Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Cider Digest #0721
Subject: Cider Digest #721, 30 January 1998
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #721 30 January 1998
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Cranberry juice fermentation (Di and Kirby)
Fermentation of Cranberries ("capshew")
Re: Cranberries (Greg Kushmerek)
Cranberry Fermentation ("Pamela J. Day-Oakman")
Re: Cider Digest #720, 25 January 1998 (dennis key)
re: Cranberry juice fermentation (Dick Dunn)
perry (Michael Fay)
Send ONLY articles for the digest to cider@talisman.com.
Use cider-request@talisman.com for subscribe/unsubscribe/admin requests.
When subscribing, please include your name and a good address in the
message body unless you're sure your mailer generates them.
Archives of the Digest are available for anonymous FTP at ftp.stanford.edu
in pub/clubs/homebrew/cider.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Cranberry juice fermentation
From: Di and Kirby <trillium@baste.magibox.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 00:46:35 -0600
Andrew Lea wrote:
> we found
> over 1000 ppm in some samples of thawed fruit. That juice will then be
> very inhibitory to yeast.
This whole post was very interesting-- thanks for going to the trouble
of figuring it out. But it does make me wonder... would the juice from
thawed fruit be inhibitory enough that it would be useful in
purposefully stopping fermentation? Or would you have to use so much of
it that it would completely overpower the cider taste? It could be a
nifty way of being certain your fermentation has stopped, as well as
adding a bit of cranberry taste...
Cheers,
Di
------------------------------
Subject: Fermentation of Cranberries
From: "capshew" <capshew@otherside.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 23:29:58 -0500
The difficulty of fermenting cranberries is a little known fact in winemaking.
One time I pressed 45 pounds of cranberries in my cider press then could
not get the wine started with any kind of yeast.
Finally I talked to Scott Birdwell of Houston Defalcos who told me to gradually
build up a yeast starter by adding small amounts of cranberries to a wine
yeast starter until there was enough to pitch. This method worked and I have
produced a wine that lasts up to five years which is exceptional for fruit
wines. It also complements turkey very well!
This year I made cranberry wine (without pressing) then racked fermented
cider onto the once fermented cranberries. The taste is great and I have wine
and cranberry cider! I have read that cranberries also contain malic acid
which complements the malic acid apples well.
The pastuerization process in Cider Digest #720 sounds promising. Isn't it
important to heat the cranberries only to 150 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid
setting the pectin which would produce cloudy cranberry cider? Should
cranberries be fermented in the primary or secondary fermenter?
Bob Capshew
Lanesville, Indiana USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cranberries
From: Greg Kushmerek <grku@cayennesoft.nl>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 09:04:56 +0100
Andrew provides yet another well-thought and scientific explanation
to the digest. While I can't contribute anything at his level, I
can contribute my experience.
For several years, I have had excellent success making cider
with cranberries. The cranberries I've used, though, have
been the whole berry. One year I used Ocean Spray brand
berries, and in subsequent years I used organically grown
berries from around the Massachusetts area (one year from
Carlisle, and another year from Freetown).
Do the berries ferment? Yes! I would add them in secondary
and you'd see lots of yeast making bubbles right at the berries
floating on top.
Did I prepare the berries? No! Nothing beyond storage in a
freezer for many weeks.
So my personal experience is that cooking cranberries is
unnecessary. Moreover, I've come up with some wonderfully
red cider, crystal clear, with a mild tartness from
cranberries (and malic acid, of course).
Cheers,
- --gk
------------------------------
Subject: Cranberry Fermentation
From: "Pamela J. Day-Oakman" <DAY@A1.TCH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 07:47:00 EST
Just a data tidbit...
Andrew Lea mentioned that people have experienced problems with
fermentation when cranberries are involved. I've used cranberry
concentrate in several batches and never had a problem. Specifically,
I use the Ocean Spray concentrate that used to come in a box & is now
in a bottle. I've used ale yeast, champagne yeast and wild yeast with
it & they've all fermented beautifully.
Pam
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cider Digest #720, 25 January 1998
From: dennis key <dione@unm.edu>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 11:13:28 -0700 (MST)
Re: Cranberry juice. I have a three gallon batch of cranberry mel roaring
away (needed a blowoff tube for the first week). I froze two pounds of
fresh crans, thawed them and ran them through a food proccessor to finely
chop. Next, pasteurized with diluted honey (10 lbs) to 150 degrees
(double boiler) for 20 minutes, then strained into primary and pitched
prestarted Red Star Cuvee yeast. O.G was 1.09, and was 1.04 a month
later--still 'way too sweet.
Maybe there's a more significant problem with juice?
Never Thirst,
Dione
------------------------------
Subject: re: Cranberry juice fermentation
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 27 Jan 98 22:15:43 MST (Tue)
Regarding Andrew's notes, I must toss in to the mix that I've had some odd
results with cranberry: I've found some yeasts quite happy to ferment it
out to the last milligram of sugar, and others reluctant to do more than
the first 2/3 or so.
My experiments (alas, I had not *intended* them to be experiments:-) were
not in the realm of cider, but rather with mead (to wit: cranberry melomel).
I had been cursing a particular "sweet mead yeast" for its unpredictable
results in fermenting out a cranberry melomel. It would ferment down from,
say, 1.070 or 1.080 down to the mid-1.030's, then gradually slow to almost
nothing. I've found other yeasts to handle either the full range or the
tail end of the fermentation quite adequately. (One particular experiment
of note was repitching the reluctant yeast after the gravity had dropped:
I consider this significant because it let me verify that the other yeasts
had not succeeded in a case where the sweet-mead yeast had failed simply by
encountering the must at a later, more fortuitous time.)
I worked from fresh-frozen cranberries as we usually get them in the US.
They were chopped coarsely and added to the primary fermentation of the
mead-must.
Overall I can't say that I've seen any adverse effects of cranberries on
the fermentation. I still attribute such problems as I've had to the
particular sweet-mead yeast I used (which caused me troubles in a couple
other attempts as well). This leaves me puzzled about the possible
effects of cranberries on fermentation.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd, domain talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado USA
...I'm not cynical - just experienced.
------------------------------
Subject: perry
From: Michael Fay <faymi@earlham.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 15:48:24 -0500
Having only read about perry I was pretty excited to see some at a grocery
store not too far from me; so I bought a bottle. It was from Lurgashall
(?) Winery in West Sussex and it says dry farmhouse perry on the label.
Anybody familiar with this perry? Is it a good one? typical of the style?
Any thought would be very appreciated.
Michael Fay
Richmond, IN
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #721
*************************
