Homemade Cranberry Wine Recipes

CRANBERRY WINE

Steps:

• Chop cranberries, set aside
• In large stock pot - we used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer - combine water and sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
• Add chopped cranberries, stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
• Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Stir well, turn off heat. Cover with a lid, allow to cool to room temperature - overnight.
• Place raisins and yeast in a freshly sanitized 2 gallon fermenting bucket.
• Carefully pour the cranberries and water into the fermenting bucket.
• Using sanitized equipment - take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)
• Cover with sanitized lid and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity - bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you're good to go!
• Let sit for about a week, stirring (sanitized paddle!) every couple of days or so.
• After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized 1 gallon carboy.
• Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for 2 months or so.
• Using sanitized equipment, rack the wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.
• Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so.
• When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling, and back sweetening, if needed.
• Follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.
• Using sanitized equipment, take a final gravity reading, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork.Age for at least a few months before drinking.