For user mead recipes that are Apple forward. A blueberry cyser could be here or melomel, whichever was more prominent in flavor or aroma.
(by /u/cmc589)
Total Volume: 5 gallon
Style: Cyser
Carbonation: Yes (6 vol)
Starting Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: 1.000
Target ABV: 10.5%
Target YAN: 165 effective PPM (Counting all yeast derivatives and tannins)
| Ingredient | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Honey | 3.5 lbs | Medium intensity and color earthy honey works best |
| Fresh Press Apple Juice | 4.5 gallons | Late harvest is preferred |
| Yeast (Primary) Belle Saison | 11 g | |
| Yeast (Bottling) EC-1118 | 9.9 g | |
| Goferm PE | 13.75 g | |
| Fermaid O | 14.8 g | Yeast Nutrient |
| Opti-White | 9.5 g | Natural Yeast Derivative, enhances mouthfeel and prevents browning |
| Booster Blanc | 5 g | Specific Inactivated Yeast |
| FT Blanc Soft | 2 g | Fermentation Tannin |
| Medium Toast French Oak Cubes | 2 oz | |
| Sugar | 594 g | For Bottle Carbonation |
Mix honey and apple juice at 80f. Your honey amount will vary based on the sweetness of the apple juice. May be between 1.5-3.5lbs with late harvest juices requiring less honey. Add opti-white, booster blanc, and FT blanc soft to the must.
Add 13.75g of go ferm to 275ml of 110F water and mix to combine. Allow to cool to 104F and add 11g of Belle Saison yeast. Allow to stand for 20 minutes. Add small amounts of must from step 1 over the course of 5 minutes until the temperature of yeast rehydration mixture is between 80f and 90f.
Primary fermentation should be done at 80F-85F for the first two weeks and then can be cooled back down to room temperature until racking out of primary. Add 7.4g of Fermaid O 24h after yeast pitch and another 7.4g of Fermaid O 48h after yeast pitch for a total of 125ppm YAN.
After 1 month rack and add 2oz of medium toast french oak cubes.
Wait 3-6 months for cyser to clear completely, taste along the way and rack off of oak when preferred oak presence is detected.
Rack to a bottling bucket to remove off any remaining lees and bottle. When bottling only use heavy bottomed 750ml champagne bottles. These must be used due to the high carbonation level in the finished mead and will shatter normal beer bottles and swing tops. Determine how much mead you have in the bucket to bottle (a bucket with volume marks is ideal for this. Weight plus gravity can give you a close approximation as well. Take your volume and convert it to 750ml bottles. For each bottle you will have of cyser, add 0.3g of EC-1118 yeast and 18g of sugar to your bottling bucket (9.9g yeast and 594g sugar for 5gal or 33 bottles). You can also dose each bottle with these amounts if you are unsure of how much mead you have, but this can lead to variance in carbonation if done without care. This is the traditional required amounts for the production of proper champagne. Use crown caps to seal the bottles.
Allow the mead to bottle condition and carbonate on its side for at least 6-8 weeks at 65-75f. You will gain approximately 1% abv from the bottle condition process with this high of a carbonation level.
Additional Notes: This mead will take between 6 and 8 weeks to properly bottle carbonate at a minimum and could take longer. The other idea behind this mead is that it can be aged on the lees in bottle and then disgorged and replace the crown caps with proper champagne corks and cages. Champagne is generally aged on the lees for 3 years or more for a proper sur-lie flavor profile with the common vintage champagnes being aged for 4-10 years before disgorgement. You can test a bottle after 8 weeks to check that it properly carbonated and either leave it as it with the sediment, or you can disgorge.
In order to open and properly pour this mead if you choose to leave the lees in the bottle and not disgorge, allow the bottle to sit upright in the fridge for a minimum of 48h to allow sediment to fall to the bottom and compact. The sediment has the ability to create nucleation points that have the possibility of causing a rapid release of bubbles and an overflow upon opening. This can be mitigated by the yeast forming a fairly solid cake at the bottom and the bottle being very cold when opened.
Notes: This mead cannot be made both sweet and carbonated without the use of non-fermentable sugars unless disgorging and a sweetening liquor is added before adding a cork and cage. This is how sweeter champagnes are made. I do not suggest making this mead sweet however as the saison yeast is chosen for its higher glycerol production plus the use of opti-white give a perception of sweetness and a better mouthfeel. As sur-lie occurs, this can aid in mouthfeel as well. This mead is designed to be a dry mead with zero residual sugars. This mead is heavily carbonated, it must be served chilled like any champagne, and in bottles designed to handle the pressure.