Hangover Cyser

This is called Hangover Cyser because I'm usually making it while hungover, not because of any particularly ill effects it has.

Source: Dave Polaschek

Gallon glass jug of apple juice (plastic is no good, since you're going to be fermenting in this jug)
Pint jar of honey (1.5 lbs)
12 oz can of fruit juice concentrate (no preservatives). Grape and Cranberry are among my favorites. I've avoided citrusy things so far.
Heaping tablespoon yeast energizer
Red Star Champagne yeast

Pour 48 oz of apple juice out of the bottle. This is about enough to ease the hangovers of two people.
Drink some of the apple juice you've poured off.
Pour the honey into the apple-juice jug along with the yeast energizer.
Drink some more apple juice.
Shake like the dickens until honey is dissolved, or head spins too much. Repeat until the honey is completely dissolved.
Drink some more apple juice.
Add the can of juice-concentrate.
Shake the jug again. This time should be easier.
Finish the apple juice you've poured off, and add yeast to the shaken mix, which should be about at the shoulder of the gallon jug. Attach airlock, and get on with your life.
Between a month and three later, the fermentation will be done, and you can bottle. If fermentation stops early, rack and add more yeast energizer and yeast.

We first made this while we were writing this book initially. The recipe didn't make the first (paper) edition of the book, but the result turned out good enough that I had to write the recipe down. It's also an easy enough recipe that when he saw me make this, Tim Mitchell said “Hey! Even I can make mead like that!”
There are only a few things you can do wrong with this. One is to add too much honey. The recipe as listed above makes for a starting gravity of about 1.120, which is about as high of an initial gravity as you want to use. If you're going to add more honey than that, do it in stages.
The result of this recipe is a fairly strong, fairly smooth drink. Cranberry juice concentrate makes for a tasty holiday wine. Grape and apple flavors mix nicely, too. Just remember that whatever kind of juice you add needs to blend with apple, and you'll be fine.