Pumpkin Cyser Help

[wayned10]

I plan to make a 1 gallon Pumpkin Cyser tonight and wanted a little input.

I will be using 1 gallon of apple juice, 2½lbs of honey, 1-2 cups of brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and a can of Libby's Pumpkin filling.

My main questions would be: How much of the can should I use and how much spice to get the right flavor? I like a sweeter flavor rather than dry. The yeast I am using has been washed from a batch of apple cider that just completed, I made it into a started and added a little yeast nutrients to get things going. So any advice would be helpful!

 

[wayned10]

Well I went ahead and made this cyser last night, smells really great, so hopefully it turns out good. I used 6oz Libby's canned pumpkin with ½tsp of pumpkin pie seasoning (baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees), ¾ gallon of 100% apple juice, 2lbs 8oz of honey, 8oz of light brown sugar, and ½tsp of yeast nutrient with my EC-1118 yeast. Any advice that anyone has would be appreciate, as far as adding more pumpkin/spice or something to secondary. Thanks!

 

[outstretched]

Realistically if you want your flavor to be noticeable for the pumpkin you'll probably have to put more into the secondary. I am not sure how much of it will be stripped during primary fermentation. I wouldn't add anymore spices to it though unless you think it needs it. Spices only get stronger with time so a little goes a long way if you are aging it. Did you happen to get an OG? I did some guestimating on your recipe and you are looking at around 18% ABV. Which the 1118 yeast can do, but that's upper limits and will stress the yeast and create off flavors not to mention you probably won't be able to drink that for a year.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[wayned10]

Great, thank you for the info, I was starting to get worried I was on my own! The OG was 1.150, I put the sample in the freezer to bring it down to my hydrometer calibrated temp. The yeast I am using was washed from a recently finished batch of simple cider, it's OG was 1.145 and stopped around 13.39%, so I created a nice starter to get the yeast going again and it's bubbling along great in the primary. I actually had my first blowout on Thursday night, lost about 1oz of pumpkin and not much liquid, I re-sanitized and added some vodka to the airlock to keep it protected.

I do want the pumpkin to come through nice, so how much extra should I add to the secondary? The remaining 9oz? Should the pumpkin added to the secondary be roasted like the first or put in straight from the can? I will probably stop the fermentation before it gets up high enough to stress the yeast, since I want some residual sweetness left.