Cherry-Apple Cyser experiment

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MartyB

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Location
Des Moines, IA
Started this last thursday 9/10/09

2.5 gallon Mussleman's Premium 100% Apple Juice (Not from concentrate, O.G. 1.051)
1 can Oregon Puree Sweet Cherry Puree
5 lbs local wildflower honey
3 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 pkg Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

S.G. - 1.120

Checked it this morning, down to 1.038. Still lots of cherry and apple on the nose. Light cherry and apple flavor, and some alcohol warmth.

Still kicking a bubble per second through the airlock. Will check again in another week to see where its at. Have a feeling that this is going to be great.

Planning to rack onto sour cherries in secondary and top with apple juice as needed.

I've been wanting to try some fresh pressed cider from the orchards in the area. But so far, they all stabilize with Potassium Sorbate. Which isn't that big of a deal, since the $8/gallon cost is enough to send me back to the Musselmans.
 
Hey marty I just started a blueberry cyser, I used 5 gallons of some of the best pressed fresh cider in michigan, got a deal on it the kid works there so Iget it for half price 3$ a gallon.To make the cyser Iused just over 4 gallons of cider,6 pounds of honey,10 pounds cane sugar, lavin 1118 yeast, and 13 oz. of blueberry concentrate.I warmed a gallon of cider just enough to dissolve the sugar and put it all together, wild yeast and all.When I checked the S.G. it was 1.125. You said yours was 1.120,seems like i added more sugar should'nd mine have a much higher S.G.?
 
Granted, I don't know the SG of your apple juice, but using the honey spreadsheet, your batch should have come up close to a SG between 1.157 and 1.17 depending on exactly how much juice you used.

Is your hydrometer calibrated?
Just the juice and sugar should have given you upwards of 1.14.
 
Changing the subject a bit, are you guys satisfied with the Lalvin yeast? So far, I am not pleased with the results, or have not waited long enough for it to age out. I don't think it is my recipe or process since I am happy with the results from liquid Wyeast... Just curious what others thought.

The cherry cyser sounds interesting - I'll be anxious to hear how it turn out.
 
Changing the subject a bit, are you guys satisfied with the Lalvin yeast? So far, I am not pleased with the results, or have not waited long enough for it to age out. I don't think it is my recipe or process since I am happy with the results from liquid Wyeast... Just curious what others thought.

That's interesting - most of what I've read is people having problems with liquid mead yeast, and great success with dry.

are you adding appropriate nutrients at the appropriate time?

I've had good luck with D-47 and EC-1118.
 
I haven't sampled any of my batches in over a month now.
The Cinnamon Apple Cyser with D-47 was mellowing out nicely.
The Cherry Apple with EC-1118 was slowly pulling away from being paint thinner.
Both are still bulk aging and probably won't touch them again for a while for another racking.
 
Marty: Was that a 4lb can of cherry puree? If so, can you even taste the apple? Regards, GF.

It was the 49oz can. So 1oz over 3 lbs.
It's not in the initial recipe, but I did rack it onto 1lb of frozen/thawed sour cherries for a few weeks. Don't know what that did to the flavor, but it really set the color. I'll see about getting a picture of it today. It's a gorgeous deep red and crystal clear right now. And still off-gassing in the 3-gal BetterBottle.

The last time I racked it, I was getting cherry and apple scent out of it. But the alcohol burn was too great to really get any nuances of the flavor.

Here it is this morning. I put a flashlight behind it to show the color better.
img_2144.JPG


Marty
 
well after one week I checked the S.G. of the cyser again 1.138 and it starter cooking within hours of putting it all together. It has been brewing hard for a week and my S.G. is higher than i started. I must have misread the hydrometer, took a little taste of it too,tooooo sweettttttt could be pretty good when it finishes. Getting ready to start a keg of regular all natural cyser,let you know how that goes.
 
well after one week I checked the S.G. of the cyser again 1.138 and it starter cooking within hours of putting it all together. It has been brewing hard for a week and my S.G. is higher than i started. I must have misread the hydrometer, took a little taste of it too,tooooo sweettttttt could be pretty good when it finishes. Getting ready to start a keg of regular all natural cyser,let you know how that goes.

It'll be interesting to see how low the EC-1118 will take that. Are you doing any nutrient additions?

With an estimated 20% potential, if this goes anywhere close to dry, you're going to need some pretty serious aging time. Or you could always use it to degrease engine parts!
 
I did'nt add any nutrients just the yeast. I just started my keg of cyser, 12 gallons cider,5 pounds honey,13 pounds of cane sugar,thats it. S.G. of 1.090. Last year was my first attempt at cyser and I only made 5 gallons, this year a different story, right now i've got 48 gallons of cyser and hard cider cooking. All my cyser from last year is gone now but it was great, hope for similar results this year. next year I'm going to make all my cyser in kegs, now that I can take them apart and clean them.
 
I think I'm going to have to add nutrients or I dont think the yeast will do its job very well,I was wondering if I should add more yeast when I rack it? I have a batch of cherry cyser going also its about a week older it has less than 1/2 the sugar of the blueberry and it already tastes like about 10%. I'm hoping to get it to about 13%.
 
I think I'm going to have to add nutrients or I dont think the yeast will do its job very well,I was wondering if I should add more yeast when I rack it? I have a batch of cherry cyser going also its about a week older it has less than 1/2 the sugar of the blueberry and it already tastes like about 10%. I'm hoping to get it to about 13%.

I'd take a reading on it to see for sure where it's at.
Some nutrients may help, but I'd start with stirring up the lees. That may be enough to speed it up a little. You had a lot of sugars in there. It's going to take a while to ferment out.
 
Well, I stirred the lees and it seemed to speed up the fermentation but not like I added the nutrients , that son of aaa, it almost exploded looked like a purple volcano. Didnt lose much mostly foam,It settled down now and its cooking pretty strong. Did I make a mistake by stirring it and adding nutrients, or was it the blueberry juice reacting with the nutrients? Dont really want a repeat
 
Stirring it does have a degassing effect, but it's mainly to put any viable yeast from the lees back into suspension to continue working.

The nutrients have millions of nucleation points that can cause rapid (even explosive) degassing. Thats the reaction that you got. Think Mentos in Diet Coke.

I just bottled my Apple Cinnamon Cyser. WOW. Fantastic, but dangerous!
 
Well, I did S.G. tests on all my cysers my blueberry is at about7% close as i can figure out,my cherry cyser only 1 1/2 # sugar and honey per gallon with the 1118 yeast already hit 12% but is slightly sweet, tastes pretty good. Only 1 week older than the blueberry,My regular cyser only started 2 weeks ago is already at 5% ,all the cysers tasted pretty nice but i was wondering , when i rack then will the fermentation slow way down?
 
What is your actual gravity reading? That will tell us at least how much sugar is left.

Saying 12% but slightly sweet is fine on a final product, but granularity in the readings will really help you gauge where things are at during the ferment. And will really help us help you diagnose what could be going on.

Example and coincidence, I've got a batch with EC-1118 that may have stalled out.

I can say it's stalled at 9%, doesn't mean much, it may have 2% more potential, or it may have 8%.
Starting gravity 1.131, current gravity of 1.061 after 14 days says a lot more.
Stirred up the lees (not much there), added a little nutrient and moved it to a warmer part of the basement.

Oh, and this was 3 gal AJ and 10lb honey. Going to rack onto vanilla bean in 2ndary.
 
Ok lets see the blueberry's SSG must have been closer to your caculation than my reading,figure about1.16 or close,right now 1.110 the cherry's SSG was1.090 and is now 1.012 and it is a bit hot to drink. I just racked my first keg of cyser man, was that easy, I might use kegs from now on. I went all natural on this one SSG of 1.085 and is now 1.014 and it is drinkable right now,touch sweet but pretty tasty. So far in my limited experience I like the wild yeast better than store bought. Oh yea I just got done building the frame to my new cider press. Do you think a meat grinder would work for apples,its big should take apples whole?
 
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