Anyone ever tried fermenting Orange Juice?

I was just wondering how it came out. Is it worth me trying to make a 1 gallon batch of it? I know what OJ tastes like if you leave it out of the fridge for a long time. I was wondering if it didn't taste nasty like that.

I never have, but as you said, you've tasted it when it's been left out...not so good. I think it's too acidic to make anything great. Maybe try a light beer with lots of orange flavor from peel and juice?

You ever find a bottle of orangle juice that a toddler has lost somewhere, like, behind the couch for a week or something? Take a whiff; its aromatics are identical to those of, uh, vomit. Just an FYI....

I made an IPA with orange, grapefruit, and lime. I used both the peel and the juice. Came out f***ing excellent

sounds like an Orange "cider" is out of the question. Think it's possible to do a cider with montrachet or something similar and put a s-load of orange zest in it to get the orange flavor way more dominant than the apple flavor? How much Orange Zest do you think it would take and what kind of oranges would you buy if you went the route of making the zest yourself?

the_bird said:

...its aromatics are identical to those of, uh, vomit.....

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Mmm...Eau de Regurgitation. I think someone in my office wears that scent.

devaspawn said:

How much Orange Zest do you think it would take and what kind of oranges would you buy if you went the route of making the zest yourself?

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You certainly could add orange zest to cider - and if you're using Montrachet yeast, as many have found, it won't have a ton of apple characteristic in the end anyway. I would think you could add the zest of one orange per gallon (make sure you don't get any pith). I would suggest washing the oranges and using a carrot peeler very carefully, just because a zester will give you such small shavings that they will be harder to filter out later. Dump it in the secondary and let us know how it goes.

I will get back to you guys in a month or so with my results.

foonder said:

I made an IPA with orange, grapefruit, and lime. I used both the peel and the juice. Came out f***ing excellent

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recipe?





......

Generally when people ferment oranges or orange juice they are aiming to make a wine...

I'm feeling lucky with google brings up this...

http://www.easy-wine.net/making-homemade-orange-wine.htm

I've been meaning to make one myself someday...

PRUNO
http://blacktable.com/gillin030901.htm

Oh that pruno recipe sounds vile.

yeah, i'm not going anywhere near that stuff.

I knew someone wouldn't be able to resist mentioning pruno.

Ok, so I tried adding a 1/2 oz of sweet orange peel to a typical, proportional, 1 gallon batch of Apfelwein. It was still just as dry as regular apfelwein but I was able to taste a slight amount of orangeyness in it. I let it sit in primary for 9 weeks and then bottled it in 9 bottles. I was unable to resist and tasted 2 bottles after 1 week of priming. Had some carbonation but not much. I know that carbonation can help enhance flavors so I will be patient and not hit the others for at least 1 more week (I bottled them 2 weeks ago). In fact, I am likely to try a 1 a week thing for 6 weeks after next week. I won't report back every week about each bottle but I will update occasionally. Based on the fact that I tasted some of the orange and it was somewhat pleasant I suspect that adding more sweet orange peel per gallon will work out quite well. Yet another experiment for me. I ordered 2 oz of sweet orange peel from Morebeer.com recently. Maybe I will use an oz of it for another 1 gallon try.

Malkore has an updated version of JAOM, he zested the oranges then added the juice of each orange. I think that would enhance the citrus flavor as well as adding some bite with the acid.

But this does sound good.

flyangler18 said:

Oh that pruno recipe sounds vile.

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then try this one:

The Sneeze - Half zine. Half blog. Half not good with fractions.




I don't see why you couldn't make a orange juice cider/wine... I mean the reason that it gets foul when left out is likely bacterial contamination right? I mean some little kid had is little mouth all over that sippy cup before he tossed it behind the couch... god only knows what the juice was innoculated with. If you took a pure OJ, with no preseratives (possibly pasturized or camden tableted to kill off any possible wild nasties or unpleasant hangers on) and then pitched a proper brewing yeast of some sort... would it not just "do it's thing" like any other juice?
sans vomit smell/taste? I ask because What I have a butt ton of here on maui is pineapple... lots and lots of pineapple... which is alot like OJ in many respects.

interesting topic ... i was just looking at my orange juice (100% natural, no preservatives) in my fridge the other day wonder if it was possible (or wise) to ferment orange juice into something drinkable ... i guess if nothing else, you can make penicillin out of it, right? lol j/k

I did a tangerine wine some years and years ago. It was actually pretty tasty.

jmulligan said:

You certainly could add orange zest to cider - and if you're using Montrachet yeast, as many have found, it won't have a ton of apple characteristic in the end anyway. I would think you could add the zest of one orange per gallon (make sure you don't get any pith). I would suggest washing the oranges and using a carrot peeler very carefully, just because a zester will give you such small shavings that they will be harder to filter out later. Dump it in the secondary and let us know how it goes.

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I'd use the zester to get those thin strips of orange zest. They'll release their essential oils more easily & faster than larger pieces of peel. I'd also simmer the zest in a small amount of water for about 5 minutes before adding to secondary, this will also help to release more essential oils. I've done this with lemon zest & it does work faster & more effectively than just adding raw zest. I never had any problems with pectins from zest, but if you're concerned about that, you can always add a bit of pectic enzyme to it when you add the zest/water mix. I suppose you could even use vodka instead of water if you wanted. The simmered lemon zest I added to a mead turned to mush on the bottom of the carbouy. That's my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

Hi. I was gonna wait a couple more weeks and then report on this.

3 weeks ago I started a gallon jug of orange cider.
2 frozen orange juice concentrate, sugar and yeast and malt. It fermented nicely for a week. I tasted it and it reminded me of vomit. Tonight I looked at it again and it smells really nice. I am looking forward to how this tastes.

Originally I was going for the orange/malt flavored beer that used to be on the market. I haven't seen it for a while. If I am remembering it correctly, it didn't have such a strong orange taste - more like a orange drink flavor with malt??

I wish I could find that stuff. Anyways, even if this doesn't turn out like what I remember, I think I will like it.

I will let you know.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

MAN...toularat!

"I tasted it and it reminded me of vomit."

"...I think I will like it."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You, sir, are destined for greatness!

Pogo

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

BTW - Stay away from my dumpster!

I find it odd that people are comparing the potential of carefully fermented juice with that of a bacterial contamination of juice left sitting out. You wouldn't usually hold the idea of fermenting beer to that same standard (unless you're landhoney).

It might still taste like ****, but I think a montrachet or Lavlin pitch would have better odds than a spontaneous kitchen counter open ferment.

Pogo - I am glad I gave you a good laugh!

Actually, what I meant was I tasted it when it was done fermenting and it was gross. That was 3 weeks ago. I looked at it last night and it smells great. I will give it a couple more weeks and then rack it. It has a ton of gunk on the bottom - much more than the hard lemonade I made. Both made with malt and frozen concentrate. I didn't have to rack the lemonade.

oh yeah - I'm a girl (still destined for greatness)

A GIRL!!!

Wow!

Yeah...greatness all the same!

Hmm...go figure...men may be in the minority on this site.

Anyway, thanks for the laughs...HAHAHAHAHA...it still cracks me up!

Pogo

toularat said:

I am looking forward to how this tastes.
I will let you know.

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Did this ever turn into anything drinkable or worth experimenting with? I had some ingredients and an extra 1 gallon carboy lying around and decided to give something a whirl. Let's call it Orangfelwein...

1/2 Gallon Orange Juice(No preservatives)
Corn Syrup(karo, with vanilla)
Honey
Water to make 1 gallon

I added Corn Syrup and honey to bring the SG to right around 1.120. I know many people on this forum have advised against using corn syrup for fermentation, but I have used it many times with no problems. Prior to fermenting this tasted like an orange julius. Used a packet of Lalvin K1V-1116, I'm gonna let it sit for a month and see if it turns into vomit, or some combination of orangy-cidery-mead.

I'll post back on this if I haven't been banned by the time it finishes up.

It's been about a month, I racked my ojmead to a secondary today, and grabbed a little taste while doing so...it tastes like a mimosa on crack! I really quite enjoyed the sample, so decided to take another sample. This stuff may not last long enough to be bottled. I'll definitely be experimenting with this more in the future. For some reason I decided to rack this on top of the yeast cake left behind from my quick grape mead (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/joes-quick-grape-mead-57190/index2.html)...not sure why I did it...maybe it's all the apfelwein coarsing through my veins making me do weird things.....:fro:

I just bottled what was left of my orange juice concoction yesterday, after almost 3 months. There was just enough left after all the sampling to fill one 750ml wine bottle. My wife absolutely loves this stuff! I've had a few tastes, still think it's comparable to a cracked-out mimosa. Wifey has been drinking it mixed with the juice of a lime, which makes it a completely different drink altogether. Not sure if I'll be making this drink again, that'll be up to the wifey. A friend who tasted it and enjoyed it gave it the name Orange Jubilee. After a few more drinks the name turned into Orange Jubilicious...

I just did an update on my fermenting orange juice. I think I might have posted it to the wine forum tho.

Anyways, mine has been sitting for 7 months (I used 2 cans orange concentrate and dme) It is still horrid. Maybe the whole problem was too much concentrate. Or, you like puke - I'm not sure. Just kidding!

I think, on behalf of Orangealish-ish, or whatever you are calling it, you should make another batch, posting the recipe and let us know how it all goes.

How about it?

The main difference in our recipes was that you used malt...which I can imagine would taste like yesterdays garbage. I'll do some more batches and post a final recipe here. I'm sure the end result won't be much off the original recipe:

1/2 Gallon Orange Juice
Corn Syrup
Honey
Water to make 1 gallon
Wine Yeast

This time I'll pay closer attention to it to get actual fermentation and clearing times...as well as post actual amounts of corn syrup and honey.

That would be great. I'd love to hear how yours turned out.
As for malt, I use malt in my hard lemonade and I love,love,love it. There used to be an orangemalt beverage on the market and that's what I was trying to reproduce. I might try it again sometime but use a orange drink with some orangepeel instead of orange juice.

Hmmmm interesting thread. Just last night I was walking the aisles of my local grocery store, considering what I could try and ferment next. Never considered orange juice. Crazy how a couple of fermentation experiments gets each of us thinking like mad scientists!!

toularat said:

There used to be an orangemalt beverage on the market and that's what I was trying to reproduce...

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You mean this?

I made a version of the Japanese belgian white called Hitachino Nest. The recipe calls for 2 cups of orange juice added to boil for one minute.
I used two yeast strains to see what whould happen.
The forbidden fruit strain is very sour (just like the HN) but has an awful smell.
I'm hoping another 3 weeks of conditioning will help.
The other yeast was a belgian wit....I have yet to try it as it took a little longer to complete...it also has a rather strong sulpher type smell.
Aging Question: Should you age carbonated in a keg or "un"carbonated? Also if I age it in a fridge at 40 is that just going to take longer or is it in fact better to age at a lower temp?

pizzaman said:

The main difference in our recipes was that you used malt...which I can imagine would taste like yesterdays garbage. I'll do some more batches and post a final recipe here. I'm sure the end result won't be much off the original recipe:

1/2 Gallon Orange Juice
Corn Syrup
Honey
Water to make 1 gallon
Wine Yeast

This time I'll pay closer attention to it to get actual fermentation and clearing times...as well as post actual amounts of corn syrup and honey.

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Pizzaman, what ever came of this? Also, I was wondering if you this ended up being more like a cider or wine? I'm looking to try and make a carbonated orange cider. Thanks

Does it ever clear?

I have never seen OJ that has been allowed to settle for an extended period of time. I imagine there must be a ton of sediment even from low pulp varieties. I might give it a go - I like OJ, OJ is cheap and my apfelwien carboy will be open when I finally get around to bottle it.

Hope I didn't ruin my wheat beer I just brewed this last weekend, I put 2 cups orange juice in the last 5 min of boil of my 5 gal batch of wheat beer. Is it going to smell like vomit, is there any help i can give it?

a bit of orange in a beer is WAY different than trying to ferment straight orange juice.

fyi... if you REALLY want orange flavor and/or aroma, you're better off using fresh orange zest rather than juice.

It took a few weeks, but the vomit smell does go away and you get a great beer.....bit scary at first though when you get the first wiff.

A little addition to the conversation- IMHO the best zest comes from Minneola Tangelos (juice too) - big bangin' orangey flavor. wash the orange well, maybe use a soft scrub brush. a potato peeler works if you are mindful of creating thin, narrow strips- otherwise use the standard zester that makes small shavings- you want to release the oil. in my experiments (both brewing and cooking)with oranges , the distinctive flavor disappears with just juice, zest is necessary it's the essence