#cyser

In autumn 2025, I bought a jug of apple cider (unfiltered apple juice), and kinda forgot about it in the fridge til spring 2026.

Although the juice had been pasteurised, I was a bit worried. The plastic jug looked like it had been inflated slightly! When I opened it, there was no apparent hiss or deflation, and the juice still smelled normal. I gave it a cautious taste and it was still sweet and tasty. But there was the faintest amount of carbonation.

To be safe, I transferred the juice to a pot and brought the temperature up to at least 70C for at least 20 minutes (probably longer). Dissolved gas bubbled out of the juice quite eagerly once the juice got warm!

I took a sample out to cool just enough to get a hydrometer reading; it had a specific gravity of about 1.060. I did some napkin math and figured I'd add about 1100g of honey for my target ABV of 11%. My mix ended up being too sweet, so I added a little water (in hindsight, I think I had assumed 3.8L or 1 US gallon of juice, when the jug was actually 3L).

Recipe:

3 L unfiltered apple juice, pasteurised

1.122 kg liquid honey

100 g water

half packet, Lalvin 71 B

1/4 tsp Go Ferm

1/8 tsp pectic enzyme

handful of dried apple peels

OG: 1.109

For the first few days, each day, I gave the brew a big stir to let out gas, mix in oxygen, and then added 1/8 tsp of Fermaid K. After that I'll keep giving it a stir for a few days, then just let it do its thing undisturbed until primary fermentation looks done.

I honestly don't know whether I'll ever replicate that amazing Triple Jims cyser, or make something as good as it. But I'm gonna try!

this one is a cyser - a mead made with juice or cider instead of water. used fresh pressed apple cider from a local farm, and added 3lbs of roasted sugar pumpkin from my garden. honey is a wildflower variety from another local farm.

looks like a swamp but smells amazing.

once primary is finished i will flavor it with pumpkin spices (cinnamon ginger nutmeg clove) in secondary until it tastes right, and possibly backsweeten with brown sugar for a more robust fall flavor.

Next grocery store Frankencider batch coming up!

(Vitamin D drops not included. I've just been keeping the bottle where I can see it, so I can hopefully remember to take them.)

That nectarine apple looked promising, so. I thought I would try it out in an easy cider-adjacent drink like I've been doing with most of the fruity drinks like that. I thought at first that this might just be apple juice flavored with nectarine, but it's got lower juice content plus some apple extract too. Another one that's mostly water and sugar.

Only, this time the other fruity stuff is not a concentrate to add into a base of apple juice, so I am basically trying the reverse approach and using concentrated apple juice to bring up the sugar content and flavor in the nectarine base. Also planning to use a little honey for the extra yeast fuel and flavor. Only aiming for around 8% ABV, so it shouldn't take very much honey as these things go.

The bit of brewed tea should double for adding a little tannins as usual, but also as a handy place to dissolve the honey in the hot liquid.