Chocolate mead and cyser??

[danerelj]

Hey guys,

Just completed a batch of Jaom, not too bad, definitely drinkable but I'd like something better.

I was thinking 1 gallon (4.5litre I'm from the UK you see) batches of both a chocolate mead with a vanilla pod and a cyser. I was wondering what quantities of ingredients to use for both? I will be using the TOSNA approach to both. I want both of the meads to be around 12%abv and to be semi sweet to sweet around 1.020, I will backsweeten after fermentation is done and all is stabilised.

What recipes have people had success with?

Thanks

 

[bernardsmith]

Not so much a recipe as understanding the sugar content of the components. Apple juice is typically around 1.050 and honey when dissolved to make a US gallon will have a SG of about 1.035. So if you add 1 gallon of AJ to one gallon of honey must you will have TWO gallons of cyser with a gravity of about 1.085. A gravity of 1.085 has a potential ABV of 11%. Or you might consider dissolve your honey using apple juice rather than water and then you would have ONE gallon of cyser with the same ABV but with no water to dilute the AJ and so a more flavor rich - apple-forward cyser.
What yeast to choose? I prefer 71B when I ferment fruit and certainly apples. 71B has a particular affinity for apples as it removes about 40 percent of the malic acids in apples and transforms them into lactic acids - a far smoother and less strong acid.
I tend to treat all fruit and certainly all honey as nutrient poor so I will add nutrients to prevent the production of hydrogen sulfide. The presence of hydrogen sulfide suggests that the wine maker has a poor understanding of what they are doing and certainly no understanding of the needs of the yeast they are using.
Many folk add acid blend or lemon juice before their cyser (or mead) has fermented and then wonder why their fermentation stalls. Add more acidity IF -IF your cyser seems to need additional zing but that means you are adding any additional acidity just before you bottle and not when you pitch the yeast.
I prefer my wines to be crytsal clear so when I ferment fruit I will add pectic enzyme about 4 hours before I pitch the yeast. Honey, as you may know, has no chemical buffers to prevent very severe oscillations in pH and a drop of pH to around 3.0 is enough to stall the fermentation - so you don't want to add any acidity without good reason as the yeast is fermenting the cyser - and there is never a good reason to lower pH at that point. There is often a good reason to raise the pH.
That said, a recipe is irrelevant. Watch the gravity; watch the pH; watch the temperature. Use the best apple juice you can find - and the best that is made for hard cider not the stuff that is made by huge corporations for soft drinks. Their juice is likely too acidic for cider. Taste. Taste. Taste.
Good luck.

 

[WVMJ]

For your chocolate mead you have to read Jack Kellers webpage blog for discussion on what kind of Dutched Chocolate to use. Beside adding chocolate powder, we like to age on chocolate Nibs, vanilla bean and oak. Another high quality twist to this would be to cook the honey Bochet style to caremalize it, save some for backsweetening (and for ice cream).

For your cyser can you get some really good apple juice mix with some tannins in it, use all juice plus enough honey as Bernard mentions above, a little oak in a cyser is also very good. WVMJ

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You might find this thread useful:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94358
Regards, GF.