Turned out WAY too sweet

I've made a few batches of cider that turned out pretty good just using a simple recipe, but this is the worst brew I've ever made. I took 3L of ocean spray 100% cranberry juice, added 3 cups of sugar to it, some yeast nutrient, some bakers yeast (didn't want to use the good stuff on this experiment) and left it to ferment. I kept it in primary for quite a long time (to give an estimated time I started a 5 gallon batch of regular cider near the same time and it's nearly clear now and I just took the cranberry stuff out the primary). Reason I kept it in there so long was because there were still bubbles going up the side of it. I tried it last night and it was just awful. Crazy ridiculous sweet. I've made a batch of cranberry-pomegranate roughly the same way, just didn't leave it so long and it was fine to drink. I added some acid blend to it just now, it helped a little, but it's still pretty bad. Is there any way to salvage this or am I out on this batch? No huge deal if I am, it would just be nice to have something to drink. Sorry if this belongs in with the wine threads, I'm still not too sure what defines what, and this is the forum I visit frequently.

Did you take gravity readings? What is your abv %, if so? You might have to ferment some more with a different yeast. If I were you, I'd dilute it with more of the same juice and repitch yeast. I've heard that too much sugar can kill yeast, but don't quote me.

I agree with Meadiator. Without knowing your gravity readings it's hard to give a recommendation. It does sound like you got a stalled fermentation, but with bread yeast...it should have probably ripped through that juice pretty easily if there were no preservatives present.

Cranberry alone can stall, it is in the lovely vacinuum family, which can produce a natural sorbate, plus it is acidic on its own. I would personally rack it off any lees then add nutrient, apple juice to 1 gallon and pitch K1V-1116 or EC-1118, and leave it in primary until dry.

saramc said:

Cranberry alone can stall, it is in the lovely vacinuum family, which can produce a natural sorbate, plus it is acidic on its own. I would personally rack it off any lees then add nutrient, apple juice to 1 gallon and pitch K1V-1116 or EC-1118, and leave it in primary until dry.

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Is there a way to kill the natural sorbate somehow? I'd really like to do a blueberry wine.

I use the" Lalvin EC-118" My first batch (of apple) netted 11%ABV
My current batch is expected to be 14%
I would say use the campden tabs too kill the fermentation you have with breadweetyeast. Then restart with the Good stuff. If it's sweet, it has sugar and it can be burned up (I assume assuming the sorbate hadn't been use yet?) And the EC-118 can support up to 18%ABV!

No need for campden. If you pitch EC-1118 it will more than likely out-compete the bread yeast and just take over.

If you want to lessen the sweetness but not add ABV, you could brew another batch around the same ABV dry, and then combine the two batches 50/50 to bottle.