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Cyser Visited

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M

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
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The ThirstyViking has pricked my interest. Whether I'm peeling potatoes, stoking the fire, or checking on the fermentations of my mead, this cyser recipe keeps popping-up in my head. It says, "Try me, try me."

From what I gather, no water is used. It's rather basic. Just use 2-2.5 lbs. of honey to each gallon of juice. Can't get much plainer than that.

Now, a couple things:

This thing is eating at me, so I stop by the grocer on my home home yesterday. I found several juices from concentrate, that stated the ingredients as 100% apple juice from concentrate. No other ingredients are listed. One juice did specify it being pasteurized. Is this what we're looking for? No, preservatives or any other additives listed in the ingredients?

Being of the "Natural Cult", as specified in a previous post, I suspect the way I would go about this cyser thing is; Heat my juice to a point that the honey will blend well. Simmer & skim, as usual.

Now, another item of question; Spices; Spices are a pain, for me, while skimming. What about doing the spices in a seperate pot. Simmering them in a small amount of water, or something. Then, after the must is prepared and ready to start the cool-down, add the spiced-water mix. Does this sound reasonable?
 
T

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
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Those are reasonable approaches, In time I'll add some spices to some Of my cyser.

Here is another Reasonable Approach....
Glass 1 Gallon Carboys for ~ $7.00
And Surprise they come full of apple juice :).
 
J

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
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Meadiac
carful not to over do it on the spices. its alot easier to add more spice later than it is to try and dilute out spices when you add too much.
 
G

GntlKnght

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
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Has anyone used a spiced cider? Was curious if that would solve the age old "too much spice" dilemma. I saw some at the Farmers' Market last weekend and it has been calling to me ever since!
 
M

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
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Well, I had a package of Champagne yeast in the icebox. I didn't want it to go bad. :p So, I took advantage of the opprotunity and made a trip to the grocer Saturday morning.

I gots me a gallon of that Viking Cyser started. ;D
 
T

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
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personally i loved it at 1.02, still very good dry, but i preffered it with more appleness... why i use k1-v116 instead of ec-1118
 
M

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
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I don't have my "recipe of record" here with me, but if memory serves correctly, it was as follows:

1 gallon White House Apple Juice
1 qt. (3lbs.) Raw, undescript honey
3 tsp. of loose black tea leaves
3 tbsp. lemon juice
EC-1118

As of this morning, all is still, quiet and clear. Final racking, to rid of a bit of sediment, will take place Thursday evening. An air lock will remain in place for an additional week or so, for 2 reasons; 1. This will be my first attempt at bottling, I wish to make no mistake. 2. My step father is coming to visit in 3 weeks, I'm trying to have some left for him. Having an air lock in place, for a bit longer, may help me to be more patient. :p Even with using the EC-1118 and a little more honey, the Cyser is mighty, I say mighty good. ;)

P.S. Forgot to mention; I also added a couple ounces of Buckwheat honey at racking.
 
T

ThistyViking

NewBee
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Nov 15, 2003
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Hey the Dry cyser didn't last very long either... I didn't mean to imply that Ec-1118 makes a bad cyser... just that it lost most of the fruity charachter as it finished. And I really liked that. I guess I'm going to have to try some tea leaves and lemon juice in my cyser eventually :) I'm sure that will not make it bad... just haven't wanted to mess with success as it were :)
 
M

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
115
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Yes sir, the K1 yeast will be in the next batch. I had a single pack of EC-1118 in the fridge when you got me knawing on the thought of this cyser stuff.

Well, it was a Friday afternoon, on the way home from work. I had spent a major portion of the day, here on GotMead Forum. My mouth was water'n, wanting to try this cyser thing. So, I wheel it in the local produce stand, pick up a quart of honey. Then I motor to the grocer and got a gallon of White House.

Well, no sooner than I had the engine off, I was warming a little juice and mixing my honey. The rest is history and in the form of finished cyser, down in the cellar.

It takes a tremendous amount of will power to allow that little gallon jug to remain full. The gallon size batch is too hard on a man. They should be out-lawed. A bill should be put before the Mead gods. A bill that would allow no batch to be smaller than 3 gallons.

I think the gods would understand that the small batches are too hard on the soul & spirit, causing a degenerate health condition. A condition that can only be rectified by having a tremendous store of mead in one's cellar. A feeling of total security, not having to be concerned of running out of mead.

Yes comrades, no more 1 gallons for me, except at bottling. ;)
 
T

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
529
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The secret to my recent happiness is along about batch three... I decided that the way to make mead was as follows....

Get larger carboys... get an assortment of 1 gallon and 1/2 gallon Applejuice jugs.

Every time I make a batch I try to figure what size carboy i want to bottle of it... 3, 5, 6, 6.5 ... I then make 1 - 1.5 gallons extra mead in the primary.

For instance a 3 gallon bottled batch starts as a 4 gallon batch in bucket primary. Bottle primary it will be a 3 gallon and a 1 gallon bottle. When I rack off lees to a secondary it will typically become a 3 gallon carboy and a 1/2 galon mini. possibly with some for me as well (put the remaining sediment in a 1/2 gallon juice bottle, Cold stabilize and recover what you can for immeadiate taste testing)

At the next racking to remove sediment it becomes a 3 gallon carboy for bulk ageing and 1/2 gallon in the fridgerator with all the sediment being cold stabalized for me to enjoy a few days later :) I'll rack off the sediment into splits and some for immeadiate consumption.
 
K

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
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meadiac that bit about 1 gallons being outlawed is great... but thirsty viking has a brilliant scheme goin on there cuz i got like 7 0r 8 ,1 gallons i don't know what to do with and i am sick of 1 gallon batches..... i thought bottling all the way.. but any ways i've been reading your posts up here i don't know what took me so long i bought a shirt last year.. but i thinking about the cycer after reading all this. and i wanted to share my first batch story with you guys so here it goes..


It went horribily wrong. :-/ i decided to take it up beacause
A.i need to learn patients. :-X and needed a hobby.
B. my friend got a case from a guy who made it out west. he had a traditional, vanilla, and a raspberry. all being exquiste especially the vanilla. mind you i had chaucers prior to that. and i was told they were home made.
So being a renny i eventualy decided to take the plunge. bought a kit. cashed in my change jar for 8, 2# farmer jack honey bottles, and went to town. That saturday night and sunday i must have opened that lid 1,000 times. adding sugar, water, nutrient. the first monday was excrutiating it never left my mind.
And man things couldn't happen fast enough for me i swear i lived next to that bucket for 2 weeks in my closet sized apartment. i racked and proudly displayed my carboy triumpehntly in the middle of my living room. to near a window , well about 7 months go buy everything looks good, i bottle, a few days later a wierd layer settles on the bottom, my friend has an allergic reaction, and i am convincing myself this is how it is supposed to taste this young... its still got another year and a half. to go. i realize i think i grew something messed up and when my friend printed up the 2 page instructions with pic's from someones web page. i said an i qutoe
"THIS IS SO EASY A MONKEY COULD DO THIS" :8)
i thought you could all appreciate that story. its now almost 3 years later and i have had a few stumbles along the way no disastars like this at least.but i have a fair hand now i like to think and i even started brewing ,ales only, and i am so glad i never gave up after that 1st batch i couldn't ever think about giving it up now even setting up my 1st hive this year... maybe this story should be posted for newbies huh? thanks for reading.
 
M

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
115
0
0
64
Sorry your first batch didn't work out. I think I was pretty lucky, on my first batch, considering the limited knowledge I had. (And still have) Mine was a Basic Mead. The honey to water ratio was almost 50/50, with EC-1118. :-X Believe it or not, it fermented well and actually wasn't too sweet. Dern good. As a matter of fact, it was finnished on Christmas Eve. Christmas Night the jug was empty. :mad: Of course, I had some help with emtying the jug.

Well, I had stated on this thread, or another, my Cyser was finnished and I was going to do the final racking Thursday evening and was going to save it till my step-father arrived in a couple weeks, who, by the way, assisted me in finding the bottom to the Christmas Mead. ::) Well, my intentions were good. I told my wife after supper, that I was thinking of going ahead and racking the Cyser, because I have some others that need racking also, on Thursday, and we are leaving for Ohio on Friday morning. She said, "Well, you can either go to the store and get some wine, or we can drink the Cyser tonight, because we are out."

Well, that ruined the whole plan! How could I possibly subject my wife to all them chemicals in store-bought, and take money from the family budget to buy it? The answer was clear. CYSER TIME!

Before you chastise me, I did rack a 750ml bottle and tucked it away for the step-father. My wife and I had a great start on the rest. She said, "It's real good, but does it have enough kick. It's too soon tell." Well, not long after that, I noticed her lips weren't moving in cadance with what she was saying. "Enough Kick" was verified at that point. ;)

ThirstyViking's Quick and Easy Cyser comes with high reccomendations.
 
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