Cranberry Orange mead just isn't fermenting; Can I cheat?

[Brett_Bellmore]

I saw some pure cranberry juice in the grocery store, no additives or other juices, and thought a cranberry orange mead would be good. 2 lbs honey, 64 oz of cranberry juice, zest and juice of 4 navel oranges, a bit of yeast nutrient and campden, and water to make 1 gallon, and the next day I pitched it with K1V.

And nothing happened. It's day three now, I repitched it this morning and made sure the yeast was bubbling before adding it, and it doesn't appear to be doing anything. Possibly it's just too acidic for the yeast?

It smells good, though. I'm wondering if there's some "legit" way to save this, or I should just mix it with some cheap vodka and bottle it as is?

 

[IslandLizard]

How much Campden did you use?

High acidity (low pH) from the cranberry juice could surely have something to do with it, stalling the yeast.

 

[bernardsmith]

Assuming that you are able to start this fermentation I think that you might find that using as much cranberry juice in one gallon may result in a very bitter wine. I have tried to make cranberry wine for Thanksgiving several times over the years and have found that the best ratio of juice to wine is about 1 pint of the juice to make 1 gallon. Cranberries are very tart and when you have extracted all the sugars through fermentation there is really nothing to counterbalance the sharpness of the acidity. Your experience may be quite different... but I would not bet on it.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

One tablet, as recommended for a gallon on the bottle.

I'm planning on back-sweetening it after it's fermented. Neither me nor my wife are much for dry wines.

I'm going to give it another week, and if it doesn't get started, I'll do as I suggested above: Mix it with some cheap vodka, and go ahead and bottle it that way.

Or maybe just dilute it 50-50, and make it a two gallon batch... That should work.

 

[madscientist451]

My 2 cents: Start another batch, but just use water and honey. Feed your yeast nutrient in following your favorite SNA schedule and de-gas twice a day. When its done, add your cranberry/orange batch a pint at a time. If it doesn't ferment, perhaps the cranberry/orange honey mixture can be used to flavor and/or backsweeten another batch.
The combination of the cranberry juice and the orange juice & rind may be making the ph of the must too low for yeast to survive?

 

[bernardsmith]

I doubt that the cranberry juice will take the pH to a point that this will inhibit fermentation. You really need to go LOW to do that and I cannot see the juice resulting in a pH below 3 which is an acidity that MIGHT inhibit fermentation. I wonder , though if 100% pure cranberry juice does not have sorbates added... What is the shelf life of this product and how was it stored in the store? Is this a national brand?

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

It was "Lakewood Organic Pure Cranberry"; Allegedly the only ingredient was cranberries, pressed, pasteurized, and straight into the bottle without any additives of any sort. http://www.lakewoodjuices.com/faqs

Just looked it up: Pure cranberry juice supposedly has a ph of 2.4, roughly comparable to lemon juice. In theory, 50% dilution with water would raise that to 2.7, but part of what I diluted it with was fresh OJ, also acidic. So, yes, sounds like it was probably too acidic for the yeast. Seriously, I didn't realize cranberry juice was THAT acidic!

I think I'm going with Mad scientist's advice, and start a straight honey mead, and use this to flavor it when it's done. I'm trying for a sort of drinkable cranberry/orange relish, and that's probably the best approach short of just spiking it with vodka and bottling it. (Which I might do with part of it anyway, just to have something I can drink by Christmas.)

 

[IslandLizard]

I think I'm going with Mad scientist's advice, and start a straight honey mead, and use this to flavor it when it's done.

@madscientist451 is hinting at trying to ferment it by adding a pint at a time to an established fermentation. If it doesn't take off, consider it a simple flavoring method:

My 2 cents: Start another batch, but just use water and honey. Feed your yeast nutrient in following your favorite SNA schedule and de-gas twice a day. When its done, add your cranberry/orange batch a pint at a time.

If it doesn't ferment, perhaps the cranberry/orange honey mixture can be used to flavor and/or backsweeten another batch.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Took a really close look this morning, with flashlight and magnifying glass, (My vision isn't so great since the cataracts.) and it seems that it IS fermenting. Just not very fast, just barely.

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to an extremely slow fermentation?

 

[IslandLizard]

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to an extremely slow fermentation?

In short, slow and steady is best when it comes to fermentations.

By keeping a fermentation at the low end of a yeast's temp range you prevent the yeast from (early) bingeing and you'll get a much cleaner end product with far less fusel (higher order) alcohols. We want to create ethanol, not much else. Once it nears completion (gravity has dropped close to expected final gravity) it's advised to slowly increase the temps to keep the fermentation going so it can finish out. At that stage not much alcohol is being formed.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Well, it eventually fermented dry, had practically no yeast on the bottom of the jug. I'd swear just the yeast I pitched it with.

So I racked it, added about 12 oz more of orange blossom honey, and just a little water to eliminate the head space. (The racking losses were minor, with so little sediment on the bottom.) It's the next day, and with my usual mead it would be fizzing away. This stuff? Had to hold a magnifying glass to the jug again, to see that there were bubbles coming up. It has resumed fermenting.

The bit of racking loss I ran through a coffee filter as usual. It was remarkably sour without any sugar in it, but once I sweetened it a bit, my wife agreed that it was quite good. Didn't have the usual harsh taste my mead usually has at this stage.

As slow as it's going, I figure it will be ready in time for Thanksgiving.

I think I'm going to have to experiment a bit with this recipe, to see just how low the ph can go and still ferment. The results of low ph fermentation seem promising, if you have the time.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I finally backsweetened and bottled it. My wife thinks it's the best mead I've made yet, and I'll be starting a larger batch this weekend. But first I'll be doing some experimentation on how low a ph my yeast can handle.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I'm at the point I just cut my cran brews with 50% water. So far it gets me my best results, but those are wines.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I'm at the point I just cut my cran brews with 50% water. So far it gets me my best results, but those are wines.

That's about where I was, 64 oz of cranberry juice in a gallon. Except that part of the remainder was orange juice and zest.

Sure looks like a lot of cranberry juice, when you go to larger batches!

 

[Redeemer]

I know this is a couple of months old but did you consider adding potassium carbonate, or bicarbonate to the must? I learned about it from @loveofrose as an excellent PH buffer as well as an additional source of potassium for the yeast. You can always add acid after fermentation to taste. I do this for all of my meads, ciders, and wine / meadlike ferments now and am very pleased with the results.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I know this is a couple of months old but did you consider adding potassium carbonate, or bicarbonate to the must? I learned about it from @loveofrose as an excellent PH buffer as well as an additional source of potassium for the yeast. You can always add acid after fermentation to taste. I do this for all of my meads, ciders, and wine / meadlike ferments now and am very pleased with the results.

Yeah, actually I did drop by my brew store and pick up some potassium carbonate.

 

[Redeemer]

Yeah, actually I did drop by my brew store and pick up some potassium carbonate.

Awesome! How did it turn out?

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Awesome! How did it turn out?

Very popular with my wife and friends, I'm currently trying to make another batch.

 

[Redeemer]

Awesome! Congratz!

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Woo hoo! I sent a bottle of this into the 2020 WineMakers competition, and got Bronze!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the judging notes in another week or two.