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.

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY WINE

Steps:

• Add the sugar and cranberry juice to a small saucepan and heat it just enough to dissolve the sugar. If using fresh cranberries, add water instead of juice and use it to dissolve the sugar.
• Allow the sugar and juice mixture to come to room temperature. While it's cooling, dissolve the yeast packet in a small amount of lukewarm water. Allow it to bloom for at least 5 minutes.
• Add the yeast nutrient and dried cranberries to the juice/sugar mixture and then pour it all into a primary fermentation vessel. Add the dissolved yeast.
• Cap with a water lock and allow the mixture to ferment in primary for 2-3 weeks. Alternately, allow the mixture to ferment without an airlock for about 5 days, then rack into secondary and add an airlock.
• Either way, once the mixture is in secondary, add an airlock. Ferment in secondary for 6-8 weeks before bottling. For a very dry wine, rack the cranberry wine a second time and ferment for another 6-8 weeks.
• Bottle in wine bottles and age for at least 3 months, but preferably a full year from bottling.

CRANBERRY MULLED WINE

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, combine the wine, cinnamon, anise, ginger, the juice and the flesh of the oranges, lemons, limes, the sugar, cranberries, and apple cider. Bring to a slow simmer for about 1 hour and check for seasoning, may need more sugar. Serve strained in mugs.

HOMEMADE WINE

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, sugar and juice concentrate in a gallon jug. Fill the jug the rest of the way with cold water. Rinse out a large balloon, and fit it over the opening of the jug. Secure the balloon with a rubber band.
• Place jug in a cool dark place. Within a day you will notice the balloon starting to expand. As the sugar turns to alcohol the gasses released will fill up the balloon. When the balloon is deflated back to size the wine is ready to drink. It takes about 6 weeks total.

CRANBERRY RED WINE RELISH

Steps:

• Combine sugar with red wine in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the cranberries, cinnamon stick and orange peel. Bring the mixture back to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes, until most of the cranberries have burst.
• Remove from heat, allow relish to cool slightly, and spoon into sterilized glass jelly jars with tight-fitting lids. Store in refrigerator.

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY RASPBERRY WINE COOLER

Steps:

• Mix cranberry, raspberry and riesling wine together and pour in a tall highball glass over ice. Enjoy!

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY JUICE

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, bring water and cranberries to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until berries begin to pop, 20 minutes., Strain through a fine strainer, pressing mixture with a spoon; discard berries. Return cranberry juice to the pan. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice and orange juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. , Remove from the heat. Cool. Transfer to a pitcher; cover and refrigerate until chilled.

RED WINE CRANBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to medium; cook, uncovered, until most of the berries pop, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally., Transfer to a bowl; cool slightly. Refrigerate, covered, until cold (sauce will thicken upon cooling).