Planning - Spiced Cyser

[MuckyFunster]

Hey folks,

Seeing as I have a 4.5L demijohn siting empty I’ve been twiddling my thumbs thinking I might make a basic cyser, spiced up, with the intention of maturing it till Christmas time.

Thinking just-

4 litres or so of Lidl apple juice
1.2 kg of Asda honey
1x teaspoon of powdered cinnamon
1x teaspoon powdered nutmeg
...And maybe a couple of cheeky little cloves...

I ordered a sachet of Mead Yeast from crossmyloof brewery, so going to use that

Has anyone tried anything similar?

Any hints, tips, suggestions or advice?

Ta,

MF


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[oldbloke]

Last spiced one I did refused to start fermenting, and I never worked out why but I worried about the spices somehow upsetting the yeast. So maybe put them in after the vigourous initial ferment has died down.
Since the main flavour is going to be the aj and the spice, quality honey doesn't matter, but I often use at least some golden syrup in the mix: slight toffee backnote, same sugar quantity as honey (about 80% by weight)

[Carnot]

My experience with mead is time and racking. Expect to loose up to 20% due to racking. Some clear easily. Some need a third racking. The longer you leave it the better it will get. It might be drinkable after 9 months , but I bet it will be even better after 12 +. Good luck.

[MuckyFunster]

Thanks for the tips folks!

I’m going to wait till I tack it to secondary before I add in the spices, save the risk of a stuck brew.

I’ve just put it together tonight.

4L or so of apple juice plus 1.3kg honey plus 5g of crosslmyloof mead yeast.

Hydrometer only goes up to 1110 so the Reading was off the scale, probably somewhere around 1115-1120.

It’s not started bubbling yet. I’ll leave it sat in the sink till tomorrow incase it spews, then I’ll put it to the back of the cupboard for a couple weeks and see how it goes

Cheers!


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[MuckyFunster]

Was just thinking....

The mead yeast I used advises that it’s good for strengths up to 12%, so from that I’m guessing my FV will likely be somewhere in the region of 1030. Will the drink still be incredibly sweet with gravity as high at that?

How sweet should cyser be?

If the mead yeast gives up at 12 and its still too sweet for my taste I’ll maybe add in some wine yeast to get it down and dry it out a bit...


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[Jambo]

Hi Mucky

How is your brew going?

I seem to have lots of nice apples in the garden so planning one myself. You have hinted towards a concern I also have with CML mead yeast - in my experience it doesn't actually attenuate very well even a plain mead with just 3lbs/gallon of honey in water, the same in apple juice will have significant residual sugars I expect.

Having never tasted a cyser I don't know if this is desirable or not? Any suggestions for a better yeast, champagne?

Also does anyone have any experience or opinions on the type of apples that go best in cyser? I have a good crop of Cox's Orange Pippins coming that are supposed to be fantastically aromatic, so they might be nice.

Acid additions are also a puzzle as the need to or not would vary massively depending on whether using sweet dessert apples or cookers, I expect.

Hmm.

[MuckyFunster]

Hi Jambo!

The cyser seems to have gone fine, although I haven’t yet tried any!

It fermented down to 1007 from about 1115-1120 or so, so I worked that out to be about 14.1%. I added in the cinnamon and nutmeg after 7 days and I bottled it after 14 days. Since doing this I’ve read that I should probably have left it a good while longer, but ... inexperience and impatience ... ! Lol.

I’ve read that a mead of that strength should be matured for at least a year before being drunk, but I’m planning on having a bottle of it at Christmas time this year, which will put the cyser at about 8 months old.

As you can see in the pic It is clear and golden, although there is a bit of sediment in the bottle. The optics of the glass bottle make it look like there’s an awful lot of sediment, but in reality there’s only a thin layer along the bottom.

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[Jambo]

Looks nice, thanks for the comments.

May start a thread if I get a batch on.

[MuckyFunster]

Long time flow up...

I opened this tonight, almost two years old spiced cyser. Lovely still sweet cider. Smooth, but with a bit of a burn in your throat as you swallow - the same heat sensation as when swallowing white wine, but sweet.

Delicious!!




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