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Hard Apple Cherry Cyser.

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Brewser

Brewser

NewBee
Registered Member
May 15, 2014
64
0
0
Wisconsin.
So I made a 3gal batch of Apple Cherry Cyser. Here's what I did:

3 Gallons of 100% apple juice.
5 lbs clover honey.
2 lbs dark brown sugar.
1 TBS Apple pie spice.
4 Cinnamon sticks.
2 Cans of 100% fruit juice concentrate. (1 apple, 1 cherry).
1 5gram pack of red star champagne yeast.

Started on 6/6/14.
Took half a gallon of apple juice to the stove top, heated it up, mixed in the honey, dark brown sugar, apple pie spice, and cinnamon sticks. Waited until it dropped to room temp. Them pitched it into my 3gal glass carboy on top of the remaining apple juice. Then pitched in my pre-activated yeast.

Racked on 6/23/14.
Waited until there was no activity in the airlock. Melted my two cans of fruit juice concentrate with 1 cup of honey on the stove, and waited until dropped to room temp. Then put it into my secondary, and racked the cyser onto it. Been sitting ever since. I check it once a week for about 5 minutes, and there's no activity in the airlock.

Now my question, being 7/25/14 it's been over once month of being in secondary. I've looked at the airlock and there is no activity what-so-ever. It almost appears that it's going the opposite way (see picture).

Can I bottle it/drink it? Thanks!
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Hi Brewser, I am a great believer in using an hydrometer to measure the gravity of the must - and hence the amount of residual sugar in the liquid. Activity in the airlock does not really tell me very much not least because the yeast may have stopped producing additional CO2 for many reasons (stress, death to name two) but the must may still be full of unfermented sugar. Do you know what the gravity was before you pitched the yeast? Do you know what the gravity is today? My estimation is that before you added the concentrate the gravity would have been close to 1.095. I am guessing that the two cans would have added another .15 or more so your starting gravity would have been quite high and two months aging seems to me to be expecting a great deal... I certainly try to wait for my wines and meads to be clear before I bottle and to have stopped dropping sediment for a couple of months. Have you tasted your cyser? How does it taste? If it is clear as you want and it tastes as smooth as you want then bottle it ... but if there is any residual sugar (a gravity of more than about .994) I would be careful of bottle bombs...
 
Yep, what Bernardsmith said.

Try it, if you like the taste, stabilize it and bottle it, but if it's not perfectly clear, you'll either have to put up with sediment in your bottles or use a fining agent after you stabilize and degas it.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I do not currently have a hydrometer, though it's on my list of things to get. I did taste it when I racked it. It's got a very strong apple taste, with a hint of cherry after swallowing. Leaving a warm taste in the throat and stomach. Which is what I look for in a cyser. I will be taking a trip to my local brew shop to get a hydrometer, as well as stabilizing materials. It's got quite dark color due to the cherry concentrate I put in there. I will check back after this next weekend! Thanks
 
As it turns out, I did not pick up a hydrometer. I will eventually get one, one day. Anyways, I did however get potassium sorbate.

I was wondering how to use it? Just dump in the amount as described on the bottle? Wait a day or so for it to dissolve then ready for bottling? Thanks in advance.
 
Yep, follow the directions (I think mine says 1/2 tsp per gal), in it goes, don't forget the sulphites too or else other nasties could eat the sorbate.


<gives Brewser a shake> Get a hydrometer! :)
 
Nowhere here have I seen you writing about the taste. Have you tasted it? Without a hydrometer...everything that bernard and CG said. But if you taste it and get "dry as a bone" you're at least a little more sure it's all done. And GET A HYDROMETER x2
 
So here's my sorbate. Says: add 1/2 tsp/gal. So in total I would just dump in 1.5 tsps since I have a 3 gallon batch. Then do I just wait for it to dissolve? or stir it around? There's a small amount of lees on the bottom of the carboy, so I'm not leaning towards stirring it. Once pellets are gone I am good and stabilized?

It's quite tasty and am happy with the result.:cool: I just need to make sure there's no active yeast in there.
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If those are the same as mine, those "pellets" dissolve almost on contact. If you dissolve them in a bit of boiled and cooled water before pouring that in, it's really neat to watch them just disappear!

Ok ok, grownup voice again. Yeah, you just dump it in. Even if there's a little sediment, I'd still give it a stir, if you're going to be trying to bottle it soon, put the carboy where you're going to want it for bottling. A little stir might kick some stuff up but it should settle out way faster than it originally took to clear because the stuff's all clumped together at the bottom of the carboy.

And don't forget the campden tablets/metabisulphite if you haven't already, you don't want geraniols, that's a problem that can't be fixed.

As for "is it stable?" Well, this is why you need a hydrometer. You want to check the SG right after you stabilize, and then like a week later to make sure it hasn't moved.

Every time I add the campden tabs and sorbate, I get airlock activity for a couple of days so it looks like renewed fermentation, which is why we keep telling folks not to trust their airlocks to tell them what's going on with their must. It's really only degassing, or offgassing of the chemicals, but it sure looks like fermentation... only your hydrometer can tell you the truth, airlocks lie.

Yeah yeah I know we sound like the Cult of The Hydrometer, but making wine without one is like building a house without a measuring tape. It usually works out OK but you're never quite sure.
 
Chevette Girl said:
If those are the same as mine, those "pellets" dissolve almost on contact. If you dissolve them in a bit of boiled and cooled water before pouring that in, it's really neat to watch them just disappear!

Ok ok, grownup voice again. Yeah, you just dump it in. Even if there's a little sediment, I'd still give it a stir, if you're going to be trying to bottle it soon, put the carboy where you're going to want it for bottling. A little stir might kick some stuff up but it should settle out way faster than it originally took to clear because the stuff's all clumped together at the bottom of the carboy.

And don't forget the campden tablets/metabisulphite if you haven't already, you don't want geraniols, that's a problem that can't be fixed.

As for "is it stable?" Well, this is why you need a hydrometer. You want to check the SG right after you stabilize, and then like a week later to make sure it hasn't moved.

Every time I add the campden tabs and sorbate, I get airlock activity for a couple of days so it looks like renewed fermentation, which is why we keep telling folks not to trust their airlocks to tell them what's going on with their must. It's really only degassing, or offgassing of the chemicals, but it sure looks like fermentation... only your hydrometer can tell you the truth, airlocks lie.

Yeah yeah I know we sound like the Cult of The Hydrometer, but making wine without one is like building a house without a measuring tape. It usually works out OK but you're never quite sure.
Click to expand...
Thank everyone for the advice, very helpful.

I will do this today Chevette Girl. How long would you recommend having it sit with the sorbate mixture before bottling? Thanks again.

Oh also, I will be getting a hydrometer soon enough. My local brew store is almost an hour away. Might have to make a trip out of it. :cool:
 
Well, how long you wait really depends on your... hydrometer reading... if the wine is dry dry dry you can pretty much bottle it straightaway but if there's any residual sugar, I would wait at least a week to make sure the SG isn't changing. And don't sorbate it yet if you don't have sulphites too, I've done it and was lucky but if you've got a specific nonharmful bacteria present in your must, you could ruin the batch. Just cause I'm lucky doesn't make me a good example :p
 
Found this at a local garage sale for $1! Hydrometer? Overall picture of how I picked it up. No cracks, did a water test no leaks or anything. Pristine! So it's got two readings on it. One being "Proof" and the other being "Tralle". Never used a hydrometer before, nor seen one so go easy on me. Let me know if I found my holy hydrometer? Thanks!
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Its very hard to help someone with no gravity measurements. You "think" its done but a hydrometer is the only way to be sure where you are at, all the advice given above is assuming you are correct that its done but without any real measurement of it being done. Also you have a very large headspace in that carboy, and with apple its easy to oxidize. You got a lot of color from just 1 can of concentrate, the sulfites will help preserve its color. WVMJ
 
I'll buy it off you for a 100% profit! Lol


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.
 
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