Cranberry wine 101
Ingredients
Ø 1 pound raisins
Ø 1 teaspoon nutrients
Ø 1/4 teaspoon pectic enzyme
Ø 1 1/4 teaspoon acid blend
Ø 1 campden tablet
Ø 1 package wine yeast
Ø 1 gallon water
Ø 3 pounds granulated sugar
Ø 2 pounds cranberries, fresh or frozen
First step is to chop the cranberries coarsely, so that the skin on each the cranberry bursts, so as to release the juice and let it come in contact with the water and thus flavor the water.
The second step is to put all chopped up cranberries in a primary fermentor, to this add the ingredients namely water, raisins, sugar pectic enzyme, one crushed campden tablet, acid blend and yeast nutrient. Stir all these together nicely and let the mixture ferment and mix juices for a night.
The next day the specific gravity when checked should be in the range of 1.110 to 1.115. To this add the yeast and mix it well again and again till the mixture is ready. Thereafter cover the primary fermentor and let it stay for five days stirring the mixture everyday.
After this is done, the fruit has to be strained, either through a strainer or a fine muslin cloth, so that the impurities do not get into the wine. The skin and other elements have to be kept out. This done, the liquid has to be placed in a secondary fermentor and an airlock placed on the bottle.
To make a dry wine, this mixture should be racked for three months before returning to the secondary fermentor, after which again it needs to be racked for another three months. And then subsequently, every three months until the wine is an year old after which it becomes good to drink.
To convert this into a sweet wine, the raching has to be for three weeks, after which the wine needs to be sweetened further, for this we add ½ a cup of sugar dissolved with 1 cup wine. This we stir gently till the sugar is completely mixed and them place into a secondary fermentor. This process has to be repeated every six weeks, until the restart of fermentation with the sugar is stopped, after which this wine has to be racked every three months till it is an year old and sweet to drink.
To get the maximum from this wine, it needs at least a year and a half to ferment and absorb, from the date that it was started.
Filed under: Reds
