Cyser - Cider Fermented With Honey

Cyser is a cider fermented with honey and extremely quick and simple to make.

This is a base recipe that can be tweaked how you like it. Ingredients can be picked up from local supermarkets or foraged. Soft fruits can be added like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peach or apricot. If fruits are added they need to be peeled or sterilised by soaking in a bowl of water with a dissolved Campden tablet.

I use mineral water when making Cyser. Our tap water isn't great and filtering doesn't remove fluoride which can affect the yeast fermentation. Buying a 5L bottle is cheap and provides a handy 5L PET bottle that can be used as the fermentation vessel. Drill a hole in the cap for the airlock.

Personally I'm not a big cider fan so I looked for versions of cider that I liked. I've found Cyser straight out the fridge on a hot summers day a great thirst quencher. Adding different fruits for flavouring is fun to experiment with and share with friends.

Alcohol content is entirely up to you. Using 300g of honey will give a starting gravity of about 1.040 if using shop bought apple juice. Fermentation should finish at 1.000-1.005 giving 4.7-5.3% ABV. Adding 600g of honey will produce a starting gravity (SG) of 1.062 producing 7.6-8.2% ABV.

To make 4L of Cyser:

2L of apple juice - this can be made from concentrate, pressed or made yourself from fresh apples

300-700g of honey, depending how high ABV you require

2L of mineral water

5L demijon or mineral water bottle

Yeast - cider, ale or wine yeast is suitable

Airlock - not essential but keeps your fermentation safe from bugs, dust and stray bacteria. Tin foil works too.

Large pan

Large spoon

Funnel

150-250g of fruit of your choice if you want to add

Hydrometer if you have one

Thermometer

Syphon

Pour the 2L of apple juice into the demijon using the funnel

Put 2L of mineral water in the pan and heat until it feels warm to a dipped fingertip (careful not to burn yourself!)

Add the honey and stir until fully dissolved Using the funnel, pour the water and honey mixture into the demijon

Check the gravity with the hydrometer if you have one. Depending on your apple juice and how much honey used, it should be somewhere between 1.040 and 1.064. The higher the gravity, the higher the alcohol content when fermentation has finished.

Yeast is a living organism and needs the right conditions to stay healthy and active (just like we do!) all the way through fermentation.

Put the lid on the demijon and give it a good shake to get oxygen into the liquid. Check the temperature of your Cyser is between 19C and 21C. If it's too cool, fermentation will be slow or stall completely. Too high and the yeast can become over active and reach exhaustion before fermentation is complete.

In some cases, yeast can produce unwanted by-products that affect flavour and aroma if fermentation temperature is wrong. When the temperature is right, pitch your yeast on the liquid in the demijon.

Always read the yeast packet before pitching. Some yeasts need rehydrating first or additional nutrients adding.

Put on the lid with the airlock or use a piece of tinfoil placed over the open top and squeezed down onto the neck to make a seal. Don't use cling film! You can screw the lid on and open frequently to release gas pressure. Don't forget to open the lid!

It's not possible to predict when fermentation will finish accurately. There are many factors involved like temperature, type of yeast, yeast health and age, volume of sugars to ferment that affect fermentation time.

If you're using an airlock, you will see when the bubbles have stopped. Yeast produces CO2 when converting sugar into alcohol. When all the available sugars have been used up, fermentation will stop and the yeast will drop out of suspension to the bottom forming sediment.

If you have a hydrometer, take a sample of the Cyser and see what the gravity is. It should be near 1.000. If higher than 1.005 leave it another 3 days and check again. If the gravity drops, fermentation is still going. Wait another week and check again. If the gravity remains constant for 3 days, fermentation has finished.

Patience is required! If you bottle too soon, fermentation will continue in the bottles and could cause them to explode or 'gush' foam when opened from excessive carbonation.

When fermentation is finished, it is time for bottling.

There is a plethora of bottling options available. Beer bottles with caps, screw top, swing top, glass, plastic and so on.

Sterilisation is important when bottling unless you intend to consume your Cyser in a few days. Wild yeast and bacteria can spoil the bottle contents causing mould and souring.

Using a syphon to avoid stirring up sediment, syphon your Cyser into sterilised bottles and seal them.

The most important thing now is to enjoy your Cyser! My favourite way is nice and cold from the fridge with cheese and crackers or sitting in the sun with a barbecue.