my first Cyser

So I have been doing a bunch of reading up on the site(love it by the way!) and threw together a Cyser and would love to get some feedback on the reciepe and my process so far. Thanks in advance for any thoughts....positive or negative, still learning here.

3 Gallon Batch

4 1/2 lbs. Wildflower honey
1 1/2 gal. apple cider
1 c. grated ginger
2 oz. light American Oak chips
Fermax Yeast Nutrients
Spring water
Lalvin 71B-1122

Process:

Heated up 1 Gal. Spring water, 1 1/2 gal. cider, and 1 tsp. Nutrients(didn't take a temp reading but well below boiling) to make it easier to dissolve the honey.

Grated the ginger on the large hole of a box grater. Put the ginger and the oak chips in a hops bag and added to the warm pot. Let it steep for 10-15 minutes.

Poured the must into my bucket, sat the bucket in an ice bath to get it cooling.

Had re-hydrated the yeast in warm water. Added a pinch of nutrients and then a splash or two of the must.

Pitched the yeast after the must cooled.

Had active fermentation this morning.

This afternoon dissolved 1 tsp. yeast nutrients in a small amount of the must and add it to the bucket.

OG was 1.080
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Thoughts?

Not sure how long I should leave the ginger and oak in the primary.

How long should I wait to rack to my carboy? I was thinking about a week, or until fermentation really, really slowed down, which ever first.

Thanks again! Can't wait for some feedback!

Tim

I wouldn't oak more than 2 weeks.

I wouldn't rack it until it reaches terminal gravity, lest you end up with a stalled/stuck fermentation.

Thanks for the thoughts. I think I will pull the hops bag with the Ginger and Oak in a week.

An after thought I just had.....are Cysers usually still or carbonated? I am assuming still.

Also, I guess I technically don't have enough honey to make it an actually Cyser.

So, I racked this today. SG was right around 1.000. However, I was in a hurry and had a brain fart and just poured it through my strainer and funnel. I was able to leave most of the yeast cake, but I really worried about all the oxygen I introduced during the pouring. I'm going to top off with a little boiled water mixed with some more honey.
Thoughts, well other than don't do that again.

So I racked this again today.

Into 1 gal. bottles.

SG was down to .996 putting me at 11.5% ABV.

Gave it a taste and it was hot, but I think a lot of that was from the ginger. I am hoping that the ginger will mellow just a bit, I was hoping for a ginger flavor, but would also like to be able to taste the apple/honey.

Any comments are more than welcome.

BGH