Anyone ever tried fermenting Orange Juice?

[toularat]

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.

 

[ScottM]

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!!

 

[pizzaman]

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

You mean this?

 

[pilzner]

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?

 

[SirCaptain]

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.

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

 

[BeerWars]

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.

 

[hocktim]

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?

 

[ChshreCat]

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.

 

[pilzner]

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.

 

[SaccharoVices]

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

 

[Solipsis]

Perhaps the vomit smell is due to butyric acid since ethyl butyrate, an ester of butyric acid, is often added to orange juice to give it more of an orange aroma. But it may also occur naturally in the juice. I guess side-reactions of the yeast or bacteria can produce the acid from the ester. Maybe with Brettanomyces one can revert some back to the ester, other than that maybe antibiotic treatment may be necessary to keep bacteria under control while using a yeast that is resistant to it.