I have started the cranberry wine from 2 - 96 oz cans of cranberries
(juice and fruit) and making 6 gallons (doubled the 3 gallon recipe on
the can). I added the two white grape concentrate cans as suggested
below. The primary fermenter is bubbling nicely.
I noticed in the instructions when the specific gravity reaches 1.010 or
1.000 (originally at 1.100 and now in 4 days down to 1.080) I am to add
6 tsp Bisulfite solution (6 tsp Sodium Bisulfite in 1 cup of water).
Reading Jack's website, it appears potassium metabisulfite works just as
well, and I have that. Any one know if you use the same proportions? 6
teaspoons just like the Sodium bisulfite?
I think what I'm doing in this step is stopping the fermenting process.
Am I correct in that thinking?

learning so fast I'm afraid my head will burst. thanks for any insights.
DAve

DAve Allison wrote:
> Thanks, Ray, for the ideas.
> Actually, I am hoping to keep the cranberry without grapes and then mix
> later if I have to. Maybe I'll do the 3 gallon and 2 one gallon thing. I
> don't plan on using until Thanksgiving 2006.
> this helps. DAve
>
> Ray Calvert wrote:
>
>> For fermentation, there is no problem with fermenting 5 gal's in a 6
>> gallon carboy. The head space will be filled with CO2. After you
>> rack it to bulk storage is where you will have to decide what to do.
>> You will need to put it in something that is close to it's volume.
>> Probably get some one gallon jugs or a 3 and a couple of 1's.
>>
>> Another option: Cranberry makes a great wine but it can be
>> overpowering by itself. You might consider making it up to 6 gallons
>> by adding 2 cans of frozen Welch's Niagara white grape juice (not more
>> than that) in a gallon of water to make up the 6th gallon. This would
>> add some vinuosity and slightly cut the sharpness of the cranberry
>> without distracting from the cranberry character. Just a thought.
>>
>> Ray
>>
>> "DAve Allison" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>> Ok, so I'm not ready yet to crush my own fruit. Forgive me. I have
>>> successfully done 27 bottles of Shiraz from a wine kit, and the Pinot
>>> Noir is ready for stage 2. So as my primary fermentor is empty, I
>>> started wondering around and ended up with Cranberry Fruit Wine Base
>>> from Homebrew Heaven. 96 ounces makes 5 gallons.
>>> http://www.homebrewheaven.com/
>>>
>>> What I don't know - I have a 6 gallon carboy. Can I make 5 gallons in
>>> it, and all will work out? Or should I buy 2 wine bases, and use 1
>>> 1/6 of them to fill the 6 gallons up? Any thoughts?
>>>
>>> My neighbor is giving me 4-5 pounds of figs soon, so that will be my
>>> real first experiment. Using Jack Keller's website for recipes. I
>>> have a 2 gallon primary and 1 gallon carboy ready to go.
>>>
>>> Again, you'all are just great for offering suggestions. It helps us
>>> novices.
>>>
>>> Learned a lot in this forum,
>>> DAve
>>
>>
>>
>>