Cyser (Apple Mead or Apple Honey Wine)

4.86 from 14 votes

A traditional 1-gallon recipe for cyser, the apple mead made by fermenting fresh-pressed cider with honey. Yields about 4 standard wine bottles.

Prep Time1

Cook Time14

Secondary Fermentation42

Total Time56 1

Course: mead

Cuisine: American

Servings: glasses, makes 1 gallon, or about 4 bottles

Author: Ashley Adamant

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

Apple Cider

Use unpasteurized fresh-pressed cider from a local orchard if you can, since it has the brightest aromatics. Pasteurized refrigerated cider works fine too. Avoid anything labeled "apple juice" or anything containing potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate, since those preservatives will inhibit your yeast. Save 1 quart of cider in the refrigerator or freezer to use for topping off the carboy after racking to secondary, since you'll lose some volume to honey displacement and sediment.

Honey

Most cyser recipes call for 1¾ to 2½ pounds of honey per gallon. At 1¾ pounds with the recommended D47 yeast, the result is very dry. At 2 pounds, the cyser finishes semi-dry to semi-sweet with enough residual sugar to feel balanced. At 2½ pounds, the cyser finishes sweet without being cloying. Adjust based on your yeast strain — higher alcohol-tolerance yeasts (K1-V1116, EC-1118) need more honey to leave residual sweetness, while lower alcohol-tolerance yeasts leave more residual sugar with less honey.

Yeast Choices

Lalvin ICV-D47 is the standard recommendation for cyser. It enhances fruity and floral aromatics and tops out at 15% alcohol, which leaves nice residual sweetness. Lalvin QA23 is a clean-fermenting white wine yeast for a slightly drier finish. Lalvin K1-V1116 is a vigorous fermenter with 18% alcohol tolerance — use it with 2½ to 3 pounds of honey. Lalvin EC-1118 is a champagne yeast that ferments dry and works well for a sparkling-style cyser.

Stabilizing and Backsweetening

If the cyser tastes too dry at the end of secondary, rack to a clean container, add 1 Campden tablet and ½ teaspoon potassium sorbate, and wait 24 to 48 hours to make sure the yeast has died off before adding any honey. Stir in additional honey or simple syrup to taste, starting small and adjusting up. Let the stabilized cyser rest another week before bottling to make sure fermentation doesn't restart.

Aging

Cyser is drinkable after about a month in the bottle, but it improves dramatically with longer aging. Six months produces a noticeably smoother and more complex mead, and a full year is even better. Bottle a few extra so you can taste the same batch over time and watch how it develops.

Nutrition