Cranberry wine

I am sitting here on the porch with a glass of cranberry wine that I put on last fall. The night air is still warm. Shortly the moon will rise with a sense of entitlement but for now the fire flies are dancing to the song of the tree frogs and toads. I'll tell you this for sure and certain. This is a damn fine cranberry wine recipe that I have to share with you and I'm reckoning you'll agree after you try it. If you've read my last blog then you know the importance of cleanliness and I'd love to bull shit ya about a trip to pick cranberries in the back country but these were store bought. No I don't believe I'm being hypocritical! They don't grow that close to where I live. Now I did use my grapes to balance the flavor of the ocean spray brand Craisins. Like I've said before there are at least 20 books that I know of about wine making. I've tried several brewing techniques and have found H. E. Bravery has the easiest and fail proof technique. I have tried several of his wine recipes with great success and have tweaked them to my own taste. You will not find a cranberry wine recipe in his book but by using his technique of fermenting the fruit you'll end up with a delicious dessert wine. Freezing your grapes for a month splits the fruit and in my opinion breaks down the inner meat and seams to make it easier for yeast to consume the sugars. I used a Champagne yeast for flavor but a wine yeast would have have given me a higher alcohol content. Take care of your yeast by using the 3 step rule. I can't express the importance of not sending your yeast in to shock by over feeding right from the get go. Here is the technique i used:

1. Use Campden tablets to clean all your equipment. Carboy, air lock, etc.

1. Put all your fruit in to a food grade 5 gallon bucket add 1 campden tablet and cover with a towel for 24 hours.

3. At hour 16 get 1/3 of your sugar and 1/3 of you water boiling for at least 5 minutes. Set it to the side to cool. 4. After it has cooled add it to the fruit in the bucket with a package of wine yeast and cover it with your lid and add your air lock. Let it work for 1 week.

5. After a week boil 1/3 of your sugar and 1/3 of your water again for 5 minutes and set it to the side to cool. Use a Campden tablet to clean your carboy and air lock. Strain all the fruit out of your beer and pour it into the carboy. Add your cooled sugar water to the carboy and add your air lock. 6. After a week boil the rest of your water and sugar for 5 minutes then set it to the side to cool. After it's cooled add it to your beer. 7. Wait 1 month before taking your wine off the must. After taking it off the must and cleaning your carboy put the wine back to the carboy with a clean air lock and let it clear. This could take up to 3 months. Before bottling make sure all fermentation is done.

8. Enjoy!!

Cranberry wine recipe -3 lbs Ocean Spray Craisins -1.5 lbs of grapes -8 lbs white sugar -5 gallon of spring water (use 4 gallon to brew with and save 1 gallon to finish with)

What I mean by "finish with" is when your wine has settled and all fermentation is done. Put you wine in another vessel for bottling but taste it first. If it's to strong for your taste add a little water at a time to dilute your wine. If you want it sweeter boil the water with sugar to make a simple syrup to sweeten but be sure you add a stabilizer first so re fermentation doesn't begin again. If there is a certain recipe I can help you with feel free to email me and we'll see what we can find