[BillyBobjohnson]

Decided to try my hand at making a Cyser. I use a very similar recipe to make cider, which usually turns out to be super tasty. This however is my first time adding honey, as well as my first time using 'Lavlin K1-V1116'. Supposedly it allows for more subtle floral notes to come through in the final product.

I am posting this recipe, and will update as I go along with the process. I welcome feedback and tips that anyone may have and would love ideas on how to improve it!

Ingredients:
3Kg pasteurized honey
2L of warm water (to dissolve honey)
946mL pure black cherry juice
250 mL pineapple juice
18L apple juice
2 tbsp loose leaf wild berry black tea (for some tannins)

Steps:
-Combine honey and warm water in a large pot (5L or larger) stir well

-add tea to mixture (I used a cheesecloth bag for easy removal later)

-slowly bring the tempurature up to 100°C(212°f) stirring well and stirring often. I did this on my stoves third lowest setting, it took about an hour to reach temp (Which is the optimal temp for black tea to brew)

-remove pot from heat and cover.

-steep the tea for about 10 minutes

-strain out the tea and allow mixture to cool (I left it for about an hour)

-add honey mixture, apple juice, cherry juice and pineapple juice to primary fermenter (6 gallon bucket)

-starting gravity= 1.082 (~11% Potential ABV)


-hydrate yeast packet in 250 mL of must and let sit until it foams (about 1/2 hour)


-add yeast to fermenter, stir vigorously, cover and wait.

-will move to a secondary fermenter in about 2 weeks

Update #1: 12 hours after pitching yeast, it is bubbling like crazy


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[pete b]

This sounds basically solid for a first attempt at mead, but here are a few things to improve:
You only need to heat water enough to mix honey
If you are heating fruit you want to add pectin enzyme before fermentation to prevent a haze from the pectin setting
You don’t need to rehydrate yeast in must, warm, not hot, water is fine.
Most important: you need a yeast nutrient and degassing regimen. I am sure you can get the info you need on this forum for that.

[BillyBobjohnson]

Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't read anything about degassing before. I will start to incorporate into this batch, looks like its not too late for me to start (I'm only 4 days into the ferment).

As for the nutrients, it was my understanding then when making a Cyser, the fruit juice would provide enough nutrients for the yeast. Am I mistaken in that thinking? I do have some nutrient on hand that I can add in, if it's necessary.

The heating of the honey was more for the infusion of the black tea than anything. Could save some time if I just made 2L of tea first and mixed it in to the honey after. I will try that on my next batch!

Thanks again!

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[pete b]

Yes, degassing will still help. You are correct that fruit provides nutrients that honey alone doesn’t but nutrients are an easy and relatively cheap failsafe. The nut of it with meadmaking is getting a really clean fermentation and happy yeast is key so better safe than sorry. And it will likely come out fine without in this case. Note that when you degass and add nutrients it’s best to degass first then add nutrients as the foaming gets even more dramatic if the nutrients are in there when you agitate. It looks like you have decent head space in your fermenter so no worries for this batch.
When I add tea to mead I just do a little side batch with a cup or two of water.
One more important thing: for a clean fermentation you don’t want high temperature. I do low to mid sixties. High sixties is ok, but over seventy is likely to cause fusel alcohols which make the mead taste “hot”. That’s the temp of the mead, not the ambient temp of the room it’s in.

[BillyBobjohnson]

Makes total sense! I will add in some extra nutrients, just to be safe!

Took a temp reading of my must, was right at 70°f so I moved it to a cooler location in my house, hopefully I'll see that temp drop.

Thanks again for all the info!

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[pete b]

If you are just at 70 at height of fermentation that is not worrisome?

[BillyBobjohnson]

High sixties is ok, but over seventy is likely to cause fusel alcohols which make the mead taste “hot”. That’s the temp of the mead, not the ambient temp of the room it’s in.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I took this to mean that I should be trying to keep the temp of the mead in the low 60s. Is that not as important during the first few days?

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[pete b]

High sixties is ok, but over seventy is likely to cause fusel alcohols which make the mead taste “hot”. That’s the temp of the mead, not the ambient temp of the room it’s in.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I took this to mean that I should be trying to keep the temp of the mead in the low 60s. Is that not as important during the first few days?

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No, I was saying that 70 is around the high end that would be ok and I was (unclearly) advising to sit tight. It’s not ideal but it’s ok. Sorry that wasn’t clear. What is the ambient temp of where you moved it to? If it’s like 60 or higher fine but if it was really cold like 50 I would move it back. Sorry for the confusion.
And actually for future reference the first few days to a week is when you really want it to be on the cool side because so much of the activity is then that would cause fuels and other problems. Keep in mind that fermentation raises the temp, 6-8 degrees in my experience so a mid to upper 50s basement is a great place to ferment mead.

[BillyBobjohnson]

High sixties is ok, but over seventy is likely to cause fusel alcohols which make the mead taste “hot”. That’s the temp of the mead, not the ambient temp of the room it’s in.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I took this to mean that I should be trying to keep the temp of the mead in the low 60s. Is that not as important during the first few days?

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No, I was saying that 70 is around the high end that would be ok and I was (unclearly) advising to sit tight. It’s not ideal but it’s ok. Sorry that wasn’t clear. What is the ambient temp of where you moved it to? If it’s like 60 or higher fine but if it was really cold like 50 I would move it back. Sorry for the confusion.
And actually for future reference the first few days to a week is when you really want it to be on the cool side because so much of the activity is then that would cause fuels and other problems. Keep in mind that fermentation raises the temp, 6-8 degrees in my experience so a mid to upper 50s basement is a great place to ferment mead.

Oh okay, I understand now! Where I moved it to, the ambient temp is in the high 50s to low 60s, which has brought the temp of the mead down to mid 60s.

For future batches I will start the ferment in the cooler zone of my house, I'll have to monitor the temp as it gets closer to summer though. I don't have a basement, but it doesn't usually get much hotter than 60° where I live. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain an optimal fermentation temp all year long, but I may just have to do my fermentations in the cooler months and take a break in the summer.

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