fresh cranberry wine started

[wood1954]

Was Up North (Presque Isle, WI) last week and picked up 15#s of fresh cranberries for $15. Started the process sunday night by running them thru the Kitchen Aid with the slicer blade. Added 4 gallons of water and found out fresh cranberries float.
Added 12#s sugar, 2 bananas, 4 tsp pectic enzyme, 1.5 grams SO2, staggering 4 tsps of nutrients. The PH after 36 hours was 2.9 so i added 20 grams of calcium carbonate and the PH came up to 3.5 24 hours later. I haven't tested since then. I assume it will drop some more as the acid is leached out of the berries. I plan on racking after 6 days and adding bentonite at that time. Currently i can tell the enzyme and yeast have really softened up the berries and i have a really nice ferment going, no off smells at all. One bucket has RC-212 and the other has EC-1118 simply because that was all i had on hand and hopefully this is my last batch of the season. Any suggestions to improve this recipe would be welcome.

 

[Arne]

I don't know how strong flavored fresh cranberries are, but seems like you mite be a little short on the amount of berries. Let us know how it goes so others can know how many berries to use. Good luck with it, Arne

 

[jamesngalveston]

Wisconsin has some of the biggest and best cranberries, he may be ok in the poundage....per gallon..
Looks like a good start...I would bet it turns out ok...Let us know. LIke Arne said.

 

[salcoco]

stir you must twice daily to increase flavor in wine. also monitor your ferment daily with hydrometer. Cranberries can take a long time to finish. I had one that took almost one month to finish. I would suggest adding some more nutrient at about sg=1030 especially if ferment slows down. Only 1 gram per gallon is required.

 

[wood1954]

Strained the must today, it appears i got 2.5 gallons of juice from the berries for a total of 6.5 gallons of wine before racking. More than i thought. It looks and smells very good. Added bentonite and another teaspoon of DAP and put it under airlock at SG 1030.

 

[jensmith]

15 pounds of berries to five galleons of wine makes a strongly flavored wine. You will be able to make a seconds wine out of the used berries. 2-3 galleons worth at least. Toss a few rasberries in the seconds wine for a truely fabulouse wine
Cranberrie wine is the slowest fermenter ever! Well worth the wait however.

 

[wood1954]

Too late, already tossed the berries. I used 4 gallons of water and when i racked to the secondary the must had a really nice cranberry flavor. I think this will be an annual wine.

 

[RegionRat]

15 pounds of berries to five galleons of wine makes a strongly flavored wine. You will be able to make a seconds wine out of the used berries. 2-3 galleons worth at least. Toss a few rasberries in the seconds wine for a truely fabulouse wine
Cranberrie wine is the slowest fermenter ever! Well worth the wait however.

This sounds like something I will be doing shortly. Thanks.

RR

 

[jensmith]

Darn. Lost seconds!

Seconds wines can be my favarite! Well worth a try! Enjoy it

 

[wood1954]

update on cranberry wine

This is definitely something to make every year. Have had a couple bottles and it is really smooth with good flavor. The wine cleared really well, smells great, almost too easy to drink when served chilled.

 

[Winorick]

I will often make seconds with my cranberries, if nothing more than to blend it with the first run, if the first is too strong. Lets trade a bottle of cranberry to compare them! I'm just south of you. I've got '09, '10, '11, '12, & '13 bulk. The 2010 was made from canned berries.

 

[wood1954]

sounds good, I moved to Waupaca. Where are you?