Beccia
New member
Long winded, but fun 
The Great Alcohol Experiment of 2014... (in my home, anyway)
So, i've been having some fun on the homebrewed beer front over the past year or so. Made some good brews, a few crowd pleasers that I'll repeat…
But I wanted to try something different this year, in addition to regular extract beer brewing.
About 5 weeks ago i started on a Mead-esque brew.
For those curious, Mead is basically an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting honey with brewer's yeast, ranging from 5% to 10% alcohol by volume (ABV) average.
That's it. Honey, water, yeast. simple.
I didn't want to go HAM on a full honey mead, as not everyone likes honey (although I do, and love professional meads), and I wanted to make something that will be able to be enjoyed by many, rather than myself. If this goes well I'll brew a straight up simple mead for me.
So, the mead recipe turned into a Cyzer - a hybrid Mead/Cider that is crafted from fermenting Honey and Apple juice/cider, and I used a champagne yeast tolerable to up to 18% ABV..
yeah, rocket fuel
I treated 4.5 gallons of juice, and heated the remaining 1.5 gallon with 5 lbs honey and other yeast nutrients/stabilizers, then combined it all and pitched the yeast...
Starting original gravity around 1.12… the specific gravity of water is 1.00. (we’ll touch more on this in a bit)
Fast forward 4 weeks; the cyzer has been hanging out at room temperature, the champagne yeast has been chugging away, breaking down all the available fermentable sugars it can get it’s cells on.
Remember, this is near 6 gallons of apple juice and 5 lbs of honey – a lot of fermentables.
The next step is to transfer it to a second fermenter, or ‘racking’, to get the must off of the dead yeast and spent fermentables that have settled out during primary fermentation, to prevent any ‘off’ flavors from developing.
I took a gravity reading prior to racking, and the hydrometer read just under 1.00.. i made water.
So, using math, we solve for primary alcohol content:
Simple equation (for standard alcohol range brews):
ABV = (OG – FG) * 131.25 => (1.12 – 1.00) * 131.25 = 14.44% ABV after primary. Not bad.
Higher Gravity calculation (a bit better accuracy at higher gravity):
ABV = ((76.08 * (OG-FG)/(1.775-OG)*(FG/0.794) => ((76.08*(1.12-1.00)/(1.775-1.12))*(1.00/0.794) = 17.55 % ABV… right about where the yeast is tolerable (18%)
With the above stated, the primary product smelled great!
Not satisfied with plain jane, I split the must up into 4 vessels – 3 one-gallon carboys (glass fermenting vessels), and one 5 gallon carboy.
To the small ones, I added:
•<span> peaches, cinnamon stick and orange peel
•<span> pears, cinnamon stick
•<span> peaches, pears, cinnamon stick
To the large one, I just added some more apple juice and some cinnamon stick.
In my haste to get things cleaned up, i did not measure the OG of the individual fermentors. I'm right around my target ABV, so anything else is a bonus.
I know, I know
ostpics:
OK. Here:
Pears and Cinnamon, fermenting nicely
Peaches, Pears, Cinnamon:
Peaches, Orange peel, cinnamon (smells the best):
The purpose of secondary fermentation is to allow the fermentation process to finish fully, and to allow the must to settle, or 'clarify', producing a clear as possible product prior to bottling.
I'll let this sit for about 2 months, and then I'll bottle it. After bottling I'll 'forget' about them in a dark, cool place for about 6 months, as, like wine, mead tends to improve as time goes on.
If you made it through, crack one open - you deserve it.
The Great Alcohol Experiment of 2014... (in my home, anyway)
So, i've been having some fun on the homebrewed beer front over the past year or so. Made some good brews, a few crowd pleasers that I'll repeat…
But I wanted to try something different this year, in addition to regular extract beer brewing.
About 5 weeks ago i started on a Mead-esque brew.
For those curious, Mead is basically an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting honey with brewer's yeast, ranging from 5% to 10% alcohol by volume (ABV) average.
That's it. Honey, water, yeast. simple.
I didn't want to go HAM on a full honey mead, as not everyone likes honey (although I do, and love professional meads), and I wanted to make something that will be able to be enjoyed by many, rather than myself. If this goes well I'll brew a straight up simple mead for me.
So, the mead recipe turned into a Cyzer - a hybrid Mead/Cider that is crafted from fermenting Honey and Apple juice/cider, and I used a champagne yeast tolerable to up to 18% ABV..
yeah, rocket fuel
I treated 4.5 gallons of juice, and heated the remaining 1.5 gallon with 5 lbs honey and other yeast nutrients/stabilizers, then combined it all and pitched the yeast...
Starting original gravity around 1.12… the specific gravity of water is 1.00. (we’ll touch more on this in a bit)
Fast forward 4 weeks; the cyzer has been hanging out at room temperature, the champagne yeast has been chugging away, breaking down all the available fermentable sugars it can get it’s cells on.
Remember, this is near 6 gallons of apple juice and 5 lbs of honey – a lot of fermentables.
The next step is to transfer it to a second fermenter, or ‘racking’, to get the must off of the dead yeast and spent fermentables that have settled out during primary fermentation, to prevent any ‘off’ flavors from developing.
I took a gravity reading prior to racking, and the hydrometer read just under 1.00.. i made water.
So, using math, we solve for primary alcohol content:
Simple equation (for standard alcohol range brews):
ABV = (OG – FG) * 131.25 => (1.12 – 1.00) * 131.25 = 14.44% ABV after primary. Not bad.
Higher Gravity calculation (a bit better accuracy at higher gravity):
ABV = ((76.08 * (OG-FG)/(1.775-OG)*(FG/0.794) => ((76.08*(1.12-1.00)/(1.775-1.12))*(1.00/0.794) = 17.55 % ABV… right about where the yeast is tolerable (18%)
With the above stated, the primary product smelled great!
Not satisfied with plain jane, I split the must up into 4 vessels – 3 one-gallon carboys (glass fermenting vessels), and one 5 gallon carboy.
To the small ones, I added:
•<span> peaches, cinnamon stick and orange peel
•<span> pears, cinnamon stick
•<span> peaches, pears, cinnamon stick
To the large one, I just added some more apple juice and some cinnamon stick.
In my haste to get things cleaned up, i did not measure the OG of the individual fermentors. I'm right around my target ABV, so anything else is a bonus.
I know, I know
ostpics:OK. Here:
Pears and Cinnamon, fermenting nicely
Peaches, Pears, Cinnamon:
Peaches, Orange peel, cinnamon (smells the best):
The purpose of secondary fermentation is to allow the fermentation process to finish fully, and to allow the must to settle, or 'clarify', producing a clear as possible product prior to bottling.
I'll let this sit for about 2 months, and then I'll bottle it. After bottling I'll 'forget' about them in a dark, cool place for about 6 months, as, like wine, mead tends to improve as time goes on.
If you made it through, crack one open - you deserve it.
