How long will a cyser ferment?

[therealrsr]

I made a batch from a local farm. 3 gallon apple cider, untreated and unpasteurized, 3 pounds of honey. Nottingham yeast.

Anyway, it is still chugging away going into the 4th week. Never had anything go this long, or even close. Anyone familiar with these or experienced similar?

Not so much an issue of waiting for it to finish as curious, and I want to use that 3 gal carboy for an imperial so a little impatient.

Thanks!

 

[Fletch78]

Going into the 4th week means it's only been fermenting for 3 weeks, so it's not unusual for it to still be "chugging" but it should start slowing down any day now. A hydrometer sample will reveal more information about it's progress. In the future, aerate it well and use a little yeast nutrient and a more robust yeast and it will finish much faster.

 

[Calder]

I'm at about 3 weeks on my first one. 5 gallons cider, 5 lbs Honey, 1.5 lbs raisins. Still going. I was warned it could take a while; like a couple of months or more to reach FG.

 

[RukusDM]

Well, I'm not as far along as you guys, however I have something going that I'm not sure falls into the category of cyser or not. I have 3 to 3 1/2 gallons of cider that has just over 2 lbs of honey in it.

The starting gravity is 1.060. I don't know the typical ranges of cyser but this would appear to be on the lower end of fermentables.

I've never tried a cyser before , but having less fermentables, I was hoping that it might be drinkable sooner. I was hoping for around a month or so.

Not ever having tried this I have no clue as to the aging time for this type of cider.

I do know for sure that this most defiantly is a aggressive ferment. I don't have a high level of krausen, but this thing is bubbling away at a very high rate. I happened to have a package of Muntons brewers yeast that I decided to try with this. At this time, it doesn't appear to be having any issues in the area of fermentability that's for sure. I used perscribed amounts of yeast nutrient and also yeast enhancer.

I have a single piece airlock on this one, and I'm thinking of switching to a 3 piece to give this thing room to breath.

Defiantly different than anything I have experienced other than a batch of Cider with DME in it.

 

[joer189]

are you in an open fermenter that long? I have my first 2 batches only about 5 days in.

 

[therealrsr]

Actually, this took off right away with a nearly constant stream of co2. It is not at about one every 5 seconds, 29 days! I made a modified batch of fresh press AJ Apfelwein about 2 months ago (added honey, cloves, cinnamon) that ran a little longer than an ale, but nothing like this. I crashed that one at about 1.012 for some sweetness and carb's in a keg. I plan to let this one dry out, bottle in bombers and pasteurize for a still. Centennial Farms is smack in the middle of MO wine country so a still made sense to me wanting to take a bottle out to them. (Hoping for a bulk deal next year if they are impressed )

 

[therealrsr]

Thx for the tips fletch.

Joer, no it is a closed carboy with airlock.

Raisins, yum!

 

[LightningInABottle]

I did a similar batch and used 6lbs of honey for a 6 gallons total. I used US-05 and pitched it with out adding any nutrients (like you would normally do with a mead) and it took 2 months to complete. For the first month it bubbled once every 2-3 seconds and in the second month is bubbled once every 10 seconds till it finally slowed down to once every 30 minutes. I then checked gravity and it was down to .096

This turned out to be the best cider/cyser I have done to date. Its carbed up to champagne levels and ready for turkey dinner. Be patient with it and I am sure it will come out tasting great. I don't think I will ever make another cider with out adding some amount of honey ever again.

 

[therealrsr]

it took 2 months to complete

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...............

Time to buy a new 3 gallon carboy, not enough patience to wait another 4 weeks to get the imperial going.

 

[LightningInABottle]

The good part is the end product is 10% ABV and is way smoother than an imperial.