Belgian Saison cyser?

[Dhelderman]

So I brewed my first batch of plain-Jane Apple cider a few weeks ago. It turned out pretty damned good for having no idea what I was doing, and for probably oxidizing the ever living crap out of it. With a squirt of simple syrup added (I fermented totally dry), it's very good. Can't wait to see how it is in 6 months. Overall, I'm very pleased. So now I'm trying to plan my next brew.

I love Saisons and farmhouse ales. I was hoping to do either a cider or cyser and use Saison yeast in hopes that it will impart some of that great Saison "funk". I know these yeasts typically ferment pretty warm. Any tips? Pointers? Suggestions? Warnings? Anybody ever tried a Saison cider or cyser?

Thanks!

 

[DaMonkey]

So I brewed my first batch of plain-Jane Apple cider a few weeks ago. It turned out pretty damned good for having no idea what I was doing, and for probably oxidizing the ever living crap out of it. With a squirt of simple syrup added (I fermented totally dry), it's very good. Can't wait to see how it is in 6 months. Overall, I'm very pleased. So now I'm trying to plan my next brew.

I love Saisons and farmhouse ales. I was hoping to do either a cider or cyser and use Saison yeast in hopes that it will impart some of that great Saison "funk". I know these yeasts typically ferment pretty warm. Any tips? Pointers? Suggestions? Warnings? Anybody ever tried a Saison cider or cyser?

Thanks!

Due to a cyser being a mead you will want to use some nutrients. It will brew similar to a cider though. Also mead gets this strong "awful" taste that takes a long time to age out. To reduce this I would try to keep the ABV around 8-9%. Its easy to get a high ABV when you add honey to cider.

I have never used Saison yeast so I have nothing to add there.

 

[bernardsmith]

Due to a cyser being a mead you will want to use some nutrients. It will brew similar to a cider though. Also mead gets this strong "awful" taste that takes a long time to age out. To reduce this I would try to keep the ABV around 8-9%. Its easy to get a high ABV when you add honey to cider.

I have never used Saison yeast so I have nothing to add there.

Never experienced any "awful" taste when I make mead. That may be caused by fermenting at too high a temperature and using insufficient nutrients or perhaps using poor quality honey. I frequently make an Ethiopian mead called t'ej and that is quite delicious a couple of months after mixing the ingredients. I have 4 batches of cyser quietly aging and a chocolate mead that is slowly clearing - none have any awful taste. Do you perhaps boil your honey? Or perhaps your choice of yeast and the decisions you make when to rack the mead off the lees may also contribute to off flavors... I tend to use 71B and rack every two months, never heat the honey and aerate in a blender as I add water...

 

[HawleyFarms]

Well I wrote you an extremely long reply to this to explain steps I used in my hopped saison cyser that I have here on the forum and steps I would use to improve it but it deleted what I wrote and told me I could not have access to this page.

Long story short:

Look up drunken farmer hopped saison cyser.
Try the 1 gallon recipe. Good at 6 weeks fermented with Belle at low temps (60-65) bottle primed with honey.

If I were to try to improve it, I would replace some of the honey with a little amber or wheat DME and add some coriander and orange peel near the end of the boil.

Let me know what you think if you try it or message me any questions. It was my first really homemade recipe and I have been thinking about trying it again with some improvements.

 

[madscientist451]

I recently tried a cider made with Brettanomyces yeast, it was pretty good. Have a saison blend in my yeast bank, I think I'll try that.

 

[DaMonkey]

Never experienced any "awful" taste when I make mead. That may be caused by fermenting at too high a temperature and using insufficient nutrients or perhaps using poor quality honey. I frequently make an Ethiopian mead called t'ej and that is quite delicious a couple of months after mixing the ingredients. I have 4 batches of cyser quietly aging and a chocolate mead that is slowly clearing - none have any awful taste. Do you perhaps boil your honey? Or perhaps your choice of yeast and the decisions you make when to rack the mead off the lees may also contribute to off flavors... I tend to use 71B and rack every two months, never heat the honey and aerate in a blender as I add water...

Its well documented that mead tastes awful for the first several months. The higher the alcohol content the longer you need to age. That is why the general rule of thumb is age for a year. Do not confuse cyser with mead, they are not exclusive. Mead is only honey and nothing else. My first mead was 14% ABV and my second two were 12%. My first mead only became drinkable at 6 months and still needed to be aged.

I am aging a Hydromel and a cyser atm and due to there low ABV they are fairly drinkable at this point. That was my whole point keep ABV low.

I had no question, the awful taste is well documented.

 

[drossi237]

I'm obviously late to this string, but got here researching a hybrid saison cyser. From my relatively limited mead brewing experience (only about 8 meads), the only time I've had to age out that medicinal flavor in a young mead was because I didn't off gas the mead while it was fermenting. Once I learned to do that, my meads were ready to drink within 1-2 months. That includes an 18% peach melomel acerglyn I made last year. It was delicious within 6 weeks.