Solera Cyser Project

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The Solera Cyser Project, an experiment in years-long continuous aging of Apple Cyser Mead in the sherry style.

Originally Posted: Apr. 23, 2021

Last Updated: Dec. 22, 2021

Three 6-gallon Hungarian oak barrels from J.K. Cooperage. I had originally planned on using four 5-gallon barrels, but they stopped production of that size.

Table of Contents

Quick Specs

OG = 1.105 (base cyser OG)
ABV: >13.8% (due to fortification with Calvados apple brandy)
Target Taste Profile: Hopefully complex and sherry-like
Time: Multiple years (ongoing, continuous)
Yield: 12-15 bottles a year, per scale

Intro

When I visited Andalucía in 2006, one of the daytrips I got to take with my family was to a traditional sherry bodega in Jerez, Spain. This was my first experience with the solera method of aging wine, and my first taste of true sherry. Seeing barrels stacked four high surrounded by stone walls left an impression.

When I began making mead, I began to wonder if anyone had ever tried using mead in a solera system. It turns out I wasn’t the only one who was interested, and there were some very clever ideas out there, such as using regular glass fermenters with oak cubes or spirals, and automated micro-oxygenation systems. However, I decided I wanted to build an old-school oak barrel system in the end.

Since my basic Cyser has always been special to me—it was one of my earliest successful meads—I decided that I wanted to make a Solera Cyser.

Brief History

Wine has been made in Spain since the Phoenicians established ports along the Mediterranean coast, and winemaking continued through Roman, Moorish, and Castilian rule. The Moors brought distillation into the equation, allowing for the making of brandies which could be used to fortify wines. By the 16^th century, sherry was already well-regarded and exported throughout Europe.

Sherries come in a variety of alcoholic strengths, blends, and fortification levels. In some low alcohol sherries—such as Fino, Manzanilla, and Amontillado—a yeast pellicle known as Sherry Flor is allowed to grow on top of the wine in a partially filled barrel, acting as a barrier to oxygenation. In high-ABV fortified sherries—such as Oloroso—brandy was added and the barrels filled all the way in order to prevent oxygenation and the growth of the flor.

However, all sherries are aged using the Solera System. Barrels are stacked in groupings known as scales—in the sherry bodega I visited, scales were stacked four-high. When bottling time arrives, 1/3 to ½ of the bottom barrel in a scale (the barrel with the oldest wine) is emptied to be packaged in bottles. The empty portion of the oldest barrel is then topped off with wine from the next oldest barrel, then that is topped off by the barrel above it, and so on until the youngest barrel is topped off with newly fermented wine.

The result is a well-aged, slightly oxidized, and complex wine that can come in a variety of flavors ranging from dry to sweet to slightly nutty.

Wildflower cyser and bochet cyser — I chose an almost equal blend of my basic Cyser with wildflower honey and my Bochet Cyser with caramelized honey for this project.

Ingredients

Note: All measurements and equipment that I use in most of my homebrew recipes are in gallons, but as a rule of thumb, 1 gallon is 3.79L (I usually round up to 4L in my head).

Basic Cyser, 2.5- to 3-gallons worth (half the size of your barrel)
Bochet Cyser, 2.5- to 3-gallons worth (half the size of your barrel)
Calvados, or similar apple brandy (I use one 750mL bottle per batch)

Equipment

Sanitizer
Fermenters
- An extra 3-gallon fermenter is useful for measuring out portions for blending, especially if you’ve added volume measurement marks to your fermenters like I have.
Airlock and stopper (x2)
Oak barrel (4 total for one individual solera system, or scale). I like to use Hungarian oak barrels by J.K. Cooperage because their barrels’ bung holes are 1.5 inch, large enough to accommodate an autosiphon or a wine thief.
- Swap out the included wooden bung from the barrels for a #8 solid rubber stopper or a #8.5 solid rubber stopper for a more secure seal. I kept the original wooden bungs because I want to turn them into tap handles for my beer eventually.

5-gallon oak barrel — I prefer to use Hungarian oak barrels from J.K. Cooperage because their 1.5 inch bung holes are big enough to fit an autosiphon for easier racking.

Instructions

Here is the process I’ve been following. This is my first ever attempt at a solera system, and I knew from the beginning that even this first attempt was going to be both expensive and years-long.

Although my original inspiration to make a Solera Cyser involved regular Cyser alone, at some point I decided I wanted it to be a blend of regular Cyser and a Bochet Cyser I had also been working on. They blend quite well together.

I also chose to fortify slightly with a bottle of Calvados (French apple brandy) per batch, because I became nervous about such an expensive system turning to vinegar after reading into homebrewed attempts at solera wine.

5-gallon oak barrel being swelled — My original 5-gallon barrel being swelled per the included instructions. I also keep my barrels full of water and barrel sanitizers when they’re not full of brews. I believe some common barrel sanitizers are citric acid and potassium metabisulfite (Campden).

Wooden barrel bung — Barrels often come with an included wooden bung, but you’ll get a more secure fit by swapping that out for either a #8 solid rubber stopper or a #8.5 solid rubber stopper. I saved the old wooden ones because I’d like to turn them into some nice tap handles for my beer.

Rubber barrel bung — Barrels often come with an included wooden bung, but you’ll get a more secure fit by swapping that out for either a #8 solid rubber stopper or a #8.5 solid rubber stopper. I saved the old wooden ones because I’d like to turn them into some nice tap handles for my beer.

Three 6-gallon Hungarian oak barrels for Solera Cyser Project — These final three barrels ended up costing me somewhere around $1000.

My Steps

Buy oak barrels. I chose to use a scale of four oak barrels, like in the winery I visited in Jerez. I had also planned to use four 5-gallon barrels, but due to production hiccups I had to buy three 6-gallon barrels in addition to a 5-gallon one I already had (see below).
Ferment one 6-gallon batch each of Basic Cyser and Bochet Cyser every time you have a barrel to fill. In total you will have fermented four batches of each by the end of this.
Once fermentation and clarification are done on both Cysers, you’ll want to use a smaller fermenter to measure out 3 gallons of each. I like to use a 3-gallon carboy with gallon and half-gallon marks to measure:
1. I rack 3 gallons worth of regular Cyser into my measuring carboy first (2.5 gallons for my 5-gallon barrel). Then I rack that from the measuring carboy into the empty and sanitized barrel.
2. I pour a 750mL bottle of Calvados into the measuring carboy, then rack Bochet Cyser on top of that until I hit the 3-gallon mark (or 2.5-gallon mark if I’m using the 5-gallon barrel. Stop me if I sound like a broken record here). I finish filling the barrel to the top with this newly fortified Bochet Cyser.
Either blend the regular Cyser and Bochet Cyser that you have left in your fermenters and bottle that, or bottle each separately. So far I’ve bottled the remainder separately so I can taste each and make refinements. This is how I decided that the Bochet Cyser recipe needed extra spices and perhaps a vanilla bean, since the caramelized honey flavor tends to dominate otherwise.
1. Make sure you keep extra bottles of either Cyser around and don’t drink them all. Barrels will slowly lose liquid through the porous wood (the “angels’ share”), and it’s best to have something to top them off with. You want to keep them topped off to prevent over-oxidation and to keep your upper barrel staves swelled to extend the life of your barrels.
So far, I haven’t standardized the timeline for how I handle things from here, since there’s been a lot of starts and stops. Hopefully by the time I take my first bottles from the system, all the barrels will have aged for at least a year. But since this is a continuous aging system, my long-term plans are to get 12-15 bottles from the system around the same time every year. Perhaps I’ll do bottling in March, around my birthday. I might even experiment with pulling bottles every 6 months, since smaller barrels might micro-oxidize the mead faster than larger barrels.

3-gallon blending carboy being racked into barrel — Half the barrel’s volume worth of basic Cyser was racked into the 3-gallon measuring carboy first, then transferred to the sanitized and swelled barrel.

Calvados for fortifying — Next, a 750mL bottle (fifth) of VSOP Calvados apple brandy that I found at Total Wine was added to the measuring carboy to fortify the blend.

Calvados being added — Next, a 750mL bottle (fifth) of VSOP Calvados apple brandy that I found at Total Wine was added to the measuring carboy to fortify the blend.

Bochet being racked prior to blending — Bochet cyser was then racked on top of the Calvados until half the barrel’s volume was reached. This mixture was then racked into the barrel, and the overall blend came to almost exactly the barrel’s volume.

Barrel ready for storage — The filled barrel was then loaded onto a folding cart and taken to the back room for aging. Since this was going to be the oldest barrel, I also added a sticker with “4” written on it since it would be Barrel #4 of the overall aging process.

5-gallon barrel in storage for aging — The filled barrel was then loaded onto a folding cart and taken to the back room for aging. Since this was going to be the oldest barrel, I also added a sticker with “4” written on it since it would be Barrel #4 of the overall aging process.

Wildflower cyser — I chose to bottle the remainder of each Cyser separately so I could track their individual progress. It’s also useful to always have a few bottles on hand to top off your barrels once in a while due to the “angels’ share”. You want to combat evaporation this way in order to minimize barrel headspace and to keep the upper barrel staves swelled.

Bochet cyser — I chose to bottle the remainder of each Cyser separately so I could track their individual progress. It’s also useful to always have a few bottles on hand to top off your barrels once in a while due to the “angels’ share”. You want to combat evaporation this way in order to minimize barrel headspace and to keep the upper barrel staves swelled.

Changed Plans

Barrels

My original plan was to use four 5-gallon Hungarian oak barrels sold by J.K. Cooperage. However, I bought my first barrel in the summer of 2019, and didn’t even fill it until January of 2020.

By the time I finally saved up the money to buy the other three barrels, Covid had hit and the cooperage had stopped production of the 5-gallon barrels. After a slightly frustrating phone call with the homebrew supply company, I decided to change plans and just go with J.K. Cooperage’s 6-gallon oak barrels from now on.

I guess that means more mead, so I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

Blending

When I first decided to take on this project, I was originally planning on just doing basic Cyser. However, I decided to do a blend of the regular Cyser with Bochet Cyser. If I wasn’t so curious about how Cyser alone will do with Solera aging, I’d even be curious to blend a sort of “grog” of different meads in such a system.

Flor or Fortified

For a long time I was undecided on which sherry-making method I was more interested in. I considered buying a Sherry Flor culture from White Labs (WLP700), but when I started the project they had been out for a while. However, at the time of writing this, it appears they’re selling it again.

Eventually I decided to go the fortified route and add Calvados, a traditional French apple brandy that I thought would be a nice touch. I decided on this after reading more into acetobacter prevention and oak barrel care.

Variations

Since this is such a time- and barrel-intensive project, I don’t see myself experimenting with another Solera scale of mead anytime soon. That, and I simply don’t have the space in my house. However, I would love to see how other styles of mead do in a Solera system someday. I wonder if cherry melomel would be a good choice.

Updates

In this section I’ll provide periodic updates on this project. Should take a few years to get to the result that I want.

Dec. 22, 2021

I pulled a little taste from my oldest barrel today. It’s coming along very nicely, like the sort of “apple sherry” that I was hoping for when I came up with the idea for this project.

Mild micro-oxygenation from the barrel is giving the mead a very slight raisin-y flavor. The taste also has depth from the bottle of Calvados, which I also think is helping to keep the overall taste more stable than it would be without some brandy in it. And there’s just a hint of the spices that I use in my cysers.

The depth and the spices almost remind me of some sort of sweeter curry dish (which I’m sure this mead would be great in).

I still need to brew another batch of basic Cyser and Bochet Cyser so I can fill my third barrel…