I took about one gallon (7# 4oz) out of the 5 gallon fermenter, and put it into a new, clean and sanitized gallon water jug, and put it in the freezer. This will be thawed and used as a concentrated apple/sugar source to backsweeten this cider once the fermentation has finished.
So I started with 4 gallons of fresh pressed cider @ 1.048. To this I added some homemade cranberry juice. This was made from Craisins. I took 8 - 3/4 cup units from the bag of Craisins, and put them in a large stainless pot, with a cover. I then took another pot and put about 10 cups of water, and brought that to a boil. Once a rolling boil was active, I shut it off and poured just enough of that boiling water to cover the Craisins. I covered it and let it cool to room temp before putting it in the fridge.
The next day, I putted out my food mill and processed the Craisins through it. Then poured that through a wire sieve, to catch more of the solids. This gave me about a half gallon of cranberry juice @ 1.135. Holy Crap ! Lots of sugar in there. This gave me a fermentable cider with a gravity of 1.054. Just what I was looking for.
I added 5 Campden tabs and mixed that in. Tonight I will add a pack of the Wyeast Cider/Mead yeast and let it do its thing.
I will update as things progress.
So I started with 4 gallons of fresh pressed cider @ 1.048. To this I added some homemade cranberry juice. This was made from Craisins. I took 8 - 3/4 cup units from the bag of Craisins, and put them in a large stainless pot, with a cover. I then took another pot and put about 10 cups of water, and brought that to a boil. Once a rolling boil was active, I shut it off and poured just enough of that boiling water to cover the Craisins. I covered it and let it cool to room temp before putting it in the fridge.
The next day, I putted out my food mill and processed the Craisins through it. Then poured that through a wire sieve, to catch more of the solids. This gave me about a half gallon of cranberry juice @ 1.135. Holy Crap ! Lots of sugar in there. This gave me a fermentable cider with a gravity of 1.054. Just what I was looking for.
I added 5 Campden tabs and mixed that in. Tonight I will add a pack of the Wyeast Cider/Mead yeast and let it do its thing.
I will update as things progress.