Joel Sprague
I will post a recipe I drummed up to use up a gallon of Ocean Spray cranberry juice I got at Big Lots. the result was lighter in color, like a blush. It is very tart, which came from having too much acidity I think. I have some suggestions I'll add after the recipe. I'm hoping somebody can give me some suggestions on using real cranberries since I got 6 pounds of them. I do like cranberry wine.
Ocean Spray Cranberry Wine Experiment Ingredients: 1 gallon Ocean Spray cranberry juice. Go mine in a jug that doubled as the fermenter. 1.5 lbs granulated sugar 2 tsp acid blend 1 tsp pectic enzyme 1 tsp yeast nutrient One packet red wine yeast. I used Red Star Pasteur Red. 1 tsp bentonite (?) I don't have the quanbreasty written but I'm sure I added it. I wanted faster results so I used that as a clarifying agent.
Take away two cups of cranberry juice, along with a tablespoon of sugar, to create a starter for the yeast. With the starter going, warm the cranberry juice in a pot in order to quicken transferring all that sugar. Don't boil. Introduce all the sugar, blend, enzyme, nutrient, and bentonite. Stir vigorously until dissolved and homogenous. When I used the original container as a carboy, I had leftover liquid. You'll want to take some juice out before adding yeast if you use such a small container.
I don't have the SG measurements since I started this before I began recording that kind of thing. I started the process on 8-27, racked in September, and bottled towards the end of October. During secondary fermentation, I kepted it in my kegerator at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. I noticed how a lot of red stuff had settled to the bottom of the containers I was using.
My post-mortem advice after the fact would be to take away the acids. I don't think the juice needs it. I was satisfied with everything else, but I wonder if I can expect the same color from real cranberries.
Muscadine SecondRunBart, I've got an old edition of the book "The Art of Making Wine"by Stanley Anderson. His recipe is below. I've used it...
The resulting flavor has the unique tartness of cranberries, although there still is a touch of cranberry to the flavor. IMO it came out dry.
