Grape Expectations
Member
The first 100% cranberry juice I tried, stalled. I think I left it a month and it got to 10% ABV and just stopped managing to gain any more ABV (when the aim was for it to end up maxed out at around 18%). That was "Ocean Spray" nearing it's best before date from a warehouse that sells that sort of stuff and it had what looked like some sort of Scandinavian language on the ingredients, leading me to believe that perhaps it had potassium sorbate in and those sneaky Swedes just weren't putting it on the label (just kidding... but I mean, perhaps they simply have laws stating it's legal to not list that, I dunno).
The main reason I thought that first one stalled was "It's cranberry therefore low pH" but after testing with pH strips (made for winemaking that only have a range of 2.8 to 4.4) the original pH was perfectly fine at 3.4 pH. By this point (before getting pH strips) I had already added 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda per demijohn and that brought it to 3.8 pH - which matched the pH of the orange juice that I typically had great success with, fermenting like crazy.
Why would it stall then? My only guess was, the cartons were perhaps stored badly, maybe that had frozen and thawed a few times (would it even matter?) or maybe had the sun shining on it (would it even matter?).
Now fast forward a few months and again I dared to dip my toe into the world of cranberry juice, this time using a store bought (UK) juice with the ingredients in English and "no added sugar" from Aldi. Mixing it half and half with their orange juice from concentrate, it was perhaps the best fermentation I have seen yet.
Right... that's confirmed cranberry can ferment, so I'll try 100% cranberry again, but this time instead of some nearly out-of-date Ocean Spray Swedish stuff, I will try the same Aldi stuff that fermented like crazy when mixed with their orange.
Nope, it seems the Aldi cranberry is now doing exactly what the Ocean Spray did - absolutely no action after 7 hours. Normally there's a bubble every 10 seconds by now. Yeast isn't moving around, I know already, it's stalling and is doing what the last batch of 100% cranberry juice did.
The pH was tested at 2.9 so, maybe that's not ideal, I can add a bit of bicarbonate of soda and hope for the best, but it's not looking good! Last time with the Ocean Spray stuff, I salvaged it by making an "emergency" 20L batch from orange juice to mix in with the stalled cranberry. Incidentally that was the best and smoothest wine I have ever made.
How many ways are there to salvage a stalled fermentation when you already know the pH is nearly at the ideal level and the temps are 21°C to 26°C? The best way to me was to make an emergency batch of something very dry you can mix into the stalled cranberry and pray that it's at least fermented enough that it's not to sweet when mixed with the almost completely dry wine.
Short version:
- Orange works. I've had 18% ABV in 7 days, more than once.
- Orange and cranberry (50:50) works. I've had 18% ABV in 7 days.
- Cranberry just doesn't work. It's an absolute pain.
The main reason I thought that first one stalled was "It's cranberry therefore low pH" but after testing with pH strips (made for winemaking that only have a range of 2.8 to 4.4) the original pH was perfectly fine at 3.4 pH. By this point (before getting pH strips) I had already added 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda per demijohn and that brought it to 3.8 pH - which matched the pH of the orange juice that I typically had great success with, fermenting like crazy.
Why would it stall then? My only guess was, the cartons were perhaps stored badly, maybe that had frozen and thawed a few times (would it even matter?) or maybe had the sun shining on it (would it even matter?).
Now fast forward a few months and again I dared to dip my toe into the world of cranberry juice, this time using a store bought (UK) juice with the ingredients in English and "no added sugar" from Aldi. Mixing it half and half with their orange juice from concentrate, it was perhaps the best fermentation I have seen yet.
Right... that's confirmed cranberry can ferment, so I'll try 100% cranberry again, but this time instead of some nearly out-of-date Ocean Spray Swedish stuff, I will try the same Aldi stuff that fermented like crazy when mixed with their orange.
Nope, it seems the Aldi cranberry is now doing exactly what the Ocean Spray did - absolutely no action after 7 hours. Normally there's a bubble every 10 seconds by now. Yeast isn't moving around, I know already, it's stalling and is doing what the last batch of 100% cranberry juice did.
The pH was tested at 2.9 so, maybe that's not ideal, I can add a bit of bicarbonate of soda and hope for the best, but it's not looking good! Last time with the Ocean Spray stuff, I salvaged it by making an "emergency" 20L batch from orange juice to mix in with the stalled cranberry. Incidentally that was the best and smoothest wine I have ever made.
How many ways are there to salvage a stalled fermentation when you already know the pH is nearly at the ideal level and the temps are 21°C to 26°C? The best way to me was to make an emergency batch of something very dry you can mix into the stalled cranberry and pray that it's at least fermented enough that it's not to sweet when mixed with the almost completely dry wine.
Short version:
- Orange works. I've had 18% ABV in 7 days, more than once.
- Orange and cranberry (50:50) works. I've had 18% ABV in 7 days.
- Cranberry just doesn't work. It's an absolute pain.
Last edited:
If Young's barely foams up at all and EC-1118 foams like hell then it doesn't matter how cheap the former is, when it just doesn't work anywhere near as well. For orange it's fine but for some reason it hates cranberry.
