Blue Berry Cyser

Blue Berry Cyser

            One of the best parts of brewing mead is the variety of recipes, from Capsicumel brewed with peppers to Morat simply flavored with elderberries. Taking advantage of that variety, I will show you how to make a simple blue berry cyser, which is a variant of mead fermented with fruit juice in place of water. Traditionally, it is fermented with cider, but we will be substituting blue berry juice instead because we can. Since the investment is nearly double the cost of a basic mead, make shift equipment should be avoided to lower the risk of ruining your ingredients.

Ingredients:

            To make Blue Berry Cyser, you will need to collect a packet of Red Star Champagne yeast, 2lb honey, yeast nutrient, and a gallon of blue berry juice without potassium sorbate.

- Champagne Yeast: $1.50

-2lb Honey: $7.50

-Yeast Nutrient: $1.50

-Blue Berry Juice: $5.00

Total: $15.50

Equipment:

          For mixing and storage, you will need a 2 gallon, food grade, plastic brew bucket with an airlock friendly, sealing lid, a standard 3 piece econo-lock, a sanitized stir stick, a vessel to activate yeast, and a pot to warm up the honey. Most equipment on this list can be found in the average kitchen, but the rest might take a trip to a home brew store.

-Econo-lock: $1.00

-Brew Bucket: $13.00

Total: $14.00

Directions:

-Step One: Mixing

            -Slowly pour the juice which will serve as the base to the cyser to the sanitized brew bucket.

            -Pour in at least 1 tsp of the yeast nutrient to ensure a healthy fermentation.

            -Carefully pour boiling water over the bottle of honey to melt and loosen the contents.

            -Add the warm honey to the rest of the ingredients in the brew bucket.

            -Mix thoroughly to aerate the must.

           

-Step Three: Pitching

            -Heat 1/4^th C of sterile water to between 100-105 °F and stir the packet of yeast into the water. Swirl the glass until the mixture begins to give off the smell of unbaked bread, allow the yeast to rehydrate for around 4 minutes before pitching the yeast into the mead.

 

-Step Four: Finishing Touches.

            -Add the lid to the brew bucket, being sure to complete the seal all the way around, and apply the airlock, already filled to the appropriate height with water.

            Storage and Fermentation:

            The mead will need +30 days to complete primary fermentation and for the yeast to do some cleaning up and dying off. During this time, the brew bucket should be kept in a dark corner at a temperature between 60-75 °F to create a nice habitat for the yeast. Try to avoid unnecessary movement during this time to avoid mixing dead yeast and other detritus back into the cyser.

            After primary fermentation is complete, consider racking the mead into a separate carboy with an auto-siphon leaving the bottom inch to avoid transferring to sediment.

            After racking the mead into a secondary container, allow at least two months for flavors to develop and mellow. When you are satisfied with the flavor, place your fermentation chamber in the refrigerator to cold crash the mead and clarify the cyser.

Final Step:

            Drink and enjoy.

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