Cyser time again.

[cavers]

Folks - it's apple time again. That means it's time to put up a batch of cyser to enjoy next summer or whenever my patience runs out.

I've seen gazillions of cyser recipes out there. Last year I was put off by the cost and decided to only make a gallon, so I took a gallon of apple juice, poured off a pint, replaced it with a pint of honey, shook, and added champagne yeast. I can't remember what it weighed in at, but it was over 1.1. Half a year after bottling it it was delicious - like a good crisp cider with a honey smoothness (and a kick).

I'd like to make a full six-gallon batch of the stuff this year. I'd like to do it right, though. What I figured I'd do was pick up five gallons of sweet cider (pasteurized), hopefully straight from the orchard. I'd pour all the cider straight into the fermenter. Then I'd add - I don't know - around three quarts (somewhere around six or seven pounds?) of honey to some hot water in a brewpot just to dissolve it, get it up to around 170 degrees, and pour it into the fermenter also.

I'd love to hear any feedback on this - especially on the amount of honey I plan to use. The stakes are high and I'd like to do this right!

[markaberrant]

Just go with all cider for the liquid; heat a portion of it to dissolve the honey. Use enough honey to hit your target OG. Assuming the cider is 1.050, 7lbs of honey to 6 gallons of cider should put you around 1.090.

Use lots of yeast nutrient and healthy yeast.

[cavers]

Thanks Mark - I think that's what I'll do. D'you think I ought to boil the honey and cider, or will heating to around 170 or 180 do the trick?

(It's a bit funny to use Imperial measures with another Canuck, but after a year of homebrewing, I'm having a hard time measuring temperature in centigrade. And I've never known my weight in kilograms.)

[markaberrant]

I don't boil my honey, I don't even measure the temp, just warm enough so that it all mixes in.

And yeah, the measuring stuff is a little odd, I always use lbs, oz and F, but I've gotten really good at converting it back and forth.

[Mill Rat]

For ease of mixing, stir a small amount of water or wort into the honey, mix well, add a little more water or wort, mix well again, Repeat until the honey is pretty well diluted. This is a lot easier and faster than trying to stir in a glop of honey (or LME, mollasses, or treacle for that matter) that's sitting at the bottom of a big pot or water or wort.

[markaberrant]

Yeah, that's essentially what I do.