Orange wine.

[jimeve]

Hi, I'm making store bought orange juice but the fermenting has stopped after 2 days and was slow to start. Maybe the room temperature is too high but can't help that where I live 28 c.
I used red star champagne yeast (hydrated) Would it help if I pitched in some dry red star yeast?
I gave the must a shake and it started to bubble again but only for a few hours.
The OG started at 1.130 is this too much for the yeast?

 

[Bocochoco]

What's the acidity? I believe OJ is 3.6. Yeast can drop it lower.
What was the original yeast you used?
1.130 is pretty high but if it started eating the sugar it should throughout the fermentation.
Citric acid can also fuel bacteria that can turn the wine.
I've not made OJ wine before but I'd believe based on what was said is that your acidity got dangerously low and needs a buffer.

 

[jimeve]

What's the acidity? I believe OJ is 3.6. Yeast can drop it lower.
What was the original yeast you used?
1.130 is pretty high but if it started eating the sugar it should throughout the fermentation.
Citric acid can also fuel bacteria that can turn the wine.
I've not made OJ wine before but I'd believe based on what was said is that your acidity got dangerously low and needs a buffer.

Yeast I used.

Red Star Premier Blanc Wine Yeast. what to use as a buffer?

 

[Abhishek Dewan]

Did the orange juice have some stabilizers or preservatives? I’ve made wines several times from store bought juice, never had a problem. But I always buy juice without preservatives. Ascorbic acid is fine though.

 

[bernardsmith]

What is the current gravity? And you know that it has in fact "stopped" after two days... and not just slowed down?

 

[jimeve]

Did the orange juice have some stabilizers or preservatives? I’ve made wines several times from store bought juice, never had a problem. But I always buy juice without preservatives. Ascorbic acid is fine though.

No preservatives or stabilizers, I gave it a good shake to get some oxygen in the OJ and it started fermenting again.

 

[jimeve]

What is the current gravity? And you know that it has in fact "stopped" after two days... and not just slowed down?

I got it going again, I gave it a good shake to start it. Must have been lacking oxygen. Yesterday I read it at 1.075. SG was 1.130. I will take another reading tomorrow.

 

[bernardsmith]

When you shake or agitate at this stage and you don't measure the gravity it is very likely that any action in the bubbler is caused not by fermentation restarting (though it could be that) as much as the agitation causing any CO2 gas that was saturating the liquid to be released.

 

[jimeve]

When you shake or agitate at this stage and you don't measure the gravity it is very likely that any action in the bubbler is caused not by fermentation restarting (though it could be that) as much as the agitation causing any CO2 gas that was saturating the liquid to be released.

Yes, I was wondering about that too. It's fermenting since last night when I gave it a shake, it's bubbling up inside the vessel.

 

[Abhishek Dewan]

Good luck man

 

[Pendragon524]

I would love to know how orange juice wine turns out! Please report back. If it goes well, I'd love to add orange juice to various recipes.

 

[bernardsmith]

In my experience straight OJ makes for a very bitter wine. OJ is quite acidic. I prefer to make orange wine with the zest of the orange rather than the juice - Think limoncello. Some OJ is fine but straight OJ is not something I find makes for an enjoyable wine... but that said, my wines are generally quite dry and a wine such as orange might need to be quite sweet to balance the pH and TA.

 

[jimeve]

In my experience straight OJ makes for a very bitter wine. OJ is quite acidic. I prefer to make orange wine with the zest of the orange rather than the juice - Think limoncello. Some OJ is fine but straight OJ is not something I find makes for an enjoyable wine... but that said, my wines are generally quite dry and a wine such as orange might need to be quite sweet to balance the pH and TA.

I took another reading yesterday, 1.050 and still fermenting. I had a sip of the OJ and it tasted just like sweet OJ but over 10 % ABV. If I let it ferment out the ABV will be over 17%, That's if it does ferment out!

 

[Bocochoco]

If it stalls bad then I'd stabilize it. The abv might taste really hot at 17%

 

[Bocochoco]

I say this because it may start struggling bad spitting out all kinds of volitile alcohols and oils.

 

[jimeve]

I say this because it may start struggling bad spitting out all kinds of volitile alcohols and oils.

Thanks Bocochoco, It's day 5 now and fermenting. I don't want it to ferment out that much if it's going to spoil but I don't want a over sweet wine too.
Maybe I should rack into a secondary vessel sometime then stop the ferment at 1.010! and have a sweet dessert wine.

 

[jimeve]

Update on my OJ wine, I racked into another container and took a reading...1.030. The SG 1.130. Had a taste and it was sweet, it's slowly fermenting so I'll give it another week then stabilize before I bottle I have only got Sodium Metabisulfite (sp) to stabilize! Hope that won't ruin the wine. I have 4 liters. just over a us gallon.

 

[Bocochoco]

K-meta wont stabilize. K-Sorbate makes all the yeast infertile. They will ferment still until they die but without being able to reproduce they die. K-meta at the amounts needed to kill 100% of the yeast will make it so sulfury...
Someone correct me if wrong

 

[jimeve]

K-meta wont stabilize. K-Sorbate makes all the yeast infertile. They will ferment still until they die but without being able to reproduce they die. K-meta at the amounts needed to kill 100% of the yeast will make it so sulfury...
Someone correct me if wrong

Don't know what else to use! Campden tablets are sulfur based but can't get hold of any over here. Is K-sorbate safe to use, and how much for 4 liters of OJ?

 

[Bocochoco]

K-sorbate if too much will leave a taste but the mfg. will have amounts to add per gallon typically. I use 1/2 tsp per gallon usually.
K-meta wont stop the yeast. It will kill the bacteria and prevent oxydation which ruins wines otherwise it isn't always necessary.
There's very few options for homebrewers to stablize outside of that. Sodium benzoate is an option. You may want to consider using an alcohol sugar like sucralose if you can't stabilize the sugar and just let it ferment dry. Sucralose isn't for everyone but I prefer Splenda over Sweet and low any day. Stevia works also.

 

[Bocochoco]

Oh but your very high citric acid may make it very beneficial to use the K-meta.
Bacteria love citric acid

 

[jimeve]

Oh but your very high citric acid may make it very beneficial to use the K-meta.
Bacteria love citric acid

Okay, thank you for the advise.