Super Simple Cyser
Store-bought cider plus honey, the easiest impressive mead there is.
ABV
11% ABV
Time to bottle
~2 months
Original gravity
1.090
Final gravity
1.005
A cyser swaps water for fresh apple cider, so the yeast gets fruit sugar, acid, and tannin for free. Two ingredients and a packet of yeast make a mead that tastes like autumn and is ready months sooner than a traditional.
What you'll need
- 1 gallon (3.8 L) fresh apple cider, no preservatives (sorbate/benzoate kill yeast)
- 2 lb (900 g) local honey
- 1 packet Lalvin D47 or 71B-1122 yeast
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- Batch size
- 1 gallon (3.8 L)
- Yeast
- Lalvin D47 or 71B-1122
Taste profile
What a finished batch should taste like.
Aroma
Flavor
How to make it
- 1
Pour off about a pint of cider to make room, then warm a little of it to dissolve the honey.
- 2
Combine honey syrup and cider in the fermenter and check gravity, around 1.090.
- 3
Add nutrient, pitch yeast, and ferment at 60–68°F (15–20°C).
- 4
Primary takes 2–3 weeks; confirm it is done with stable gravity readings.
- 5
Rack to secondary and let it clear for 5–6 weeks; apple pectin haze takes its time.
- 6
Bottle around week 10, still or primed for sparkling.
Brewer's notes
- Read the cider label twice: "UV pasteurized" is fine, potassium sorbate is not.
- Unfiltered orchard cider gives a fuller cyser; filtered supermarket juice makes a lighter, crisper one.
- This is a great recipe to split: bottle half still, prime half for sparkling, and compare.
After bottling: 3–6 months. Apple and honey knit together noticeably around month three.
Brewing this one? Let MeadMate keep it on track.
Log gravity readings, get reminded when it's time to rack, and compare your taste notes against this profile.
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