Orange wine. Will it work please ?

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daz57992

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Hi All,
This is my first wine but i am also making my 1st mead at the moment as well.
Im making an Orange wine and this is what iv done.
I Put about 6 pints of pure orange juice in a demijon with about 3 pound of suger with a cup of lemon juice, a spoon of tea, top up with a little water and a pack of champeigne yeast.
Its bubbling away quite nicely after about an hour. Its just a hit or miss thing but what do you think of it please? Will it be ok please? :mug:
 
Thanks, Its now bubbling once every 60 seconds or so and its been about 3 hours. Is that about right please ? :mug:
 
Its just starting to bubble up a little close to the neck of the demijon. Is it ok to remove the airlock and syophon of a little or is it best to leave it alone please?:confused:
 
I would think its better to do that then have it come on up through that little sucka ....
 
Replace with a sanitized blow off tube or leave it alone and see if it goes over. I'd go with option one.
 
I had a similar idea. I didn't do my research, however, so I was unaware that fermenting orange juice is rather pungent. I found out about 2 or 3 days after it started that it had to sit outside. It smells distinctly like vomit. I wish there was a better way to put it, but ... it filled up the house while I was at work. I eventually had to put it outside - and by eventually, I mean right away. Wow. I can't even describe how bad it was.
 
oranges are extremely acidic I dunno if it would make a good wine or not....
 
The thing about oranges is that without the sweet, they're sour. Well, what do we have that'll eat up all the sugar? :)

I think you may have to backsweeten once you're finished fermenting (in fact you may have to do so quite a bit) but I'd bet that it'll be quite good :) In my head it comes out sort of like orange-ade.

I was going to say, do it something like a skeeter pee - little invert sugar, ferment, add OJ concentrate and nutrient stepwise. But hey, if the yeast are going like you did it, you're on the right track!
 
So a day later and im getting a bubble about every 1 and a half minutes. No bad smells yet and it looks healthy. Should i use a yeast nutrient please ?
Temp is 64 F ish
 
wine grapes = use raisins if you have them.

Lots of tasty stuff for the yeast and won't contribute flavor (or urea). IMHO.
 
no, if you have raisins add them, please! If you do not have raisins, please, add nutrient! please!

(glamorgan must have awfully courteous folk!)
 
Si i have put a handfull of raisins in but on closer examinasion they are glazed. I hope this will be ok. An hour later and its bubbling well anyway.
It smells good also just like fresh oranges.
 
sounds wonderful. now leave it alone and go make something else til the fruit sinks to the bottom :D
 
Many thanks all, ill keep you posted. Its steadily bubbling about twice a minute now with a lovely fresh orange smell.
 
daz57992 said:
So how many days do i leave this bubbling away for please?
Its been 7 days tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Until it stops bubbling, then wait maybe another week, then stabilise (sprinkle a crushed Campden tablet in, but there are other ways) then bottle. Assuming you want a non-carbonated wine.
 
Thanks Pith. Its still bubbling about twice a minute and in the 1st demijohn so i still got a while to wait yet then
 
So the latest update on this is its been about 3 weeks and still bubbling away at about twice every 3 minutes. The top half seems to be beggining to clear and it still smells sweet and lovely.
Im assuming that i just let it alone until it stopps as suggested but do i intervene if this continues indefinetly please ? :)
 
daz57992 said:
So the latest update on this is its been about 3 weeks and still bubbling away at about twice every 3 minutes. The top half seems to be beggining to clear and it still smells sweet and lovely.
Im assuming that i just let it alone until it stopps as suggested but do i intervene if this continues indefinetly please ? :)
Click to expand...


wait for it to stop bubbling, then take a hydrometer reading.

If you know what gravity you're supposed to be at, wait until you get a consistent reading at that gravity for about a week.

If you're not shooting for anything in particular, check the gravity over the course of a week or four/five days and if you've got a good solid reading, that's when I rack and/or get ready to bottle.
 
It won't continue indefinitely.. either it will a) run out of sugar to eat and quit or b) reach its alcohol tolerance and quit. Either way, if you don't have a hydrometer, "when the fruit quits floating at the top" is a good failsafe.

Does it smell any different now? :D
 
Awww man. A fermentation that doesn't stop bubbling. We'll ask the guy who invented the perpetual motion machine. xD
 
Orange can be tough - because it's really acidic and the acid is Citric acid... Some flavors of Malo-lactic turn Citric acid into vinegar....

If you want a super intense Orangey-ness without super duper sour and bitter - try Orange blossom mead.... You can bump up the orangey-ness with orange zest and rind... The amount of juice adds a more neutral sour once it is fermented out.. It's a nice way to balance out the mead...

Thanks
 
Thanks all.
I tried to take an hydrometer reading at the start but it was so dence that the hydromiter hardly sank to the shoulders so i couldnt get a reading.
It still smells a lovely fresh orange but i can only smell it if i put my nose to the top of the airlock.
I will try the mead another time though it does sound good but ill complete this one first.
I dont mind how strong it is but i guess itll be quite potent. I just hope it dont get sour.
And yes its still bubbling away lol Many thanks for all the helpand advise peeps :)
 
The Orange is still bubbling but very slowly now so iv started a diffrent one whilst im waiting for it.
Iv done an appple attempt. Its about 6 pints of pure aple juice with about 3 pounds of brewing suger, a little black tea, a hand full of raisins and some chopped up Granny Smith with a white wine yeast.
Its been bubbling like Bill Ho for a few days now and smells lush.
Any thoughts on this one please ? Shall i just do it the same as the Orange please ? :)
 
Yes Daz! :D That sounds to me like an Apfelwein - there is a sticky about it in the cider forum that may help you out. Any high-proof (e.g. wine yeast) apple concoctions usually take a few months before they get to be really nice.
 
My apple wine has been bubbling away for 5 weeks now but has almost come to a stop and only bubbles once every minute or so but it is still very very cloudy and the raisins are still floating on the top.
I used 1.5 KG of brewing suger and a gallon of fresh pure apple juice with a white wine yeast.
The orange wine is the same very cloudy and almost stopped bubbling all together.

Any advise please ? Am i doing anything wrong please ? What sould i do next please ?
 
Will all the raisins fall to the bottom when its time to go to the 2nd fermentation please ?
 
So here is my update,
I just racked off the apple and orange wines into 2nd demijons and had a little taste of both.
The apple wine is still bubbling very slowly and tasts like rocket fuel and the orange wine had stopped bubbling and tastes like very sweet oranges but very very sweet.
I added some water to top up the orange wine as there was a lot of sediment and iv put some more rasins in with a few bits of orange and added another yeast but this time a white wine yeast.
It is starting to bubble again now.
Am i pissing in the wind or on the right track please ? :eek:
 
daz57992 said:
So here is my update,
I just racked off the apple and orange wines into 2nd demijons and had a little taste of both.
The apple wine is still bubbling very slowly and tasts like rocket fuel and the orange wine had stopped bubbling and tastes like very sweet oranges but very very sweet.
I added some water to top up the orange wine as there was a lot of sediment and iv put some more rasins in with a few bits of orange and added another yeast but this time a white wine yeast.
It is starting to bubble again now.
Am i pissing in the wind or on the right track please ? :eek:
Click to expand...
How did this end up turning out? I have near unlimited oranges and nothing to do with them :). Thanks.
 

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