BernardSmith
Senior Member
I am planning on making a batch of cyser (apple mead). Schramm's recipe suggests about 2 lbs of honey for every one gallon of apple juice and while that flavor profile seems right to me the potential ABV seems a mite high (about 15 or 16 % ABV). I am going to be using good quality apple juice blended and pressed specifically for our LHBS for home cider makers who had to sign up for the quantities they wanted some weeks ago (I should be able to pick up this juice on the 8th of November) and the honey I plan on using will be generic wild flower (although I do have a few pounds each of orange blossom, sourwood and acacia honey that I could use to make three or four separate gallon batches: still not decided). My question: does it make any sense to aim for a lower starting gravity, closer to 1.090 vs the 1.120 I am anticipating, or will using less than 2 lbs of honey in each gallon simply mean that this will result in more of a cider than a cyser profile? Thoughts? Thanks.