BigdogMark
Well-Known Member
This past Monday I racked off a batch of cyser I created with POM Pomegranate Juice for flavor and coloring. It had been in the fermenter nine (9) days! The OG was 1.068 and the FG was 1.005 when we decided that was enough. I was looking for a semi-sweet finish, but it was too sweet when we sampled it at 1.010. The recipe was:
32 ounces of POM 100% pomegranate juice
2.5# Sam's honey
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
Mott's apple juice to fill 5 gallon carboy
2 packets S-04 yeast, dry
4 teaspoons yeast nutrient
I put in most of the ingredients except the yeast and last couple gallons of apple juice. I whipped up the mixture to get some oxygen into it as well as dissolve the honey as best I could. I then topped off with apple juice and added two packs of dry yeast with a few gentle swirls of the bottle. Apparently the planets were in alignment or something like that because fermentation took off before morning and went steady for four days. No blow-off issues, just good steady fermentation that kept the air-lock rocking.
I have the carboy sitting in a cooler to clear, trying to avoid going back to get another taste. Everyone who sampled it Monday evening could not believe it was only nine days old. Several of them are folks who don't touch their ciders in less than four months. They usually let their cider go all the way to dry, then age them. The one time I did that, I did not like the flavors I found in the result.
I will be bottling this one as well, and I do intend to let it age. I keep reading everything will improve with age. If so this will be a really nice wine for summer evenings.
32 ounces of POM 100% pomegranate juice
2.5# Sam's honey
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
Mott's apple juice to fill 5 gallon carboy
2 packets S-04 yeast, dry
4 teaspoons yeast nutrient
I put in most of the ingredients except the yeast and last couple gallons of apple juice. I whipped up the mixture to get some oxygen into it as well as dissolve the honey as best I could. I then topped off with apple juice and added two packs of dry yeast with a few gentle swirls of the bottle. Apparently the planets were in alignment or something like that because fermentation took off before morning and went steady for four days. No blow-off issues, just good steady fermentation that kept the air-lock rocking.
I have the carboy sitting in a cooler to clear, trying to avoid going back to get another taste. Everyone who sampled it Monday evening could not believe it was only nine days old. Several of them are folks who don't touch their ciders in less than four months. They usually let their cider go all the way to dry, then age them. The one time I did that, I did not like the flavors I found in the result.
I will be bottling this one as well, and I do intend to let it age. I keep reading everything will improve with age. If so this will be a really nice wine for summer evenings.
