thanks Oskaar! I'm ordering the k-carb tonight. Plus it's an excuse to get more brewing stuff! (I can't place an order for ONLY that). 
too high an OG on my cyser?
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Let's hope this works. I really don't need it to kick into high gear, even a slow roll is good. I only want another 0.030 SG. I also realized that I didn't check my pH meter against water. It was reading high. My tap water was like 7.3. This is from my well. So I think it my cyser may be closer to 3 than 3.25. I'll have to do a calibration on my meter. Still the pH is even lower than I thought.
Thankfully b3 has free shipping for orders over $59. So I had to place an order over that to save $10 on shipping! some more yeast. My first mead book (compleat meadmaker). sanitizer.
Thankfully b3 has free shipping for orders over $59. So I had to place an order over that to save $10 on shipping! some more yeast. My first mead book (compleat meadmaker). sanitizer.
My calibrated pH meter now gives 3.70. I believe this to be very correct.
Tonight I rehydrated the pro-restart and inserted it into my cyser. By tomorrow I should know if it is working.
The pro-restart is interesting. It smells like yeasty beer and is little beads. They stay as little beads. I'll post a picture I took of it before it was rehydrated.
Tonight I rehydrated the pro-restart and inserted it into my cyser. By tomorrow I should know if it is working.
The pro-restart is interesting. It smells like yeasty beer and is little beads. They stay as little beads. I'll post a picture I took of it before it was rehydrated.
I checked it this morning (and agitated). First I was dissapointed that there was no airlock activity, but then remembered that there were strings sticking out of the carboy from the bag, so I took a close look and say quite active bubbling on the surface of the cyser. The pro restart is definitely fermenting! I'm very happy but also a bit concerned because there is not much surface area covered by the yeast in the bag. The bubbling was localized to where the bag is. I guess patience is the work from here on out. I'll agitate several times a day and keep it within a nice temp range.
Still going - very slowly. There isn't a lot of surface area for fermentation. That would be a big disadvantage of using the pro-restart. Regular yeasts premeate through the whole must, these are limited to whatever must is within reach of the bag. I have to keep moving it to allow it access to new must and shaking it because it gets a lot of bubbles trapped. But to it's credit, it is still fermenting.
I made a dry cyser. 12% ABV @ 0.997 SG. Mixed the 2 to taste and the resulting SG is 1.03 or so (going by memory right now). But I tasted it yesterday and so far it's awesome! This will probably be my favorite. I saved a little bit of the 1.07 for my mother because she liked it THAT sweet and I saved a little of the 0.997 for a friend who like it that dry. Now I have probably close to 7 gallons of great cyser. 
And with a fitting label made by JAG (of course):
And with a fitting label made by JAG (of course):
um, my last batch was a 5 gallon spiced cyser and clocked 1.210 OG at the start - the person it's for has a very sweet tooth. It's now about 1.045 and stopped brewing so I've now decanted it into the demijohns. It is very sweet and has a warm alcoholic flavour. Kinda reminiscent of sherry. My main concern is that it is still opaque. how long does it take for a cyser to settle long enough to start clarifying??
Well, I'm quite happy to see that yours fermented with that starting SG!
Mine is clear now, so it's been a couple of months. There are a lot of factors in clarifying. I wouldn't base anything off my batch! How do you think it got it's name? But for me it usually takes a couple months to clear. I use minimal additives.
Mine is clear now, so it's been a couple of months. There are a lot of factors in clarifying. I wouldn't base anything off my batch! How do you think it got it's name? But for me it usually takes a couple months to clear. I use minimal additives.
