CRANBERRY WINE

[NorthernWinos]

Trying to plan ahead for this coming Thanksgiving and Christmas, so want to make a little Cranberry Wine.

There was much discussion on making Cranberry Wine this past Thanksgiving and Christmas....and...of course I didn't buy any fresh berries....So will have to use juice of one source or another.

I have been reading Posts looking for recipes made with reconstituted juices or frozen juice concnetrates.... also reading labels at the grocery stores....seems the labels I have read all contain other juices with the Cranberry....I don't have a problem with that...I had planned on adding some apple juice and seems many of the juices already contain that.

So hope to get a little input on this subject.

Here are my questions...

Seems when everyone makes wine with Welch's frozen concentrates they use two or three cans per gallon of wine...would this also apply to Cranberry blend frozen juice concentrate???

I don't see much mention of adding the regular additives to Cranberry Wine...Tannin, acid blend, etc. What are your thoughts on that???

I read the recipe for Cranberry Wine on the Fine Vine Wines recipe site, of course it was made with fresh berries....they added Red Grape Concentrate to their must...I sure wanted to do this too...anyone see any problems with that???

I bought some frozen concentrate, it said 100% juice, Apple/Cranberry and Aronia...I have been looking at Aronia [ChokeBerry] plants in the nursery catalogs....anyone tried those??? Wonder if they are much like our native wild ChokeCherries???

How is the Vintners Harvest Cranberry Wine Base??? Was it thick??? With fruit??? How many gallons of wine per can do you make???

Anyway, I have never made a one gallon batch of anything before...I will try about 2 gallons to start,[so I can get a good sampling] tweak some recipes and with your suggestions about acid, tannin, etc...might make something that would warrant a larger batch.

Thanks!Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Wade E]

If you use the Vintners Cran, do not go with the 5 gallon batch as it
was weak even though it had a lot of fruit in it! With the Vintners it
specified putting 1 can of welches white grape frozen concentrate in it
for body!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks Wade....nice to know about the Vintners being thin...appriciate your input on that. I have been reading some other Forums as they came up on Google search for Cranberry Wine Recipes...Some of those folks also mentioned the Vintners being thin too....some of those Posts said that you should watch your acid...so that was a good heads-up too....tho they may have mostly been talking about using fresh berries.

I thought the Vintners Blackberry concentrate lacked some body when I mixed it up the other day...there was just juice and berries in the can...was wishing I would have had 2 cans on hand, or some canned blackberries or blackberry juice to add to it.....I added some other juices and 2 bottles of red grape concentrate to that batch...it sure smells good and is bubbling like crazy.

I got this Old Orchard frozen Cranberry juice concentrate...it is Apple/Cranberry/Aronia....So will give that a try...something to do these cold winter days...experiement with little batches of wine for funzies....

It looks like with those frozen juice concentrates that Welch's blends with grape juice and Old Orchard blends with apple juice...I don't have a problem with either of those blends....there sure are nice assortments of juices at the grocery store, both in 64 oz bottles and in the frozen juice section...

I brought in some empty gallon jugs today from the shed, going to wash them up and try a few batches of something every week or so...should be fun.

 

[ms.spain]

The Old Orchard Apple Cranberry makes a nice wine.I used two cans of concentrate per gallon. I would test acid levels.If it is not too acidic, you could probably use 3 cans per gallon, or just use two cans,and usesome of the concentrate later on to back-sweeten with. (if you plan to sweeten)
I think this brand of juice is a nicely balanced blend of flavors.The cranberry flavor is dominant, but notto the point of being too over-powering.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks ms.spain, kind of nice to know what to expect from this...you came through with my other experiments with Welch's grape wines and I liked those.

Don't think I will back sweeten, like dry wines, but bet the cranberry could get pretty tart....the name says Cranberry 100% juice...in small print it says blended juices....but the first juice listed is apple.

Maybe using some WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate will mellow out the tartness...this is really going to be a blend when I get done with it....but only plan on 2 gallons, so can't complain if I don't like it..will keep track of what I do in case it is a winner.

*</font> How are you feeling????

 

[Waldo]

NW as an experiment I would take one gallon of this batch and add about 1/2 tsp of calcium carbonate as well as 1/8 tsp powdered tannin. Reduce that tartness a bit and give er a little crunch

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hummmm...crunch....Is there that much acid to warrant Calcium Carbonate????

 

[ms.spain]

Thanks ms.spain, kind of nice to know what to expect from this...you came through with my other experiments with Welch's grape wines and I liked those.

Don't think I will back sweeten, like dry wines, but bet the cranberry could get pretty tart....the name says Cranberry 100% juice...in small print it says blended juices....but the first juice listed is apple.

Maybe using some WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate will mellow out the tartness...this is really going to be a blend when I get done with it....but only plan on 2 gallons, so can't complain if I don't like it..will keep track of what I do in case it is a winner.

* How are you feeling????

I think the grape concentrate would be a nice addition. DEFINITELY check the acid levels (because of the cranberry).You might want to have the cacium carbonate on hand, just in case.Batches of juice can vary quite a bit in flavor,acid levels, color,etc.
i agree with Waldo on the tannin-I wish I had tried that!
Also, thanks NorthernWinos, I am feeling better- it's just been a little slower recovery than I had hoped.But, I'm getting better every day!

 

[pkcook]

Hey Northern,


If you are wanting pure cranberry juice concentrate try Brownwoodacers.com. They have a cranberry juice concentrate that is pure cranberry. I've not made wine with the cranberry, but I've made wine on their cherry, red raspberry and concord. All made very good wine. Actually having a glass of the concord as I'm typing. Very good!

 

[docbee]

I have 6 - 96 oz of Northland's Cranberry/pomegranate !00% juice which the label states has apple and grape juice included. Was thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas too when I saw these.


Any suggestions/recipes for a newbie???
I don't have the acid tester (since I am colorblind enough to be dangerous with acid/base chemistry).

 

[Country Vines]

I've got a cranberry experiment fermenting now. I used the cranberry recipe from FVW, but I adjusted it to make a 2-gallon batch. However, I also added four cans of jellied cranberry sauce. I put two cans of sauce and 1 can of water in the blender and puree'd, then repeated. I really thought it would make the SG high, but I still had to add sugar. So, I ended up using four cans of sauce and four pounds of frozen cranberries (actually thawed them out before I used them ~). I used all of the other ingredients to quantity as in the recipe. Problem was - the cranberry shells just seemed to stay intact. My granddaughters and I ended up having to squeeze them all by hand (berries were in the strainer bags). Sounded like popping bubble wrap !! It's in the primary right now, and I've never had anything ferment like this batch. Not sure why - Edited by: Country Vines