99 Cent Store had cranberries, name brand fresh, 12 oz. bags for a buck! Before Thanksgiving they were as high as $2.99. The check-out lady was interested, asked if we have a big freezer. No, Ma'am. We just like cranberries, is all! Now, what in the world will I do with 20 bags of 'em? Should I run back for more?
Well @Frank Sanoica , if you're going to make wine, you better get back to that store before they're all sold out.
What did you end up doing with them @Frank Sanoica? I have never seen them priced that low, and would probably have stocked up, too. I have Craisins, and am going to make some bread with them, but probably not until after Christmas.
@Diane Lane From the bucket of mash containing the crushed berries, juice, sugar, water, and yeast, actually 2 buckets of 4 gallons each, we today did the following: Strained out the skins, pulp, and seeds through a big old strainer into a clean bucket. Not shown, the strained liquid is passed through a nice clean pillowcase; this leaves very little particulate stuff in the liquid, only yeast, which passes through the fabric. The pulp is saved and cooked (my wife's idea!) to make Jam! She added a bit of Chia seeds, this helps it gel. I would have thrown the pulp away! The alcohol in the pulp of course boils away and disappears. She canned 3 nice jars of cranberry preserves. Not vacuum sealed, the stuff keeps for months in the fridge. We've done this before with Blueberries. Delicious on toast for breakfast. I don't think I've ever heard of Cranberries Preserves in the store. Back to the wine! The filtered liquid is syphoned into 5-gallon glass carboys thusly. I've found syphoning to be much better than pouring using a funnel, and, in theory, admits less Oxygen into the wine, which is considered a bad thing, by the Connoisseurs (I'm just a "kinda-sewer"). The two carboys, fitted with air-lock bubblers, which are nothing more than little water-traps to allow the CO2 produced to escape, but no bad stuff in the surrounding air to get in. Who could guess that Cranberries could give such a deep color? It's actually very deep red, when a small quantity is looked through. It is not clear yet, as the yeast is still actively working to devour the sugar remaining in the liquid. Two pounds of sugar are used per gallon. $20 for the berries, $12 for the sugar, $2 for the yeast, water, free, 8 gallons of wine for $32. Close-up of a bubbler which just "burped" a bit of gas out. Took several tries, gotta be quick with the lens! Note the tube on the right side leads downward to the stopper in the bottle, curves downwards into a bowl, then a short length of curved tube and upwards into another bowl. The water sitting in the bowls is forced upwards into the left one, the bubble of gas escapes, and the water settles back down to level again. Right now I hear them producing a bubble about every three seconds. Hope the CO2 doesn't asphyxiate us!