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Location: Rochester, NY | This weekend or early next week, I'll be making up a split batch of Apple Cyser - 3 gallons sparkling and 3 gallons still.
I'll keep ya'll updated as to the progress.  |
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Location: San Francisco, CA | That sounds awesome! How exactly do you go about doing this? |
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| I'm interested too. Let us know what the process is like. |
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Location: Rochester, NY | OK, quick update:
I was GOING to do a batch of Apple Cyser, but after some good advice I switched it up due to the extended fermentation + conditioning time that would take (like over a year), and I decided to do a quick apfelwein instead.
So early next week, I'll be making up a split batch of Apfelwein - 3 gallons sparkling and 3 gallons still.
Apfelwein is basically a German apple wine (more like a hard cider I guess)
edit:
hmmm, now I just noticed this blog post:
http://www.thehoppinghound.com/2009/1...
where he basically did the same thing I want to do (do an apfelwein with honey - making it a cyser), and with good results.
also, previous post
http://www.thehoppinghound.com/2009/1...
Now I'm not sure which way to go...
Edited by Anthony 1/27/2010 9:20 PM
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Location: Rochester, NY | Well my first batch of Apfelwein-cyser is in the fermenter.
I used 5 gallons of all natural apple juice, 1 lb natural clover honey, and 1 lb dextrose.
I pasteurized the honey in 1.5 gal. of the juice, and put the rest of the juice into a 6gal. better-bottle. Then I stirred in the dextrose and chilled the 1.5 gal of must (the juice/sugar mixture is called must) down to 60 degrees. Then, DANG IT, I spilled about half of it on the ground when I was taking it out of the ice bath. So I'm short around a gallon of juice and probably half of my honey/dextrose. OOOPS!
Anyway, I mixed the remainder in well with the rest of the juice, took my OG (which was 1.060), and pitched my Montrachet wine yeast.
It's sitting comfortably at 64 degrees right now. We'll see how it goes. |
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Location: Rochester, NY | This is still actively fermenting.
jussayin |
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Location: Rochester, NY | This has been fermenting at 70 degrees for 8 days now, and still going good.
Took a sample today. Pretty tasty!
Definitely still an apple taste/aftertaste to it, but most of the sweetness is gone at this point.
Right now it's something like a hard cider. It's even slightly fizzy. |
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Location: San Francisco, CA | Anthony - 2/10/2010 3:42 AMThis has been fermenting at 70 degrees for 8 days now, and still going good.Took a sample today. Pretty tasty! Definitely still an apple taste/aftertaste to it, but most of the sweetness is gone at this point. Right now it's something like a hard cider. It's even slightly fizzy.
I can't wait to try this. It sounds awesome! |
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Location: Rochester, NY | This is almost ready to bottle, can't wait! |
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| How did everything turn out? Was it worth the effort? NesTek and I have some work to do this summer I think. |
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Location: Rochester, NY | Well, it's bottled! It will now be a few weeks to carbonate, then it'll be ready to try - but it will probably need some age on it before it's really ready to enjoy. |
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Location: San Francisco, CA | Anthony - 4/3/2010 11:08 AMWell, it's bottled! It will now be a few weeks to carbonate, then it'll be ready to try - but it will probably need some age on it before it's really ready to enjoy.
How long could you age this stuff for? IS it something that will get much better after a year or two? |
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Location: Rochester, NY | Well, based on others' experience making it, about 6 months of age is good for a decent result, but 9 months to a year is preferable. Any longer than that probably won't make a difference, and after 2 years I would guess it may be past its prime.
So I'm going to try some in about 5-6 weeks when it's ready, and see how it is. Then I'll save most of it for this coming Fall, which is the perfect season for an apple cyser anyway. |
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Location: San Francisco, CA | The anticipation is killing me!  |
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Location: Rochester, NY | haha! I will be sure to let you know the minute I pop one open! |
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Location: Rochester, NY | Oh, and I ended up just making a whole batch of sparkling. I decided not to split the batch. |
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Location: San Francisco, CA | What's the latest on this effort Anthony? Very excited to hear.
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Location: San Francisco, CA | It must have turned out to be good stuff. Anthony must have had a few bottles and passed out. No longer allowing for WZ time.
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| NES Tek - 7/22/2010 8:30 AM
It must have turned out to be good stuff. Anthony must have had a few bottles and passed out. No longer allowing for WZ time.
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Making an Apple Cyser
