TandemTails
Well-Known Member
For anyone who is thinking about using dried cranberries, read this and learn from my mistakes.
A little over 3 weeks ago I started 2.5 gallon batch of a cranberry/citrus/ginger mead that used 2 lbs of dried cranberries. I rehydrated them first in the hopes of not having them suck up all of my mead and then pitched them directly into the carboy.
Earlier today I tried racking off the cranberries and holy cow what a disaster that was. The cranberries clogged up my autosiphon every few seconds causing some major oxidation issues (fortunately, SG was only 1.030 so I'm hoping the rest of fermentation will deal with the oxygen).
That was for gallon #1. For gallon #2 I couldn't even get a few ounces without the siphon getting completely clogged. I had to resort to straining the mead through a strainer and then pouring that into my carboy (again, the oxidation was completely ridiculous).
If you're going to brew mead, cider or beer with dried cranberries, please please please use a sack so you can easily remove them when you need to. If i had done this, the entire mess would have been eliminated.
A little over 3 weeks ago I started 2.5 gallon batch of a cranberry/citrus/ginger mead that used 2 lbs of dried cranberries. I rehydrated them first in the hopes of not having them suck up all of my mead and then pitched them directly into the carboy.
Earlier today I tried racking off the cranberries and holy cow what a disaster that was. The cranberries clogged up my autosiphon every few seconds causing some major oxidation issues (fortunately, SG was only 1.030 so I'm hoping the rest of fermentation will deal with the oxygen).
That was for gallon #1. For gallon #2 I couldn't even get a few ounces without the siphon getting completely clogged. I had to resort to straining the mead through a strainer and then pouring that into my carboy (again, the oxidation was completely ridiculous).
If you're going to brew mead, cider or beer with dried cranberries, please please please use a sack so you can easily remove them when you need to. If i had done this, the entire mess would have been eliminated.
