Greetings,
I have only been home-brewing for a few years, but this spring I've become more focused on ciders and fruit wines than "beer" proper. I've always really enjoyed good ciders. Doing a bit of browsing, I came across cyser, which instantly piqued my interest -- it had elements of cider, plus the benefit of higher alcohol content. In march (2014) I started my first batch of cyser from 4 gallons of organic apple cider (whole foods brand), and 5.5 lbs of local raw honey. I added some pectic enzyme (because the batch of straight cider i had attempted previously, never cleared, which bothered me) and used Wyeast Dry Mead. Ended up at about 11.2% abv
At present (June, 2014) I've only got one liter of it left. I have really enjoyed it; it's more like a white wine than a cider. And I noticed that the longer it sat (I racked it 3 times) the clearer it became and the better (mellower) it tasted.
So today I started my second batch of cyser; this time, I wanted to tweak a few things. (1) I wanted to add a new flavor. I like strawberries, and they're in season now, so I decided I go with strawberries. (2) I want to try to make this batch be a sparkling (carbonated) cyser, since my last batch was still. Here's my recipe:
---Ingredients---
- 4 gallons pasteurized apple cider (Wholefoods brand, organic - 4 x 1 gallon glass jugs)
- 5.5 lbs local, organic, unprocessed honey (2 x 44 oz. Jars)
- 6 lbs Driscoll's organic Strawberries
- 2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme
- 1 package Wyeast #4632 Dry Mead
---Procedure---
1. Pour 2 gallons cider into 5 gallon (sterilized) fermenter.
2. Pour half of each of the remaining two, 1 gallon jugs of cider into the fermenter. Pour 1 jar of honey into each half empty jug of cider, cap, and shake vigorously until honey is dissolved, then pour into fermenter.
3. Dump strawberries into a basin of weak iodine solution, to kill off wild yeasts and/or other germs. Then rinse with clean water.
4. Process 6 lbs of strawberries through (sanitized) Brevile juice fountain. Add strawberry juice to cider/honey mixture in fermenter
* initial gravity reading was 1.086
5. Add 2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme; seal fermenter with air lock
6. After 6 hours, pitch yeast.
-------------------------------------------
As I am new to this, I am really just sort of free-styling here, and would love ANY input, advice, or tips that may be helpful in guiding a budding mead enthusiast. Specifically, if anyone has ever made a similar recipe, has experience fermenting strawberries, or making sparkling cyser would be REALLY appreciated!
Cheers everyone!
T.
I have only been home-brewing for a few years, but this spring I've become more focused on ciders and fruit wines than "beer" proper. I've always really enjoyed good ciders. Doing a bit of browsing, I came across cyser, which instantly piqued my interest -- it had elements of cider, plus the benefit of higher alcohol content. In march (2014) I started my first batch of cyser from 4 gallons of organic apple cider (whole foods brand), and 5.5 lbs of local raw honey. I added some pectic enzyme (because the batch of straight cider i had attempted previously, never cleared, which bothered me) and used Wyeast Dry Mead. Ended up at about 11.2% abv
At present (June, 2014) I've only got one liter of it left. I have really enjoyed it; it's more like a white wine than a cider. And I noticed that the longer it sat (I racked it 3 times) the clearer it became and the better (mellower) it tasted.
So today I started my second batch of cyser; this time, I wanted to tweak a few things. (1) I wanted to add a new flavor. I like strawberries, and they're in season now, so I decided I go with strawberries. (2) I want to try to make this batch be a sparkling (carbonated) cyser, since my last batch was still. Here's my recipe:
---Ingredients---
- 4 gallons pasteurized apple cider (Wholefoods brand, organic - 4 x 1 gallon glass jugs)
- 5.5 lbs local, organic, unprocessed honey (2 x 44 oz. Jars)
- 6 lbs Driscoll's organic Strawberries
- 2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme
- 1 package Wyeast #4632 Dry Mead
---Procedure---
1. Pour 2 gallons cider into 5 gallon (sterilized) fermenter.
2. Pour half of each of the remaining two, 1 gallon jugs of cider into the fermenter. Pour 1 jar of honey into each half empty jug of cider, cap, and shake vigorously until honey is dissolved, then pour into fermenter.
3. Dump strawberries into a basin of weak iodine solution, to kill off wild yeasts and/or other germs. Then rinse with clean water.
4. Process 6 lbs of strawberries through (sanitized) Brevile juice fountain. Add strawberry juice to cider/honey mixture in fermenter
* initial gravity reading was 1.086
5. Add 2.5 teaspoons pectic enzyme; seal fermenter with air lock
6. After 6 hours, pitch yeast.
-------------------------------------------
As I am new to this, I am really just sort of free-styling here, and would love ANY input, advice, or tips that may be helpful in guiding a budding mead enthusiast. Specifically, if anyone has ever made a similar recipe, has experience fermenting strawberries, or making sparkling cyser would be REALLY appreciated!
Cheers everyone!
T.
