MeadMax
Well-Known Member
How much honey and what yeast should I use for a sweeter still Cyser?
For 1 gallon
For 1 gallon
need a one gallon Cyser recipe.
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UpstateMike
Well-Known Member
NOTE: It is recommended that you use a 2 gallon carboy or fermentation bucket for this recipe. If you are using a 1 gallon glass carboy, do not fill cider above the top shoulder of the carboy.
Ingredients: (for 1 gallon)
1.5 pounds clover honey
1.5 pounds wildflower honey
1 gallon cider
2 campden tablets
ale yeast (Nottingham or Safale S-04)
Procedure:
Mix everything except the yeast.
Let sit in fermenter with airlock for 24 hours.
Add yeast.
Rack to secondary when fermentation slows.
Bottle or rack to keg when still.
Force carbonate if desired.
Condition for as long as you can stand it. (At least 3 months, 6 would be better).
Drink liberally.
Fall over.
For bigger batches, multiply ingredients by the number of gallons you plan on making. Consider the size of your fermenter, you may want to do 1 gallon smaller. For example, in a 6 gallon carboy, use 5 times the ingredients, not 6.
vandalizer77
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I was wondering if you had to back sweeten the cyser? When I recently did a batch it came out really dry and I used tart cherry juice from the store to try to back sweeten it with not much luck.
Sewer_Urchen
Well-Known Member
If you don't mind it being still (I think that's what you said you were going for) You can just keep racking and sweetening with more honey until the yeast has reached it's limit of alchohol content. I disagree with using Notingham or Safale...cysers tend to be more like wines. I'd use something like Red Star Montrachet, which is a lower tollerance wine yeast for semi-sweet wines.
You will also want to warm the apple juice to disolve the honey in, and you won't have to let it sit for a few days. DO NOT BOIL the juice. Just get it warm, like 110-120* F.
If you have a gallon jug to ferment in, try this:
-1/2 G Juice
-1 1/2 lb honey disolved into warmed juice in a SANATIZED pan.
-let cool to ~70*F
-Pour in fermenter, top off with more juice if neccessary (Just to where the jug starts to taper in, not to the top of the neck)
-Give a good shake, and pour Red Star Montrachet yeast right on top
-attatch airlock
Keep it around 70*F if possible, don't let it get above 75*
When fermentation has slowed to null (4-6 weeks), give it a little taste.
Rack it off the yeast cake into the secondary, if it's too dry when you taste it, disolve another 1/2 lb of honey in a couple Cups of more juice warmed in a sanatized pan, and add that to the secondary. If it's still got some sweetness to it, just rack and top off the 2ndary with some more juice and no extra honey (fermentation should be slower now, so you can top it off to the top of the neck with only a couple inches of air space at the top).
-Let sit for another 4-6 weeks.
This is also where a hydrometer will help you find out if the yeast is done or if it's still going. At 5 weeks in the 2ndary, take a hydrometer reading...write it down...then a week later, take another gravity reading...if it hasn't changed, the yeast is done. Give it another taste, if it's still sweet enough for you, than there are fermentable sugars that the yeast can't eat anymore because the alcohol is to high. If it's dry, repeat the racking process above, again with some more honey.
Keep racking and sweetening until the yeast can ferment no more. Montrachet yeast should peter out by 12% so it won't be gasoline. Though when you first bottle it may taste a little harsh (kind of like a cocktail) give it a couple months in the bottle to and I promise it will mellow.
I know this seems like a long process for just a gallon of cyser, but that's a true cyser right there, wine's take time and paitience. With these things that take a long time I always do 5 gallons so at least I have a long payoff for the time invested.
Another thing you might want to try is adding a couple whole cloves to the secondary for some spicyness, I did a semi-sweet cyser with cinnamon and clove and my wife LOVED it! 5 gallons didn't stick around that long.
Good luck!
You will also want to warm the apple juice to disolve the honey in, and you won't have to let it sit for a few days. DO NOT BOIL the juice. Just get it warm, like 110-120* F.
If you have a gallon jug to ferment in, try this:
-1/2 G Juice
-1 1/2 lb honey disolved into warmed juice in a SANATIZED pan.
-let cool to ~70*F
-Pour in fermenter, top off with more juice if neccessary (Just to where the jug starts to taper in, not to the top of the neck)
-Give a good shake, and pour Red Star Montrachet yeast right on top
-attatch airlock
Keep it around 70*F if possible, don't let it get above 75*
When fermentation has slowed to null (4-6 weeks), give it a little taste.
Rack it off the yeast cake into the secondary, if it's too dry when you taste it, disolve another 1/2 lb of honey in a couple Cups of more juice warmed in a sanatized pan, and add that to the secondary. If it's still got some sweetness to it, just rack and top off the 2ndary with some more juice and no extra honey (fermentation should be slower now, so you can top it off to the top of the neck with only a couple inches of air space at the top).
-Let sit for another 4-6 weeks.
This is also where a hydrometer will help you find out if the yeast is done or if it's still going. At 5 weeks in the 2ndary, take a hydrometer reading...write it down...then a week later, take another gravity reading...if it hasn't changed, the yeast is done. Give it another taste, if it's still sweet enough for you, than there are fermentable sugars that the yeast can't eat anymore because the alcohol is to high. If it's dry, repeat the racking process above, again with some more honey.
Keep racking and sweetening until the yeast can ferment no more. Montrachet yeast should peter out by 12% so it won't be gasoline. Though when you first bottle it may taste a little harsh (kind of like a cocktail) give it a couple months in the bottle to and I promise it will mellow.
I know this seems like a long process for just a gallon of cyser, but that's a true cyser right there, wine's take time and paitience. With these things that take a long time I always do 5 gallons so at least I have a long payoff for the time invested.
Another thing you might want to try is adding a couple whole cloves to the secondary for some spicyness, I did a semi-sweet cyser with cinnamon and clove and my wife LOVED it! 5 gallons didn't stick around that long.
Good luck!
