I made this last year, and it turned out pretty good, but there was still room for improvement.
So here we go ......
I took a 48 ounce bag of craisins and put them in a stock pot. I brought 1 gallon of water to a rolling boil, and dumped it over the craisins, and stirred to mix well. Covered the pot and allowed to cool overnight. The next day I scooped out the reconstituted cranberries, and dumped it through a colander to separate the cranberries from the juice. When it was all strained, I had just over half a gallon of very sweet cranberry juice. I measured it at 23.2 brix. This translates to a gravity of 1.097. I also kept the leftover cranberries, to be added into the secondary. I ended up with 2 - 8 cup bowls of cranberries. Hopefully these will add the needed cranberry flavor in the end product.
I took a small amount of the fresh cider and warmed it a bit. I then added the SafeCider yeast, which is the same yeast I used last year. I let this mixture rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
I added the cranberry juice to 4 gallons of fresh pressed apple cider that was treated with campden and allowed to rest for 48 hours. After adding the cranberry juice, my SG was at 1.054.
I aerated the mixture and added the yeast. The next day I added 1 tsp of yeast energizer and 1 tsp of yeast nutrient. I didn't have any, so I made a lunch run to the homebrew supply store.
It is now resting in the basement, but I may have to get a heater near it, to try and get it closer to 70 degrees, or so.
More to come .....
So here we go ......
I took a 48 ounce bag of craisins and put them in a stock pot. I brought 1 gallon of water to a rolling boil, and dumped it over the craisins, and stirred to mix well. Covered the pot and allowed to cool overnight. The next day I scooped out the reconstituted cranberries, and dumped it through a colander to separate the cranberries from the juice. When it was all strained, I had just over half a gallon of very sweet cranberry juice. I measured it at 23.2 brix. This translates to a gravity of 1.097. I also kept the leftover cranberries, to be added into the secondary. I ended up with 2 - 8 cup bowls of cranberries. Hopefully these will add the needed cranberry flavor in the end product.
I took a small amount of the fresh cider and warmed it a bit. I then added the SafeCider yeast, which is the same yeast I used last year. I let this mixture rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
I added the cranberry juice to 4 gallons of fresh pressed apple cider that was treated with campden and allowed to rest for 48 hours. After adding the cranberry juice, my SG was at 1.054.
I aerated the mixture and added the yeast. The next day I added 1 tsp of yeast energizer and 1 tsp of yeast nutrient. I didn't have any, so I made a lunch run to the homebrew supply store.
It is now resting in the basement, but I may have to get a heater near it, to try and get it closer to 70 degrees, or so.
More to come .....
