I brewed a cyser (or melomel? see below - you tell me what to call it) using the following recipe:
1.5 gal apple cider
1 gal apple/cherry cider
3# Buckwheat honey
2# Wildflower honey
OG was 1.107 and fermented with White Labs Champagne Yeast. After 3 months, and one racking, the cyser has reached SG: 1.000 and become a crystal clear pink!
Anyway, I have tasted my creation and I enjoy it, but before I transfer it again (some lees have collected) and continue bulk aging, I thought now may be a good time to kill off any remaining yeast and sweeten it up a bit.
So, a few questions. First, what chemicals and in what quantities do I use in order to kill off any yeast (or bacteria) remaining in the cyser?
Second, I have access to good honey, cider (cherry and apple) and Oregon fruit purees, so what sort of levels of sweetness can I expect from each and do any of these sweeteners lead to any complications? I want a fairly dry cyser (I dislike meads that are medicinal in their sweetness) but I think it needs something to balance out the acidity and fairly high alcohol of its current state - so what is a ballpark for amounts of sweetener of the types above?
Thanks for the help. I'm new at this cyser thing, so sorry for any dumb questions!
1.5 gal apple cider
1 gal apple/cherry cider
3# Buckwheat honey
2# Wildflower honey
OG was 1.107 and fermented with White Labs Champagne Yeast. After 3 months, and one racking, the cyser has reached SG: 1.000 and become a crystal clear pink!
Anyway, I have tasted my creation and I enjoy it, but before I transfer it again (some lees have collected) and continue bulk aging, I thought now may be a good time to kill off any remaining yeast and sweeten it up a bit.
So, a few questions. First, what chemicals and in what quantities do I use in order to kill off any yeast (or bacteria) remaining in the cyser?
Second, I have access to good honey, cider (cherry and apple) and Oregon fruit purees, so what sort of levels of sweetness can I expect from each and do any of these sweeteners lead to any complications? I want a fairly dry cyser (I dislike meads that are medicinal in their sweetness) but I think it needs something to balance out the acidity and fairly high alcohol of its current state - so what is a ballpark for amounts of sweetener of the types above?
Thanks for the help. I'm new at this cyser thing, so sorry for any dumb questions!