Polyclar in Cyser

Recipe: 5 gallons apple juice
6 pounds Clover Honey
(2) 16 oz apple juice concentrate to make 64 oz
1 lb strawberries
2 pounds corn sugar
1.5 tsp cinnamon
.5 tsp nutmeg
6 cloves
Lalvin K-1116 Yeast
Ends up making 6 gallons @ ~ gravity of 1.100

I will add a total of 1 tsp Fermaid K and DAP each. I'm just adding them over the course of 3 days.

Now my question is how polyclar will affect the tannins in my cyser. I just know it can help improve fermentation and clarity. I just don't want it removing those tannins that are important to taste, especially those that add color and aroma/taste from the strawberries. I know polyclar says it will improve fruitiness/aroma but I'm iffy on that. I will add 1 oz french medium toast chips in a day or two as well to improve tannins.

This mead should clear up way better than the last one I made because I'm using way less honey and I boiled the honey for 10 mins and skimmed off a lot of that foam that made clarification so hard and messed up my gravity reading.

That is why I am iffy on using the Polyclar, I don't know if I'll really need it. I overused fining agents and racked too many times and had to top off a lot. This made the final product clear, but lose color and some taste. I want to keep it simple this time.

I will probably carbonate this one.

anyone had an improvement in any category from using polyclar?

this will be added in your carboy all at once? how long do you let it sit? that sounds very good.

i do not know what your asking tho sorry im very ne wto this. id like to try this out tho.

The order for the recipe is:

Pour 1 gallon apple juice in a 2-5 gallon pot. Get the 2 lbs of corn sugar and mix into the apple juice. Begin to heat the pot using medium heat. Once it reaches about 100 degrees F turn off the heat and begin to mix the honey in. The temp should drop down as you mix it in. Once mixed in well put back over heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. As it boils a bunch of white foamy stuff should appear. Remove all this stuff from the top of the must. During this add the nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Right as 10 minutes hit turn off the heat and add the 1 lb of strawberries. Put the pot in an ice bath. At this point add the 2 16oz containers of concentrate as you should have frozen them, helping to lower the temp of the must.

Get a 6.5 gallon carboy that you have cleaned and sanitized. Pour 1 gallon of apple juice in it. Shake it up good. While the must is cooling begin to rehydrate the yeast. After 15 minutes add the yeast to the 1 gal of apple juice in the 6.5 gal carboy. Then shake it up all good. Once the must has cooled to below 80 F (I wait till it hits 75 F) remove the strawberries and put them in a bowl. Pour the must into the 6.5 gallon carboy. Take the remaining 3 gallons of apple juice and pour them into the carboy. Between each gallon take the carboy and shake it as much as you can. Take the strawberries and put them back into the carboy.

If you only want to make 5 gallons of this just pour 2 gallons of apple juice into your carboy instead of 3. The O.G. will just be a bit higher.

Stir the must up really good. Do this 3 times a day for the first 3 days. This helps suspend the yeast and gets oxygen to them.

Once you see the first signs of fermentation, wait an hour and add 1 gram of DAP and 1 gram Fermaid K. If you have some Potassium Metabisulfate add one gram of it to the carboy. Otherwise add 2 crushed campden tablets. This should give you about 25 ppm of SO2.

After a day of solid fermentation take 1 oz of medium toast french oak chips and sanitize them. After 20 mins in the sanitizing solution remove and let dry. When dry put them into the carboy. Most of the tannins from the chips are removed in the first 3-5 days.

On the second day add another gram of DAP and Fermaid K. On the third day add another gram of DAP and Fermaid K.

Ferment in the primary for 1 month. I don't know how clear it will be but if clear after 1 month and you really want some bottle it with another 5oz of corn sugar to carbonate. I will probably do secondary fermentation for 2 months.

If you can find apple juice with vitamin C in it. Otherwise known as ascorbic acid, this helps to stabilize the wine like the SO2 does.