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Can I turn a cider into cyser?

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Maylar

Maylar

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
May 23, 2015
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Connecticut
I have a gallon of cider that was fermented with 71B-1122 and I'm ready to rack it off the secondary lees (about 1/4"). I'm considering adding some orange blossom honey to it and letting it ferment again. I figure I'll bring SG back to 1.040 or so, add some nutrient, and let the yeasties wake up. Is this a practical idea, or am I in for a disappointment?
 
Watching - I've got 20 gallons of cider that I want to morph in to cyser. Some will be re-fermented with honey and some will be blended with existing OB trad as soon as I can get some stable (gallon trial batches first).
 
I would add the honey in 2 or 3 increments. That should help with the shock factor. I would also add it at the right temperature so you don't shock them that way either
 
Squatchy said:
I would add the honey in 2 or 3 increments. That should help with the shock factor. I would also add it at the right temperature so you don't shock them that way either
Click to expand...

OK, I wondered about that. OG was 1.050 and it's now 1.000, so I'm at about 6.25% ABV, typical of my ciders. I figure 40 more points will take it to just under 12%.

How do I figure the total volume of honey to add to a gallon of 1.000 cider to bring it up 40 points?
 
That's just my point. You don't want to add all the money at once to make that much gain. That may very well shock your yeast and cause problems

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
Try using the GM mead calculator
Your volume is 1 gallon. You are at 1.000 now, that is like plain old water and starting from zero. Punch in your target gravity and select that colored box. Punch in 1 gallon and select that box and poof. You get 1.132lbs of honey.

As Squatchy said, you probably should bust that quantity up in three parts and only add one, let it ferment mostly, then feed the second and on - and taste it at every step. You might want to stop before you get to all of the calculated honey as you could end up with something too sweet for your taste. Take hydrometer readings at each step - before and after adding your honey shots. Watch the temps.
 
Honey adds about 38 points per pound per gallon. Divide that by your volume in gallons and you'll know how many points a pound will add to your batch. Then you can math your way to 40 points.
 
That's roughly a pound for my 1 gallon batch then. I'll add that 1/3 at a time and see what happens.
 
I would just add each third once a day for three days and then see where it ends up and make your adjustments then.
 
So I started this 4 days ago and it's progressing very slowly. First honey addition brought it up to 1.012. Two days later I added another 1/2 cup to 1.024. Just checked it again 2 days later and it's still 1.024. Bubbles in the airlock are there but slow. Some lees are evident, so it is fermenting. Current temperature is about 71°F. Gonna warm it up a bit and see if it picks up speed.
 
Update -

I added honey in 4 steps to a total of about 48 gravity points. It took nearly 2 months but finally finished at 1.002. Cold crashed for a week and racked off the lees today. There's also one cinnamon stick and about 1/4 of a whole nutmeg in there.

Yield was just under 3 quarts.

25288845776_efa152762c_z.jpg


I had a half gallon of finished S-04 cider that I used to top off the gallon jug. The glass rocks in the bottom of the 1/2 gallon jug are what I use to take up headspace.

25196836762_da546af737_z.jpg


Topped up and added 1/2 oz of American Medium + oak cubes. I'll remove those sometime in the next few weeks. You can see them floating in the top below.

Couldn't resist taking a taste before top off, and it's honey with definite nutmeg though it smells like apples. Should be interesting when finished. With the top off I figure I'm in the 10% ABV range, so this will get kegged and carbonated like a cider.

25221962041_2e20cd4508_z.jpg
 
Last post on the subject... should have made a log I guess.

This cyser took a long azz time to complete. I started it back in December. If I was to do this again I think I'd pitch some EC1118 and let it rip instead of step feeding the 71B.

Anyway, after a month on a small amount of oak it cleared beautifully.

25305027643_8357bf7e7d_z.jpg


Kegged it in my little Cannonball keg, back sweetened to 1.012 with orange blossom and carbonated to about 2.5 volumes.
I had intended to bottle from the keg, but by the time I was ready to do that some had ... umm... disappeared.

26304853845_9dacb496ac_z.jpg


It's awesome. Cysers rock.
 
but by the time I was ready to do that some had ... umm... disappeared.

I hate when that happens.

Yes cysers rock indeed. Not sure what you ended up doing but, if you racked and then feed it more honey ( I'm guessing that's what you did) that would explain why it took so long. Keep the lees if you're going to feed it more honey. Keep the lees stirred up in suspension and you'll be ok. When you rack it off the lees you don't have much army left to finish the job!



Post your recipe before you make it next time and we can help you. Primary should only take a couple of weeks normally.
 
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