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Cyser 1

May 13, 2017

Cyser1Just heard of Cyser, a cider and mead hybrid. Giving it a try. My buddy Gary came over to help.

Ingredients

  • 1 gal water
  • 1 gal organic apple juice – $8
  • 5.5 lb local wildflower honey – $35
  • ½ tsp pectic enzyme
  • 1 ½ tsp yeast energizer
  • Yeast: Red Star Premier Blanc (champagne) – $1
    • Research: This is a low flocculation yeast. Interested in finding a high ABV, high flocculation yeast.

Notes

  • OG: 1.118 @ 98 F, 14.96% potential alcohol
  • 2015-05-28: FG = 0.998, 15.75% ABV. Punchy!

Log

  • Cooled to ~80 F before pitching yeast. Should I have cooled it further? Forums suggest yes, saying that apples can produce icky fusel alcohols at higher temps. Crap.
    • This source suggests when in doubt, use temps for white wine with mead. Crap. OK, moved it to the brew closet where temps run lower.
  • Prior to pitching, mixed dry yeast with 2c of must. Whisked vigorously. After adding to the must, stirred the whole shebang vigorously with a spoon to aerate.
  • 2017-05-14: Swirled with airlock on.
  • 2017-05-19 Swirled with the airlock on. Then I read things about it. Doh! Aeration/oxygenation only recommended to ⅓ of sugars consumed. Swirling with airlock on doesn’t add oxygen. I’m such a newb.
    • “Aerate the Must a couple of times a day for the first three days by using an aeration stone, shaking, or stirring with a Lees stirrer.”
    • Lesson Learned: Do primary fermentation in a bucket. Tough to do aeration in a carboy. If I use solid fruit in the future, must be “punched down” periodically to avoid mold and CO2 buildup.
    • “Check on it every couple of days to see how active the bubbling is.  As soon as it slows to approximately 1 bubble every 30 seconds, it is ready to move onto the next stage – Racking.”
    • Racking: “It is absolutely vital that the Mead not be mixed with too much air during racking as this will introduce oxygen that will affect the flavor.”
    • “If you intend to rack onto fruit, spices, oak, sulfites, sorbates etc., add them to the secondary fermenter before racking the Mead.”
  • 2017-05-23: Racked into clean carboy. Moved to kitchen the morning prior to ensure yeast settled as much as possible.
  • Going to try cold-crashing for clarification. 3 gal carboy fits in wine fridge! Read more about this, don’t want to do it until I’m ready to bottle. I think I’ll rack to 1 gallon jugs at that point so more can fit in the wine fridge.
  • Cyser1-22015-05-28: FG = 0.998. 
    • Tasting notes:
    • Nell: Goes right to top of palatte, into the nose. Can taste the achohol. Definitely a sipping thing, seems very potent. In between a fruity and a floral.
    • Morg: Smells lightly floral, slightly sweet, lightly sour. Added one drop stevia to 1 oz, now ‘Nell says it’s too sweet. I kind of like it though.
  • 2016-06-03: It’s almost completely clear now after a ride in the fridge. Lovely! Tasted it and I like it a lot. Sparkly and bright. Racked it into two 1 gallon jugs. Going to let it sit and mellow for a couple months.
  • 2016-06-11: Transferred one gallon into bottles with priming sugar to make ’em fizzy.
  • 2016-06-16: I suck at waiting and I wanted to see if I could take a bottle to a dinner party to opened one up. Completely flat! Also lost some of the flavor I liked a couple weeks ago. It seems I did a really good job of getting all the yeast out of there. Dang! Alrighty then, I’m going to force myself to wait until August and then use this method to prime the bottles with yeast: http://www.brewerylane.com/wine/sparkling-wine-champagne-method.html

 

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