cranberries and ph..

[slowbrew]

Hey all. I'm new, (hello) and working on a cranberry Wine from concentrate. I have read bunches of forums and can't quite discern an answer. Basically, having a fermenting issue. (Please, read on)

What should a balanced cranberry wine ph be? and should / will that fluctuate ? I am figuring out that I need a ph tests kit, I was planing on a T.A. kit. Any recommendations/warnings about that are welcome.

I found a pretty standard recipe for a 3 gal batch and converted it to 5 gal.

I used 15 cans of NO PRESERVATIVE concentrate made with cans directions for water. Link to the cans web page for ingrediants checking.

http://www.hannaford.com/mobileProduct/Frozen/Juice/Punches-Ades-Blends/Hannaford-Cranberry-Juice-Cocktail/pc/28219/c/46344/sc/46347/725601.uts

9.5 LBS sugar
pectic enzime, Few drops per gallon
campten tabs (3 crushed)
Mixed well and waited 30 ish hours.
1118 yeast (New from local brewer store and refrigerated) rehydrated and pitched with yeast Nutriant and yeast energizer.
SG 1.100. Wrapped primary in an towl with a heater pad, temp range from 70-80f.

Not much action , but I heard cranberry can be a jerk. 6 days later, gravity reading at 1.132... hmmmm. potential went from 12% to 17.5%? I figured water evaporated with no fermentation. Sounds ligit.

So made 2 yeast starters from Monarchs Champaign yeast and another from the 1118. gave the yeasties a solid hour to really get good and angry. Split my must into two batches and added water back down to 1.100. Pitched my starters seperately one in each bucket. Blasted them with some nutiant, and gave em a medium stirring.

It has been 6 days today since the second pitching. Current gravity is 1.070 and has less action then a bog... I racked into secondary with air lock to remove dead yeast from primary buckets. Racking didn't even get a burp from the airlock.
Tasted like a very mildly alcoholic pretty dam sweet cranberry juice.

is it my ph? Not Enough nutrient?

somebody... Please save my cranberry

Thanks all.
typed on my phone, please forgive grammatical and auto correct errors

 

[Bergmann]

Ok, You should not have racked at 1.070 many wines start at or near that. At that point the lees contain a lot of active yeast, you should have been stirring adding O2 rather than racking. Put them both back in a primary, add yeast nutrients according to the instructions. give it a good stir and see if it does not take off again, leave it in the primary until the SG reaches 1.010 Acidity can cause a ferment to be tough to start, but once started it usually runs. You should not expect foaming throughout the entire ferment. Quite often pin bubbles that can hardly be seen in the reflection of light are all that is going on. The best way to tell if the ferment is running is to take daily SG readings. and remember the fermentation decay slows as sugars are used up.

 

[slowbrew]

Alright. I already discarded the Lee's, should I start another yeast and pitch it or should I just add the nutriant and move forward as you suggested?

Thank you for the info, any help on what is a proper ph for a cranberry mush?

 

[Bergmann]

If there is any activity in the at all adding nutrients, and Oxygen by stirring will get the yeast to take off again. I would in this order, Place in bucket stir wait a few minutes like 15 or so. add nutrient Stir, cover with lid loosely or tea towel. check next morning stir and If ferment takes off stir 1 daily for next two days. If not stir that evening and let sit overnight check in morning. if no activity then you can make a yeast starter and add it. My bet is that the wine will take off after the addition of the nutrient.

 

[slowbrew]

Bergmann, I've read many of your replies to other forums. Thanks for all the help you give. We in need, appreciate the advice.

 

[Bergmann]

Bergmann, I've read many of your replies to other forums. Thanks for all the help you give. We in need, appreciate the advice.

Let me know how it goes...

 

[Turock]

We like our cranberry around 3.4 PH. Because they are so acidic, we use water to bring the PH to 2.9 or 3.0 and the use calcium carbonate to bring it up the rest of the way.

 

[slowbrew]

Perfect. Thank

 

[jensmith]

Your temps may be a little low. Warm the must up to 70 and it should take right off.
I also have a cranberry that is just sitting there not fermenting. Yeast choice does not seam to matter. There are just times cranberry is stubborn about fermenting. It usually starts up eventually....


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[slowbrew]

The yeast is homicidal! Bergman had great advice coupled with higher brewing temps. I did as suggested above and to date, about 8 days later gravity is at 1.002 PH is at a near perfect 3.4 ish on the tartaric scale and activity is still visable.

Here's how I did it.
coupled with bergmans advice, I transferred from my corboy back into my primary by just dumping it in. I let it slosh and buck and gurgle. It fizzled a bit and got a lot of oxegen. I gave it 15 min to relax and added "Fermax Yeast Nutriant" 1.5 tsp per gallon. I stirred that in with a medium ferver and set my primary on my heater pad. I brought the temp up to 76-80*f. (i understand the caution of off flavors but it will not ferment below 74*f). Caution be said to anyone reading this with similar issues, you can get weird flavors like banana, toffee, or sour tart flavors with high temps, or unclean tools.
with the higher temps this fermentation its rockin and Rollin, to prevent stalling I checked my temps twice a day and turned on or off the heater pad as needed. Stirred gently, every morning and that seems to have done the trick, and on its way to a secondary in the next week or so. I want the yeasites and Lee's to do work untill FG is at dead .999. I will stir 4 days before I transfer to secondary and then let the Lee's settle out abit before transfer.

Thanks everybody, and happy brewing.