Apple Honey Wine

[dfwwino]

My ex-wife gave me two six gallon pails of granny smith and crab apples this past week. I spent last night (2.5 hours) juicing the apples with my Omega juicer and obtained 3.5 gallons of juice. I added a gallon of Martinelli's apple juice and a gallon of Knudsen's Organic Apple juice, and 7.5 pounds of wildflower honey, along with:


3 tsp Acid Blend


3 tsp yeast nutrient


3 tsp pectic enzyme


1/2 tsp tannin


6 Campden tablets and let it sit 24 hours. Tonight, I pitched two packets of rehydrated Lavlin D-47. The SG was 1.086 and it smelled great.


I'd call this Cyser, but is it appropriate to call apple honey wine with 12 % alcohol Cyser? I am used to Cyser having the strength of ale.

 

[Dean]

Mine is around 11 to 12% and I call mine Cyser. I also added some mild cinnamon to it, so I could also call it a metheglin. At any rate, after 1.5 years of aging, it is awesome! Has a taste very close to a fine calvados.

 

[Waldo]

Sure sounds like it would taste awesome wino..whatever you call it. Got any pictures of the must? Edited by: Waldo

 

[Wade E]

That sure sounds really good and seeing as how Deans is already done Iguess Im going up there. DF, Ill see you in a year or so.

 

[dfwwino]

When I finished this concoction, I noticed that my result was eerily close to Ken Schramm's recipe for Fall's Bounty Cyser. So tonight I added 1 lb. of raisins and 1/2 lb.of dates. While I'll skip the brown sugar, this should be interesting. The fermentation is robust and underway. Waldo, I'll take some pics and post them tomorrow.

 

[dfwwino]

I thought I'd give an update on this wine. Tonight I fined the Cyser. It has a great taste, but needs to be sweetened a bit to balance the tartness of the apples. The dates and raisins added a hint of sherry like flavor.

 

[dfwwino]

I finally bottled the Cyser. The dates and raisins added an interesting finish. I think this needs some more aging. Maybe a year from now I'll try another bottle. I'll post some pics later today after I get some sleep.

 

[vcasey]

DF I did make Ken Schramm's Fall's Bounty Cyser and at bottling it was the best mead to date. I make 1 1/2 gallons of it and use the 1/2 gallon to top off the gallon and to top off the 1/2 gallon I used equal parts honey and apple juice. I did the exacy same thing with a pear mead as well so I could compare the two. At bottling both were like I said terriffic but the apple really needs more time. I'm looking forward to opening a bottle or 3 next year. Oh yeah the 1/2 gallons that I used to to top off the other two were combined and allowed to finish and while it has a bit of a kick at bottling it was our favorite.
VPC

 

[dfwwino]

VPC,
Glad to hear about your success with Fall's Bounty Cyser. Here's a pic of the final product, with the wine in one of George's wine glasses for promotional purposes:

 

[grapeman]

Nice color and finished product. Looks like another one with their tree up!

 

[vcasey]

That really is beautiful. This mead is on my "must do again" list. I'd love to open a bottle now but know if I do it will move up higher on my "must do again" list and I will not be ready for a bit. Next time I may sparkle my leftovers just for fun.
VPC

 

[dfwwino]

VPC,


I had the same thought. I think the tartness of apples would be offset by making it a bubbly. It seems like an ideal champagne base. Next time I think I will siphon into a cornelius keg, carbonate, and bottle in 1 liter beer bottles with my counter-pressure bottle filler. I'm starting another mead tomorrow night, this time a cherry vanilla mead.

 

[vcasey]

I made a cherry vanilla on New Years Day. I started with a 6 gallon batch of traditional mead and split it up into the cherry vanilla and vanilla. Both are still aging nicely. Whenever I decide to bottle the vanilla I'm going to steal a gallon and add some cinnamon and give it a month or so and bottle that. I got the idea from the brew board's fall group brew.
VPC

 

[dfwwino]

vcasey,


Do you have any recommendations on the quantity of honey, cherry etc. I have 15 lbs of honey, 6 lbs of cherry puree (Oregon's). What is the best amount of honey and puree. I plan to add the puree at secondary fermentation. I plan to add vanila beans; did you use them or an extract? If so, how many beans?

 

[vcasey]

This is the recipe that I stole er ..... borrowed from Hightest's mead links site (http://www.utahpagans.org/MeadLinks.html). I haven't made this yet, I'm planning on either Christmas Day or on National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day on Jan. 3 (seriously). I'm leaning toward Jan. 3, but you never know and I've gathered everything but the honey ........

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</a>

<b style=""><i style="">Chocolate Cherry Melomel</span>[/i][/b]



file:///C:\Users\Vig\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_filelist.xml</span>

<a href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CVig%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" target="_blank">Semi-sweet
and seductive ... this mead combines cherry, chocolate and
mahleb.</a></span>

Ingredients</span>

<ul><li style="">18 - 20 lbs clover honey (SG to 1.132 or so)</span><li style="">21 oz South Ridge Farms Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate (more or less depending on taste)</span><li style="">water to 5 1/4 gallons</span><li style="">10g (2 pkgs) Lalvin D254 dry yeast </span><li style="">Yeast nutrients</span><li style="">4 oz mahleb (when racked to secondary)</span><li style="">4 oz chocolate extract from <a href="http://www.nielsenmassey.com/" target="_blank">Nielsen
Massey's</a> (post fermentation) </span><li style="">2 oz heavy toast French oak (after clearing)</span>[/list]
Several of his recipes look interesting and I plan on trying the Strawberry/Banana one and the Elderberry one but not with Raspberry ( Yuck

) I have used vanilla beans in a couple of my meads &amp; wines - be careful they can quickly overpower everything else. I would start with 1 bean per gallon and like oak keep checking it does not take long! How much honey depends on how sweet or dry you want the finished product but I try to keep it between 3-4 lbs. per gallon. You should be fine with the puree and if you think you need more just thaw some cherries and add to the mix. I'll be trying extract for the first time with the Chocolate Cherry and am curious as to how the flavor will hold up for the long term.
VPC




Edited by: vcasey

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks for the Site on the Meads, etc.

Also...How is that Chocolate from Massy's????

 

[vcasey]

Wish I knew ....... But it meets my main concern in that its not imitation. Just placed the order from Kitchen Krafts so will know soon. They also have a coffee extract I'm trying for my Mocha Mead.
VPC

 

[NorthernWinos]

Wish I knew ....... But it meets my main concern in that its not imitation. Just placed the order from Kitchen Krafts so will know soon. They also have a coffee extract I'm trying for my Mocha Mead.
VPC

I was wondering where you got it...on their Site it looked like I needed a good 'Road Trip' to acquire some.

Will check it our OnLine.....

Edited by: Northern Winos