Kirkland Cranberry Cherry juice

[Evilgrin]

I was quite surprised this had no sorbate or even ascorbic acid added. No added sugar listed either.

Ingredients listed in order (all from concentrate)
Cranberry juice
Dark Sweet Cherry juice
White grape juice
Pear juice
Apple juice
Peach juice
Banana juice
Kiwi juice
Red grape juice
Natural flavors.

Well curiosity got the better of me since it tasted pretty good without fermenting it.

3 quart bottle of Kirkland Cranberry Cherry
1/2 cup honey powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/8th tsp Fermaid-K
Safcider yeast

Hopefully it will ferment in the basement. Kinda cold down there but not freezing cold.

 

[Leezer]

Subscribed. That does sound interesting, look forward to a future update. May try a small batch myself.

 

[Evilgrin]

Well its fermenting away just fine. I had some concerns about acidity but the safcider yeast is supposed to handle a 3.3ph.

Starting gravity was 1.078ish or roughly 10% on the hydrometer.

 

[TheeHardWay]

Nice starting mix. I like the complexity that can be achieved from mixes. What was the level of tartness in the juice. Was the dominent flavor cranberry?

 

[Evilgrin]

Not super tart but it has a very noticeable "tannin" type mouth feel. Cranberry is dominant but just barely to me.

Well air lock activity has been non existent for a couple days and no rhino fart smell at all. Im going to rack it into a secondary tomorrow and top off with some apple juice....after a sample and a gravity reading. Smells great though.

It appears the safcider yeast worked as i had hoped.

 

[Evilgrin]

SG today 1.000
Bone dry or super close and tart
Roughly 10.3-10.5% ABV

Racked into secondary and topped off with cheap Walmart Great Value AJ.

Notes:

The Costco 3qt juice bottle is identical to the Walmart "Great Value" brand bottle of AJ. The bottle has a slightly cone shaped rise with a small indentation in the center. Perfectly fits a auto siphon above the lees. My air lock cork fits very well also.

Mixed with 40% AJ tasted very nice.

I think i like the Safcider yeast. Need to repeat with Montrachet.

 

[Maylar]

The Costco 3qt juice bottle is identical to the Walmart "Great Value" brand bottle of AJ. The bottle has a slightly cone shaped rise with a small indentation in the center. Perfectly fits a auto siphon above the lees. My air lock cork fits very well also.

Thanks for the heads up on the bottle, bro. I've been looking for a 3 quart size for a while now.

 

[VasDeferensly]

I'm so in on this.

 

[ErickJ]

Where did you find all the juices? I've never seen kiwi or banana juice.

What store did you find the juice mix at? Thanks.

 

[Evilgrin]

Where did you find all the juices? I've never seen kiwi or banana juice.

What store did you find the juice mix at? Thanks.

That is the mix listed on the bottle of Kirkland (Costco) Cranberry Cherry 9 juice blend. Two 3qt bottles run about $8.

 

[ErickJ]

That is the mix listed on the bottle of Kirkland (Costco) Cranberry Cherry 9 juice blend. Two 3qt bottles run about $8.

awesome! I'm going to pick some up!

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Thanks for posting this! I've had good luck with my Costco fermentation experiments thus far. Had a couple of questions for you.

When you transferred it to secondary and topped off with apple juice, how much AJ did you add?

Any reason you didn't just mix with AJ and ferment in primary from the get go?

 

[Evilgrin]

I siphoned off the 3qt bottle until it stopped. I probably couldn't get out around 12oz with the siphon. I topped off the 1 gallon carboy with minimal head space so its close to 50% AJ now but not quite.

I didn't have any AJ at the time i started plus i wanted to see how it would taste without any added AJ.

Notes: Im not seeing any more airlock activity after several days. Thats fine because a lower ABV was somewhat preferred this time.

 

[ErickJ]

I went to two local Costco store. They don't sell then at my nearest locations in colorado.

 

[VasDeferensly]

Same here ErickJ, I checked my local Costco and no luck.

 

[Maylar]

Kirkland is an Ocean Spray brand made for Costco - they sell the same thing under their own name at Walmart, though in 60 oz size only.

 

[Evilgrin]

Kirkland is an Ocean Spray brand made for Costco - they sell the same thing under their own name at Walmart, though in 60 oz size only.

I checked the Walmart Ocean Spray Cranberry Cherry. Ingredients were different.

Ingredients: Filtered Water, Cane Or Beet Sugar, Cranberry Juice from Concentrate, Cherry Juice from Concentrate, Grape Juice from Concentrate, Carrot Juice from Concentrate, Fumaric Acid, Natural Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid.

Ingredients: Grape Juice from Concentrate (Water, Juice Concentrate), Apple Juice from Concentrate (Water, Juice Concentrate), Cranberry Juice from Concentrate (Water, Juice Concentrate), Cherry Juice from Concentrate (Water, Juice Concentrate), Plum from Concentrate (Water, Juice Concentrate), Natural Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Fumaric Acid, Vegetable Concentrate For Color.

The bottle however is identical to Great Value brand apple juice. Ive compared them side by side.

 

[Evilgrin]

Im trying a modification of this mainly to see how the Safcider yeast reacts to the changes. Higher sugar content and it should be less acidic than the straight Cranberry Cherry blend in my first batch. I may try the straight Kirkland juice again but using Montrachet.

64oz apple juice
1 cup dextrose
1 cup clover honey
Enough Kirkland Cranberry Cherry to top off the 1 gallon carboy after adding dextrose and honey.
1/4 tsp Fermaid-K
Safcider yeast

SG 1.082 (higher but i really wanted a bit more)

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Checked my local Costco yesterday, and they did not have Cranberry Cherry; however, they did have a Cranberry Raspberry blend that was 100% juice, and the only other ingredient was ascorbic acid. I made up 5 gallon batch last night that was 30% of the Cranberry Raspberry Blend and 70% of the Kirkland apple juice that I normally use. Used S-04 yeast, so I'll check on it in a couple of weeks!

 

[Evilgrin]

Its fermenting away like mad now. No foam on top but the air lock is burping like mad and you can see millions of tiny bubbles running up the side of the carboy. I don't smell any sulfur. Carboy has now been moved to the cool basement.

Im beginning to really like this Safcider yeast. I just wish it was as cheap as Lalvin yeasts. $2.99 a pack is rather pricey for 1 gallon trial batches.

 

[Evilgrin]

Observation today about the Safcider yeast. Last nite i removed the airlock and replaced it. This morning the inner part of the airlock still had not moved up at all.

Fermentation appeared to have stalled. Carboy was sitting on the basement floor. I moved the carboy to the lid of the freezer which is about 3 1/2' off the floor. Airlock activity resumed within a hour. Slow but its obviously still fermenting.

About a 1/4" of lees in the bottom so i may rack into a secondary today and take a gravity reading.

 

[end]

I'm excited to see how it tastes! I have some empty 1 gal fermenters I need to fill.