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Making a mead has been in my brewing pipeline for quite some time. Last fall I took a swing at a cyser, but it was really more of a honey fortified cider, than a real cyser. Having tried a really good example at one of the BFD<\/a> club meetings, I knew I wanted to make a better example. After listening to Michael Fairbrother (member of, and former President of BFD<\/a>) of Moonlight Meadery<\/a>\u00a0on BeerSmith\u2019s podcast<\/a> talking about meads, and specifically Kurts Apple Pie (Cyser) I had a fairly good idea how to make a cyser I was hoping for.<\/p>\n Unfortunately I didn’t have everything on hand to follow Michael\u2019s instructions to the T, but I took as many pointers as I could incorporate into the batch. I didn\u2019t have the recommended yeast, and I don\u2019t own go ferm or fermaid-k, but I do have yeast energizer, which is similar to Fermaid K, they both contain DAP. With that in mind, I altered the staggered nutrient additions to 1 day, 2 day, and 1 week, since DAP should be avoided during yeast hydration.<\/p>\n My plan \u2018brew plan\u2019 was to hydrate 5g of us05 using warm water. Then warm and mix 3 lbs of local honey with 1 gallon of local cider. Aerate the must, then add the hydrated yeast. At 24 hrs agitate the must to get rid of the CO2, then add 1\/4 teaspoon of yeast energizer, repeat at 48hrs, and followed by a final agitation and energizer at 1 week. This isn\u2019t the exact regimen dictated by Michael, and I\u2019ll follow it next time, but it is what I can do now, and will likely be an improvement over non staggered nutrition additions. As of 24hrs in, there was minimal activity, so I added the remaining packet of us05 unhydrated. Hopefully the yeast will be able to deal with the high gravity thrown at it, and won\u2019t die too early, but, to be frank, if I end up with a sweet mead, so be it. Once it\u2019s fermented out, I planning on racking to secondary, and at that time I\u2019ll add 1\/2 a vanilla bean, and a very small chunk of cinnamon for aging. Leveraging staggered nutrient additions, the turn around time of this mead should be less than 6 months, maybe even as soon as 3-4 months. While there is no rush, I\u2019m eager know how this turns out. Since making something like this is really simple.<\/p>\n One thing distinction about this batch is it\u2019s my smallest batch by far, coming in just over 1 gallon. I\u2019ve been working on right sizing my beer, cider, and mead production. There are a few principals at play, first and foremost I want to consume my beer before it\u2019s best by date, I want to enjoy it at it\u2019s peak, rather than when it\u2019s old and stale. I can always make more, or a bigger batch next time. Secondly, I want to brew less bad beer, as I\u2019m continuing to learn and experiment with styles, methods, and ingredients, making smaller batches, and smaller mistakes feels like a good idea. So following in Chris\u2019s<\/a> foot prints, I purchases some small fermenters from walmart, and will be using them for these new smaller batches.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Referenced Resources:<\/p>\n Beersmith podcast –\u00a0http:\/\/beersmith.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/15\/making-mead-with-michael-fairbrother-beersmith-podcast-65\/<\/a><\/p>\n![\"IMG](\"http:\/\/thebottlefarm.com\/wpbottle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/IMG_2878.jpg\" "\\"IMG_2878.JPG\\"")
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