Apple Pie Cyser

Since doing more studying and sampling research on them this summer, ciders and meads have really taken the front seat on my brewing calendar.  This batch combined these two strains: cyser is the love child of mead and cider, a beverage neither DeAunn nor I had tried, but which sounded damned delicious to both of us.  We picked up a couple gallons of fresh-pressed cider (and a couple of carving pumpkins) a couple weeks before Halloween from a local cider mill, and added a two pounds of local honey.  A vial of the White Labs English Cider yeast and we were off.

I kept the fermentation temp down, hoping to avoid a lot of hot alcohol presence; this was planned for this Christmas season, so aging needed to be kept to a minimum. The work paid off: after nearly a month in primary, it emerged semi-dry, with great apple and honey character, and just a touch of alcohol presence.  Moving to secondary for a month of further aging, I added Bentonite to help it drop clear.  Along with that I'm including a few pie spices of DeAunn's choosing: cassia bark (cinnamon), grated nutmeg, and clove.  For the spicing step, I split the cyser into two one-gallon batches, one of which received oak along with the spices.  I found the cassia at our old spice shop back in Chicago over the summer, and really like its sweet, spicy flavour; I added a couple pieces of it to each secondary.  My understanding is that a little bit of clove will go a long way, so I'll split a single clove in half, one part for each batch; trying to avoid overdoing the nutmeg, I'll add just a little of that as well.  To further reduce their impact, I'll give the cinnamon and oak a week or so head start before adding these more assertive spices.

The challenge now will be to make sure that the spices don't throw off the excellent flavour it had coming out of secondary.  Which means periodic sampling every few days; how sad.  As long as I'm careful to not expose it to an infection (and don't "sample" half of it before bottling) I can look forward to a nice seasonal drink for the Yuletide season.

Apple Pie Cyser

Projected OG: 1.085
Volume: 2 gallons

Fermentables
2 gallons Farnsworth Farms Cider
2 lb Cox Honeyland Honey

Yeast
WLP775 English Cider

Extras
1 tsp Pectic enzyme
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
1 tsp Yeast energizer

Brewday: 20 October 2012
Fermented in swamp cooler in low 60s F ambient

Secondary: 17 November 2012
SG: 1.010
Great semi-sweet finish with just a little alcohol harshness; will have to monitor in secondary to make sure the spices don’t get too overwhelming
Split into two 1-gallon batches for aging - initial spices added

Spicing:
.2 oz Saigon cassia cinnamon - both batches
1.1 oz Medium-dark toast oak, bourbon soaked - Batch B

Spicing, part 2: 28 November 2012
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg - both batches
½ clove - both batches

Bottled: 30 December 2012
FG: 1.005
ABV: 10.5%
Bottled still.

Tasting: Sharp with lots of apple snap.  The cinnamon came through like a champ, even adding a bit of a tongue-numbing quality; will plan to increase the amounts of the other spices next time to keep up with it.  As of today (3 March 2013) the oaked version is still aging; don't tell DeAunn, she'll tear through it like a chainsaw.