Hey what do y'all think

[modi2112]

Pretty new at this and I am trying this out. Please give me your wisdom on what you think it is gonna turn out like.

3 lbs wildflower honey
1 gallon apple juice
1 clove
handful raisins
2 cut up apples with peels
1 cinnamon stick
EC-1118 yeasties

all in a glass one-gallon carboy
Thank you in advance.

 

[Matrix4b]

Well first off you are making pretty much a standard cyser. Recipie looks good but have an overflow container because 1 gal of liquid and 3 pounds of honey will go over a 1 gal container by a few cups at least. But for what it's worth looks like you will end up with a medium sweet to dry cyser.

Some Tips
1. If you are using all that volume, get a secondary container to keep the overflow and use the overflow to top it up.
2. chop the raisins in 1/2. This will open it up. I assume that inclusion of the raisons is for yeast nutrients. It works but would work better if you chopped them fine so that the yeasties can get to all the nutrients.
3. Rack timely off of the fruit, possibly save the whole apple for the secondary. I would recomend about 3 weeks to a month is all of the time of primary fermentation it should need but take hydrometer readings weekly till you get the same reading twice in a row. Then rack off the raisins and sediment.
4. a touch of lemon juice would make this sing a bit, or a small touch of nutmeg. Just a tiny amount of nutmeg would do.
5. I recomend oaking this with 1 oz of light toasted oak in a mesh bag for easy removeal as it is starting to clear, for 1 gal you should only need 1 to 2 weeks on the oak if it's oak chips. Oak cubes about 50% longer. Trust me it will smooth it out in the long run and make it more paletable in the short run.
6. AGE it. All this means is when it is clear enough to read newsprint through your are ready for the aging process. Either bottle or rack one final time and bulk age. You will need to age it 6 months, a year would be better. 8 months if you are not feeling patient. The reason most people don't like mead is either too sweet or it hasn't had a chance to age properly. And comercial mead kinda sucks compaired to most homebrew but the market is coming together with a few meaderies out there.

Hope that this helps.

Matrix

 

[modi2112]

Wow this is the most helpful response I have ever read! Thank you so much for your help! Was that yeast choice ok?

 

[Matrix4b]

Wow this is the most helpful response I have ever read! Thank you so much for your help! Was that yeast choice ok?

Not really an expert on yeasts but sounds ok. I prefer D47 or 71b myself.

 

[fatbloke]

Not really an expert on yeasts but sounds ok. I prefer D47 or 71b myself.

71B as that's gonna do a better job given the apples malic content. it would have metabolised about 1/3rd of the malic acid.

D47 would have possibly needed some temp control to keep it below 70F/21C....

 

[Matrix4b]

71B as that's gonna do a better job given the apples malic content. it would have metabolised about 1/3rd of the malic acid.

D47 would have possibly needed some temp control to keep it below 70F/21C....

I agree. I mostly do the D47 in the winter time. 71B is for summer when my ferment area get's about 70 degrees F but not over 80F. In winter my brew area gets as low as 60 sometimes but not above 68F. So for me it's a perfect fit. Also, very clean ferment.

Matrix

 

[fatbloke]

Just read the whole thread again........

Matrixs suggestion about lemon juice to make it "zingy"...... while 71b metabolises malic acid, I'd have thought that either malic or tartaric acid...... actually, for acid addition - particularly for traditionals - I like to use the mix suggested in Ashton & Duncans book (out of print) "Making Mead" which is 2 parts malic and 1 part tartaric. I don't like to use citric unless I'm using citric fruit (google is your friend, to check on most/all underlaying fruit acid) as it tends to give too much of a lemony/citrussy taste, particularly when using non-citrus fruit or trad's.

Which to me, just tastes "wrong"........

I suppose I'm trying to allude to the word "complimentary"......

 

[Matrix4b]

But in this case the Lemon juice is added to the secondary AND combining it with Blueberry it makes the Blueberry taste more Blueberry. Hard to understand. It's not enough to make it taste like blueberry lemonade. But most recipies with blueberries do have some lemon addition to make the blueberry flavor pop a bit more. It's different than just adding citric acid.

And the term that I used was to make the flavor "Sing" not "Zing". difference.

Matrix