'm already beyond that and the yeast is working strong.

I did add more nutrient this week to give it a little more assistance to consume some more of the honey.

Looks like an Annoying Orange torture scene in the background

Hahaha ya not the best background. I admit .

If this appears to finish with a high SG I would be cautious about bottling too soon. Honey is notoriously slow to ferment. I would leave in secondary for a significant time to be positive fermentation is finished and not just slowed wayyyyyy down. I hate to see tasty beverage wasted as bottle bombs on the cellar floor. (ask me how I know.)

TheBrewingMedic said:

Wouldn't say wrong, just damaging to aroma and flavors........

WLP-775 is reported to have an ABV tolerance of 14%

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Just want to say, 775 is AWESOME! I have used it in my cider the past 2 years, and my cyser this past fall, and will never again use a different yeast for fermenting apples...gives a great, sort of spicy flavor that just goes well with apple flavor, and this seems to come through whether or not you add other spices.

My cyser finished 1.115 to 1.000 for an ABV of 15.3%

gizmohd said:

Two weeks in and my sg has reached 1.055 in the primary. Original gravity was estimated at 1.158 using the online calculator. So estimated ABV is 16.87% at this point. It is still fermenting and slowly bubbling in the airlock. I will be moving to the secondary midweek (had to order a new Carboy) and there it will sit for the next month.

Taste is good at this point. Still sweet, but nowhere near as sickly sweet as last week. But i do taste this awesome flavor that reminds me if a mulled cider with loads of honey added. I'm curious at this point where the finally gravity will end up considering the tolerance of the is supposed to be 14% I'm already beyond that and the yeast is working strong.

I did add more nutrient this week to give it a little more assistance to consume some more of the honey.

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That's a really high OG and FG...too bad you didn't get a real OG measurement. To me, 1.055 would be undrinkably sweet...perhaps if you feel the same way, you could add something to try and dry it out (? EC-1118) a bit (although I think you'll be hard pressed to get almost anything to start back up at almost 17% ABV already. You could also consider actually thinning it out with water or a very dry mead.

roadymi said:

If this appears to finish with a high SG I would be cautious about bottling too soon. Honey is notoriously slow to ferment. I would leave in secondary for a significant time to be positive fermentation is finished and not just slowed wayyyyyy down. I hate to see tasty beverage wasted as bottle bombs on the cellar floor. (ask me how I know.)

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+1...I'd also not transfer it yet...I'd just let it go in primary until you have cleared up a bit. Give the yeast a chance to do their best to get where they are capable of going. If you move to secondary too soon, you may ruin any chance of drying this beast out any further. When you do transfer it though, I would indeed leave it for a good amount of time...perhaps while you're making a small batch of straight dry mead to cut it with...

If you move to secondary too soon, you may ruin any chance of drying this beast out any further.

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There is also the possibility that the inherant degassing that occurs with racking, getting some of the disolved CO2 out and the small amount of oxygen that will sneak in as well as stirring things up some will get a little more fermentation out of it, I've often had a brief restart in secondary.

TheBrewingMedic said:

There is also the possibility that the inherant degassing that occurs with racking, getting some of the disolved CO2 out and the small amount of oxygen that will sneak in as well as stirring things up some will get a little more fermentation out of it, I've often had a brief restart in secondary.

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I suppose...FWIW, I probably don't get to observe much behavior of mead in secondary...I'm just a big fan of keeping things in primary until you're really at final gravity, and letting things mostly clear before even thinking about transferring. If it needs degassed, just degas it in primary. I've also bottled a few meads right from primary...

Out of curiosity, are you seeing an actual gravity drop after transferring to secondary when you've already had a stable gravity in the primary? If so, what kind of a drop have you seen? Do you think it's possible you would see the same effect if you had just roused the yeast and degassed in the primary?

biochemedic said:

Out of curiosity, are you seeing an actual gravity drop after transferring to secondary when you've already had a stable gravity in the primary? If so, what kind of a drop have you seen? Do you think it's possible you would see the same effect if you had just roused the yeast and degassed in the primary?

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I have seen a point or two drop on occasion. And sure It could be possible to get the same effect by mixing it up a little in primary.

I have found though that by using this racking method, moving it to secondary when it is or at least appears stable and close to the FG that I am looking for, even if there is another slight drop, then again to tertiary after a little time when it clears to get it off of whatever remains to drop out, then finally to bulk aging I am able to obtain the final gravity whether I am looking for a dry or semi sweet or whatever without using any stabilizing or fining agents...I like being a purist I suppose.

I'm sure someday I will run into a challenging batch that I may need to stabilize or use something to clarify or have a stuck ferment that needs more advanced chemistry maintenance. Til then I don't mind going through the steps of sanitizing and racking carefully and such to get to where I want it to be.

I found it still a bit sweet for my tastes this weekend. I have noticed a drop off in the fermentation so I may have hit the precipice for the yeast. I am going to check it again tonite and I may thin it out some when I transfer to secondary. Which may also help kick the yeast back into action in a lower abv environment. The taste is almost where I want it and I am going to run some tests with a small batch and even smaller subsets of those batches with different levels of additional citric and or malic acid additions to see how that alters the flavor profile.

I bottled it up and it tastes amazing. I can imagine how the next few months/years will mellow out the apple/clove/cinnamon mix.

I can smell some wild flowers coming out from the honey I used (raw wild flower hone from here in Jacksonville Florida ).

I made this a still mead and bottled 24 750ml bottles. A friend made a joke about calling it Cyser Soze... Well it stuck and I did a play on the movie poster for the label.

The final abv of this cyser is 16.87% according to calculations with a final gravity of 1.03. In order to prevent any additional fermentation i added potassium sorbate to the batch two weeks before bottling. And to protect the corks I dipped the ends in bottling wax to allow for safe storage for an extended period of time.

The wax seal Is my custom seal that I use. Bigfoot is one of my nicknames that I've had for years.

I'm looking forward to giving these out for the holidays.

Looks good! And of course we all know you and your wife's name now, and where you live

And how would you know my wife's name (if I even have one) from that? Lol

The bottle looks amazing, great work on the label

gizmohd said:

And how would you know my wife's name (if I even have one) from that? Lol

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Because your mail is right there next to the bottle

Hahahahaha how funny oh well it is what it is...