Cranberry 1092

CrealCritter

Sustainability Master
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
10,607
Reaction score
19,710
Points
377
Location
Zone 6B or 7 can't decide
Last year my wife canned about 2 gallons of some cranberry juice with dried cranberries. It turned out way to sweet to drink. So she said, why not ferment it? so that what I set out to do. I pulled a hydrometer reading. Good Lord no wonder its to sweet, initial gravity of 1140 or like 19% alcohol potential :ep. She didn't know the cranberries were pre-sweetened and she added her usually amount of sugar when she canned the jars.
IMG_20190616_125742126.jpg


I added enough water to bring it to a little over 3 gallons and a more reasonable initial gravity of 1090 or 12% alcohol potential.

Anyways I have all the cranberries in a 6 1/2 gallon bucket in a fermenting bag along with the liquid, pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient & Campden tablets. I'll pitch the yeast tomorrow and cross my fingers these berries were not treated with sorbic acid. If they have been sorbated/sulfited they will not ferment and it's all for not...
IMG_20190616_194646834.jpg
 

CrealCritter

Sustainability Master
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
10,607
Reaction score
19,710
Points
377
Location
Zone 6B or 7 can't decide
Is the plan to make wine? or some other fermented delight?

Wine for my daughters and daughter-in-laws. I want to try and do 6 750 milliliter of different fruits & berries as a Christmas present to each one of them. I'm going to call it Hootenanny Hoosh (not so fine wine) The Type & Initial Gravity and date I started it. So this one will be Cranberry 1090 June 16 2019. My youngest daughter is designing labels for me :)

I have Strawberry in the secondary.
Cranberry started today.

I still need to make Concord, Blackberry, Apple Cherry Cider and Water Melone.

Aldi has watermelon for 1.99 each. It takes 1 watermelon per gallon of wine, according to the recipe I have anyways.
 

CrealCritter

Sustainability Master
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
10,607
Reaction score
19,710
Points
377
Location
Zone 6B or 7 can't decide
I can't quite figure this batch out. I was ready to pitch the yeast after the needed 24 hours campden wait period. I decided to pull a hydrometer reading and it's 1.120 or like 16% alcohol potential :eek: I noticed the musk is a lot more cloudy now also.
IMG_20190617_111040911.jpg


I guess the pectin enzyme pulled out some additional sugars - IDK???. Anyways I need to get this down to or below 1.105/14% alcohol potential before I pitch the yeast. Only one thing to do... Add sterile water a little at a time, mix it in well, pull hydrometer readings and continue until the musk is at the target gravity. Then pitch the yeast and cross my fingers.
 
Last edited:

CrealCritter

Sustainability Master
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
10,607
Reaction score
19,710
Points
377
Location
Zone 6B or 7 can't decide
After squeezing as much juice out of fermentation bag until i got tired of messing with it and adding sterile water. I got this batch of cranberry musk down to approx 1.102, which is a little less than 14% alcohol potential. Now I'm happy... If this batch ferments, It'll be named Cranberry 1102.
IMG_20190617_120515663.jpg


But my planned 3 gallon batch turned into a little less than 4 1/2 gallons. More wine more better I guess.
IMG_20190617_120732815.jpg


I gave it a good splashing stir, pitched the yeast, put the lid back on the bucket and crossed my fingers. I'll check it later this evening and see if it has ignition.

IMG_20190617_120928776.jpg


Chickens will love me long time when I give them the cranberries out of the fermentation bag.
IMG_20190617_121118536.jpg


I sure hope these cranberries were not sorbated/sulfited or they won't ferment and I'll have to dump it all down the drain.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top