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Cyser recipe for a small-batch apple mead made by fermenting fresh-pressed cider with honey. Sometimes called apple mead, apple honey wine, or cyzer, this traditional ferment combines the fruity character of hard cider with the body and rounded sweetness of honey mead, and it’s much more forgiving than straight hard cider.
Cyser is one of the oldest mead variations on record and shows up in medieval European brewing texts under names like cyser, cyzer, and pyment-of-apples. Today it sits in the broader category of melomels (fruit meads), and it’s an especially good entry point for new mead makers because the cider does most of the flavor heavy-lifting.
The finished cyser ranges from semi-dry to a sweet dessert wine depending on how much honey you use and which yeast strain you pitch. The color is a beautiful golden amber, with a complex flavor that captures both the orchard character of fresh cider and the floral roundness of honey. Cyser ages well, and a year in the bottle does wonderful things to the flavor.
If you have apples on hand and you’re not ready to commit to a long fermentation, the 30+ ways to preserve apples roundup has plenty of other ideas, including apple wine, apple butter, canning apple cider, and apple cider vinegar.
Notes from my Kitchen
We have a small home orchard up here in Vermont and a double-barrel cider press that comes out every fall, so by mid-October the kitchen is usually full of carboys bubbling away with cider in some stage of fermentation. I started making cyser a few years back when I’d ended up with several gallons of cider that didn’t quite have the tannic punch I wanted for hard cider. The same fresh juice that fell flat as straight cider turned into something uniquely special once I added honey and let it ferment slowly with mead yeast.
What I love about cyser is how forgiving it is. Hard cider is fussy and depends almost entirely on having the right blend of apples, but cyser lets you start with whatever sweet cider you have on hand, including grocery store cider, and still come out the other side with a beautiful drink. Last year’s batch is still aging in the basement, and every time I open a bottle for company, someone asks for the recipe.
Cyser vs. Hard Cider
Hard cider is, by definition, just fresh-pressed cider and yeast. The flavor depends almost entirely on the quality and variety of the apples in the cider, and good hard cider is exceptionally hard to make without access to dedicated cider apple varieties. Sweet eating apples don’t make great hard cider. You need some tannic apples (sometimes called “spitters”) and some intensely acidic apples to contribute character, not just the sweet aromatic dessert apples we like to eat fresh.
Even sweet apples have far less sugar than wine grapes, so most yeast strains burn through the available sugar quickly and leave the cider very dry. Hard cider also tends to be thin and lacks the rounded mouthfeel of a fine wine. It’s a perfectly good drink, but it’s something you’d grab at the pub rather than sip with a meal.
Cyser solves all of those problems. The honey adds body and contributes additional sugars, which means the finished mead can be anywhere from semi-dry to a sweet dessert wine depending on the yeast you choose. Cyser also lets you add yeast nutrient, acid blend, tannin, and pectic enzyme to tune the batch the way you want it, even when you’re starting with ordinary sweet cider that doesn’t have any “hard cider” varieties in the blend.
Ingredients for Cyser
All country mead recipes aim to create a balanced honey wine with enough residual sweetness to be tasty, enough acidity to add bright flavor, and enough tannin for good body and mouthfeel. The fruit and honey bring some of these things, and the other winemaking and mead ingredients balance what they lack. This recipe is most like the cyser in Amber Shehan’s Artisanal Small-Batch Brewing, with similar versions in The Compleat Meadmaker and Make Mead Like a Viking.
- 1 gallon fresh apple cider (no preservatives) ~ Provides the primary apple flavor, color, and most of the natural acidity. Use unpasteurized cider from a local orchard if you can, since it has the most aromatic character. Pasteurized refrigerated cider from the grocery store works fine too. Avoid anything labeled “apple juice” or anything that contains potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate, since those preservatives will inhibit your yeast and stall the ferment.
- 2 to 2½ pounds honey ~ Provides additional fermentable sugar, body, and floral aromatics. Wildflower or clover honey is a good neutral starting point. Darker honeys like buckwheat add more flavor but can dominate the apple character. At 2 pounds with the recommended D47 yeast, the finished cyser is semi-dry to semi-sweet. At 2½ pounds, it finishes sweet without being cloying. Higher alcohol-tolerance yeasts can handle up to 3 pounds without producing an overly sweet result.
- 1 packet wine yeast ~ The yeast strain you pick has a major effect on the finished flavor and sweetness level. See the yeast section below for specific recommendations.
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient ~ Honey is one of the most nutrient-deficient fermentables there is, even more so than fruit, so a yeast nutrient is essentially required for clean cyser fermentation. Without it, you risk stuck fermentations and off-flavors. A handful of golden raisins works as a backup substitute, but powdered nutrient is more reliable and won’t add raisin flavor.
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme ~ Optional but recommended. Apples are high in pectin, and the enzyme breaks it down so the finished cyser ferments to a clear amber instead of staying cloudy. Skip it if you don’t mind a little haze in the glass.
- ½ tsp acid blend ~ Most sweet ciders are heavy on apple sugars and a little light on acid. The acid blend creates a hospitable pH for the yeast and brightens the finished flavor. Skip it if you’re starting with particularly tart cider, or substitute 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
- ⅛ to ¼ tsp wine tannin ~ Optional. Adds structure and mouthfeel. Skip it if your cider blend includes tannic apple varieties (most grocery store cider doesn’t). A strongly brewed cup of plain black tea works as a substitute.
Yeast for Cyser
The yeast strain you choose has a profound impact on the finished flavor and character. Yeast contribute flavor esters as they ferment, and alcohol tolerance determines both final alcohol percentage and residual sweetness. For cyser, look for a strain with moderate alcohol tolerance that ferments clean or adds light fruit and floral notes:
- Lalvin ICV-D47 ~ My first pick for cyser. Brings out fruity and floral aromatics, ferments cleanly, and tops out around 15% ABV. Pairs beautifully with apple character and finishes with enough residual sweetness to balance the honey.
- Lalvin QA23 ~ A clean-fermenting white wine yeast that lets the apple and honey character come through without adding much yeast flavor of its own. 16% alcohol tolerance, good for a slightly drier finish.
- Lalvin K1-V1116 ~ A reliable, vigorous fermenter with up to 18% alcohol tolerance. Will produce a drier cyser unless you bump the honey up toward 3 pounds. Forgiving across a wide temperature range.
- Lalvin EC-1118 ~ A neutral champagne yeast that ferments cleanly and dry. Good for a sparkling-style cyser, especially if you bottle-condition with priming sugar.
One packet treats up to 5 gallons, but pitch the whole packet for a 1-gallon batch since honey ferments more slowly than fruit sugar and benefits from a strong yeast population at the start. Never use bread yeast for mead. It will make your cyser taste like bread and only tolerates about 5% alcohol before stalling out.
Equipment for Cyser
In addition to ingredients, you’ll need some basic winemaking equipment:
- One-gallon glass carboy with airlock for primary and secondary fermentation
- Auto-siphon or racking cane for transferring without disturbing sediment
- Wine bottles, corks, and a bottle corker (or flip-top Grolsch bottles if you want to skip the corker)
- No-rinse brewing sanitizer for cleaning all your equipment before you start
A narrow-neck carboy is fine for cyser primary, since this ferment doesn’t bubble nearly as violently as fruit-forward wines. You’ll want two carboys total if you plan to keep things tidy across rackings, but you can also rack into a sanitized 1-gallon glass jug.
How to Make Cyser
The process is the same as any small-batch honey wine or mead, with the cider standing in for the water that you’d use in a traditional show mead. If this is your first batch, work through the mead guide first, since it covers the basic technique in more depth.
Preparing the Cider
Set aside about 1 quart of cider in the refrigerator or freezer to use later for topping off the carboy after the first racking. The honey takes up some volume in the fermenter and you’ll lose a little more to the sediment, so you’ll need that reserved cider to bring the level back up after primary.
If you want to sterilize the cider before pitching yeast, crush a Campden tablet into the must and wait 24 hours before adding the yeast. I personally don’t use Campden tablets in my mead because the wild yeast in fresh cider gets outcompeted by the commercial yeast strain anyway, but it’s a worthwhile safety step if you’re working with a particularly funky batch of cider.
Mixing the Must
Pour the remaining 3 quarts of cider into a large pot or directly into your fermenter. Add the honey and stir until fully dissolved. If the honey isn’t dissolving easily, gently warm the cider on the stovetop to lukewarm. Don’t bring it to a boil, since heating drives off the bright aromatics that make fresh cider special.
Once the honey is dissolved, stir in the yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, acid blend, and tannin powder. Transfer everything into your sanitized one-gallon carboy.
Pitching the Yeast
Once the must is at room temperature (below 90°F), rehydrate the wine yeast in about ¼ cup of unchlorinated room-temperature water for 10 minutes before pitching. Stir gently to incorporate. Top up the carboy with a little of your reserved cider if needed to bring the level to the base of the neck, leaving 2 to 3 inches of headspace for the active fermentation. Seal with a water lock.
Primary Fermentation
You should see active bubbling within 24 to 72 hours. Cyser primary fermentation is steady but rarely violent, so a standard airlock handles it without trouble. Keep the carboy in a cool, dark spot at consistent room temperature (60° to 75°F is ideal).
Let primary run for 10 to 14 days, until the bubbling slows noticeably and a layer of sediment settles at the bottom of the carboy.
Racking to Secondary
Siphon the cyser off the sediment and into a clean one-gallon carboy. Stirring up the lees causes off-flavors in the finished mead, so move slowly and keep the siphon hose above the layer of fines at the bottom.
Top up the secondary vessel with the reserved quart of cider (or unchlorinated water if you’ve already drunk the reserved quart). Bring the level to the base of the neck of the carboy and seal with an airlock. Move the cyser to a cool, dark spot and let it ferment in secondary for at least 6 to 8 weeks, ideally 4 to 6 months. Honey ferments more slowly than fruit sugar, and longer secondary produces a more complex finished mead.
Bottling and Aging
Taste the cyser at the end of secondary. It should taste palatable and have good aromatics, even though it’ll still be a little rough from being unaged. If it tastes too dry, this is the point where you’d backsweeten by stabilizing first with a Campden tablet and ½ teaspoon potassium sorbate, waiting 24 to 48 hours, then stirring in additional honey or simple syrup to taste. Let the stabilized cyser rest another week before bottling to make sure fermentation doesn’t restart.
Siphon into clean wine bottles and cork or cap. Cyser is drinkable after about a month in the bottle, but it improves dramatically with longer aging. Six months is a good minimum if you can hold off, and a full year produces a noticeably smoother and more complex mead.
Tips for Making Cyser
- Use fresh-pressed cider when you can. Unpasteurized cider from a local orchard has the brightest aromatics and produces the most flavorful cyser. Pasteurized refrigerated cider also works, but avoid anything with preservatives like potassium sorbate that will stall your fermentation.
- Don’t skip the yeast nutrient. Honey is the most nutrient-deficient fermentable in home brewing, and skipping the nutrient often leads to stuck fermentations and sulfur off-notes. The teaspoon called for here is non-negotiable.
- Add spices for autumn character. A cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean, or a few cloves can transform cyser into a fall-spiced mead. Warm spices intensify during fermentation and can turn bitter, so start with smaller amounts than you’d think you’d need. Add the spices to the secondary, not the primary, so the flavor doesn’t get blown off with the fermentation gases.
- Try brown sugar or molasses. Substituting ¼ to ½ pound of the honey for an equal weight of brown sugar gives the cyser warm caramel notes and intensifies the apple character (brown sugar tends to produce apple-pie aromas as it ferments). A tablespoon of molasses adds depth without overpowering the apple flavor.
- Add autumn fruits. A handful of cranberries, a few sliced quinces, or a cup of aronia berries in the primary turns this into a more complex melomel. Cranberries add tart brightness, quince adds floral perfume, and aronia adds deep color and a hit of tannin.
- Age longer than you think you need to. Cyser at 6 months is good, at a year it’s better, and at 18 months it’s spectacular. Bottle a few extra so you can taste the same batch over time and see how it develops.
- Try other apple ferments. If you enjoy cyser, the same orchard harvest can make apple wine, hard cider, pear cider, or apple cider vinegar. Cyser pairs especially well with autumn fruit meads like quince mead and elderberry mead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cyser is fermented apple cider that includes honey as an additional fermentable sugar, which puts it in the mead family. Hard cider is just cider and yeast, with no honey or other added sugars. Cyser is sweeter, fuller-bodied, and more forgiving to make than hard cider, since it doesn’t depend on having the right blend of cider apples to taste good. Hard cider is dry and lighter, with the apple character standing alone.
Fresh-pressed unpasteurized cider from a local orchard is ideal because it has the brightest aromatics and the fullest flavor. Pasteurized refrigerated cider works fine too. The one thing to avoid is anything labeled apple juice, or any cider that contains preservatives like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate. Those preservatives will inhibit your yeast and stall the fermentation. Read the label carefully if you’re buying cider from the grocery store.
Plan on at least 3 to 4 months from start to first taste. The recipe calls for 10 to 14 days in primary, 6 to 8 weeks minimum in secondary (4 to 6 months is better), and at least one month of bottle aging. Cyser keeps improving with age, so the longer you can hold off, the better. A full year of bottle aging produces noticeably smoother and more complex flavor than the 1-month minimum.
Lalvin ICV-D47 is the standard recommendation for cyser. It brings out fruity and floral aromatics, ferments cleanly, and tops out around 15 percent alcohol, which leaves enough residual sweetness to balance the honey. Lalvin QA23 is a good alternative for a slightly drier finish, and Lalvin K1-V1116 works well if you want a higher-alcohol cyser and bump the honey up to 3 pounds.
You can make a basic cyser with just cider, honey, and wine yeast, but the result will be less balanced and may have stuck fermentation issues. The yeast nutrient is the one ingredient I would not skip, since honey is severely deficient in the micronutrients yeast need to ferment cleanly. The pectic enzyme, acid blend, and tannin are all optional and just improve clarity, balance, and mouthfeel. A handful of golden raisins can substitute for yeast nutrient in a pinch.
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Cyser (Apple Mead or Apple Honey Wine)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 gallon fresh apple cider, see note
- 2 to 2 1/2 lbs honey, see note
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/2 tsp acid blend
- 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp tannin powder
- 1 packet wine yeast, Lavin D47 Suggested see note
Instructions
- Start by removing about 1 quart of juice (4 cups) from the gallon. Save this juice in the freezer for topping the mixture off in secondary.
- Dissolve all the ingredients (except the yeast) in the remaining 3 quarts of apple cider. Sometimes heating gently can help with this, but do not boil.
- Pour the sweetened juice mixture into the fermentation vessel and allow it to come back to room temperature if it was heated.
- Dissolve the winemaking yeast in a small amount of unchlorinated water (about 1/4 cup). A packet is sufficient to start fermentation in up to 5 gallons of juice, but you still use a whole packet for anywhere between 1 and a 5 gallon batch. Allow the yeast to sit for about 10 minutes to rehydrate.
- Add the wine yeast to the fermentation vessel with the juice.
- Top off the fermentation vessel with some of the apple juice you set aside at the beginning until the level of the juice is at the base of the neck of the fermentation vessel. Be sure to leave 2-3 inches of headspace to allow the mixture to bubble.
- Cap with a rubber bung and waterlock (filled with water) and allow the mixture to ferment in primary for about 7 to 10 days. Fermentation will be very active, and may bubble up into the water lock. If so, clean out the water lock and re-attach it as necessary.
- After primary fermentation, use a brewing siphon to move the ferment to a clean fermentation vessel, leaving any sediment behind.
- Re-cap with a water lock and allow the mixture to ferment in a cool, dark place in "secondary" for at least 6 weeks, but preferably longer, like 4 to 6 months.
- When fermentation is complete, bottle the wine in wine bottles and allow it to bottle age for at least a month but preferably longer before drinking. If you'd like sweet wine, back sweetening may be necessary at this point. Otherwise, bottle and allow the mead to bottle condition for at least a month before enjoying
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ways to Preserve Apples
Once your carboy is bubbling away, you’ll have a long wait before the first taste. To fill the time, work through more homemade mead recipes or country wine recipes on the site. If you’ve still got apples on hand and want a faster preservation project, head over to my full guide on 30+ ways to preserve apples or browse the apple canning recipes on Creative Canning, including canned applesauce and apple jam.
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Appreciate it this, gonna give it a go. Am I crazy or did you never mention temperature anywhere? Guess room temp must be fine.
Yes, this one ferments at room temperature.
Do you find that the brown sugar adds a molasses flavor? Was considering adding some, but read comments elsewhere that say it does.
Slightly. Brown sugar often gives ferments of any kind an apple-y flavor, or kind of a warm apple pie flavor, which is also kinda molasses-y. I think it’s nice, if used sparingly, but it’s not overtly molasses-y.