Aloha! As this is my first post, I feel I should include a short introduction before I start asking for advice.
I'm a 26-year-old surfer/med student/history buff/wine lover from the west coast (US) who, 12 years after first hearing about this "mead" stuff, has taken up the hobby. I am enjoying my excursion into the world of homebrewing very much, and already I have made fast friends with the proprietors of the "local" brewshop. While I have several batches currently in the works, I actually have yet to enjoy a glass of the finished product; I wait anxiously. I have browsed the forums a few times, and I am glad to have found them; there is some excellent information here! However, there are still a few answers I am unable to find, which leads me to the reason for this post....
On 20oct05 I made my first attempt at brewing. Hoping I could have a drinkable product ready by Christmas, I chose to make a spiced cyser (as most of the online meadmaking resources I found indicated this to be a relatively quick mead). After finding many a recipe with naught a common thread between them (save for the apples), I chose to devise my own recipe by "averaging" many of the cyser recipes I'd found on the web. I have since learned that I've made several mistakes along the way, but I am still hoping I can end up with a relatively tasty, drinkable cyser. Below is the recipe (and preparation method) I devised:
I-Don't-Know-WTF-I'm-Doing Spiced Cyser
=======================================
3 gallons local, unfiltered, pasteurized cider
5 pounds raw, local, "fireweed" honey
2 oranges, zested
3 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup whole, frozen cranberries
1 lemon, juiced
1 small box (snack-sized; 1oz?) organic, unpreserved raisins
1 packet Cote de Blanc
-24 hours: Made starter with 1 pint apple juice, ~3 tbsp honey, ~1 tbsp lemon juice, +10 raisins. Starter went berserk within ~6 hours.
0: Put all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Raised temperature to 145º for 30 minutes, skimming scum as needed. Cooled pot in sink full of ice. Pitched starter, stirred. Poured must into 3-gallon carboy (splashing to aerate), poured overflow into 1-gallon jug. Fitted vodka-filled airlocks to fermenters, put fermenters on a shelf in a warm(ish) room. Fermentation started almost immediately, airlocks were bubbling vigorously within 5 hours.
+2 weeks: Fermentation slowed, 1 inch of lees on the bottom of each bottle. Racked to lees, combined contents of jugs in one 3-gallon carboy.
+6 weeks: Another inch of lees, cyser slightly less cloudy. Racked to lees. Tasted: too dry, weak apple flavor. Added ~1 cup honey, diluted in water. Added 1 cinnamon stick. Fermentation picked up a bit.
+3 months (ie, today): Airlock activity minimal. Yet another inch of lees. Cyser much clearer; "murky" now, no longer 100% opaque. Weak apple and spice flavor, not a hint of citrus or cranberry, semi-unpleasant alcohol taste. Added, on a whim, 12 oz organic apple juice concentrate. Not sure what to expect; hoping result will be strong apple flavor, but expecting cloying sweetness as well. Not sure how sweetness will be countered. Fully aware this may well be a stupid thing to do. ))
Questions:
==========
1. Having only recently learned about heating musts with fruit, and pectin-induced cloudiness, I fear my cyser may not clear (which won't be the end of the world). Is it too late to add pectinase? Does pectinase reaction require higher-than-room temperatures?
2. Are my predictions about the apple juice concentrate correct? Was adding it as ill-advised as I suspect?
3. If the cyser does indeed become cloyingly sweet, how should I proceed? Add acidic ingredients? Would unsweetened cranberry juice work to help offset the sweetness (note: I'd like to have a mild cranberry flavor.)?
4. Can/should beverages sit on the lees with Cote de Blanc?
5. I only recently learned the effects of UV light. Has having sat uncovered in dim, indirect sunlight, and under fluorescent adversely changed the flavor profile of my cyser? How would I know? What will "UV contamination" taste like?
6. How should I best go about adding more spice flavor to this cyser? I want more than simply spice notes; I want them to be obvious, but, like the cranberry, not strong enough to draw attention away from the strong apple flavor which I seek.
7. Is there any hope? Or has my initial ignorance, and later, disregarding of my instincts (ala the concentrate) doomed my first batch of mead?
Thank you very much for your guidance. Any and all suggestions/sage advice/laughing-and-pointing/admonishments/ are welcome. ))
I'm a 26-year-old surfer/med student/history buff/wine lover from the west coast (US) who, 12 years after first hearing about this "mead" stuff, has taken up the hobby. I am enjoying my excursion into the world of homebrewing very much, and already I have made fast friends with the proprietors of the "local" brewshop. While I have several batches currently in the works, I actually have yet to enjoy a glass of the finished product; I wait anxiously. I have browsed the forums a few times, and I am glad to have found them; there is some excellent information here! However, there are still a few answers I am unable to find, which leads me to the reason for this post....
On 20oct05 I made my first attempt at brewing. Hoping I could have a drinkable product ready by Christmas, I chose to make a spiced cyser (as most of the online meadmaking resources I found indicated this to be a relatively quick mead). After finding many a recipe with naught a common thread between them (save for the apples), I chose to devise my own recipe by "averaging" many of the cyser recipes I'd found on the web. I have since learned that I've made several mistakes along the way, but I am still hoping I can end up with a relatively tasty, drinkable cyser. Below is the recipe (and preparation method) I devised:
I-Don't-Know-WTF-I'm-Doing Spiced Cyser
=======================================
3 gallons local, unfiltered, pasteurized cider
5 pounds raw, local, "fireweed" honey
2 oranges, zested
3 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup whole, frozen cranberries
1 lemon, juiced
1 small box (snack-sized; 1oz?) organic, unpreserved raisins
1 packet Cote de Blanc
-24 hours: Made starter with 1 pint apple juice, ~3 tbsp honey, ~1 tbsp lemon juice, +10 raisins. Starter went berserk within ~6 hours.
0: Put all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Raised temperature to 145º for 30 minutes, skimming scum as needed. Cooled pot in sink full of ice. Pitched starter, stirred. Poured must into 3-gallon carboy (splashing to aerate), poured overflow into 1-gallon jug. Fitted vodka-filled airlocks to fermenters, put fermenters on a shelf in a warm(ish) room. Fermentation started almost immediately, airlocks were bubbling vigorously within 5 hours.
+2 weeks: Fermentation slowed, 1 inch of lees on the bottom of each bottle. Racked to lees, combined contents of jugs in one 3-gallon carboy.
+6 weeks: Another inch of lees, cyser slightly less cloudy. Racked to lees. Tasted: too dry, weak apple flavor. Added ~1 cup honey, diluted in water. Added 1 cinnamon stick. Fermentation picked up a bit.
+3 months (ie, today): Airlock activity minimal. Yet another inch of lees. Cyser much clearer; "murky" now, no longer 100% opaque. Weak apple and spice flavor, not a hint of citrus or cranberry, semi-unpleasant alcohol taste. Added, on a whim, 12 oz organic apple juice concentrate. Not sure what to expect; hoping result will be strong apple flavor, but expecting cloying sweetness as well. Not sure how sweetness will be countered. Fully aware this may well be a stupid thing to do. ))
Questions:
==========
1. Having only recently learned about heating musts with fruit, and pectin-induced cloudiness, I fear my cyser may not clear (which won't be the end of the world). Is it too late to add pectinase? Does pectinase reaction require higher-than-room temperatures?
2. Are my predictions about the apple juice concentrate correct? Was adding it as ill-advised as I suspect?
3. If the cyser does indeed become cloyingly sweet, how should I proceed? Add acidic ingredients? Would unsweetened cranberry juice work to help offset the sweetness (note: I'd like to have a mild cranberry flavor.)?
4. Can/should beverages sit on the lees with Cote de Blanc?
5. I only recently learned the effects of UV light. Has having sat uncovered in dim, indirect sunlight, and under fluorescent adversely changed the flavor profile of my cyser? How would I know? What will "UV contamination" taste like?
6. How should I best go about adding more spice flavor to this cyser? I want more than simply spice notes; I want them to be obvious, but, like the cranberry, not strong enough to draw attention away from the strong apple flavor which I seek.
7. Is there any hope? Or has my initial ignorance, and later, disregarding of my instincts (ala the concentrate) doomed my first batch of mead?
Thank you very much for your guidance. Any and all suggestions/sage advice/laughing-and-pointing/admonishments/ are welcome. ))