Questions about Orange Wine

[boomtown25]

Hey folks-
I'm a big beer brewer, but due to unforseen financial issues and finally getting at least one local friend interested in making our own alocholic products, I have been making several different batches of homemade wine out of fruits. My next venture is an Orange wine, but I have a few questions because my mentor (a big f'in redneck that is set in his ways) and my opinions differ a bit. I usually make 5-6 gallon batches. So here are my questions:

1. My mentor insists on freezing all the fruit (after we cut it up and peel, etc.) for 2 weeks in order to kill the bacteria. Do I have to do this or will using campden tablets accomplish the same?

2. Best strain of yeast for fruit wines (blueberry, muscadine, blackberry and pear, orange are the common fruits we have been using)? All I have been using is Montrachet (sp?). I'm wondering if anyone has other suggestions.

3. For a 5-6 gallon batch of Orange wine, I bought 16 lbs of fruit and after peeling and cutting up, I came up with 12.2 lbs of fruit. Unfortunately, my mentor measures his fruit in gallon plastic bag amounts. He says we need 3 bags, but my 12.2 lbs only filled 2 bags. Thoughts?

4. We usually add 5 lbs of cane sugar, but I have seen other postings talking about adding between 10-15 lbs. What's the status quo here?

5. In my experience with beer, the water makes a huge difference and I have come to realize that the local tap water instills a nasty taste in my beer so I use spring water. Should I do the same with my wine or does it make a difference? (Redneck Mentor uses tap water out of the hose- I want to prove to my friend I can make even better wine than the teacher).

Thanks for the help fellow brewers/vitners!

 

[Daze]

1. My mentor insists on freezing all the fruit (after we cut it up and peel, etc.) for 2 weeks in order to kill the bacteria. Do I have to do this or will using campden tablets accomplish the same?

Most of the time freezing will not kill the bacteria they will just go dormant. the advantage to freezing is it causes the cells in the fruit to rupture which makes releasing the juice and flavor a whole lot easier. I like to heat my fruit and solution up to 160º this kills anything, helps release the juice, makes it easy to dissolve and sterilize the sugar but does not give it a cooked taste like boiling does.

2. Best strain of yeast for fruit wines (blueberry, muscadine, blackberry and pear, orange are the common fruits we have been using)? All I have been using is Montrachet (sp?). I'm wondering if anyone has other suggestions.

I like Montrachat, it is a good all purpose fruit wine. I have made wine with a lot of different fruits and that yeast seams to work well with all of them.

3. For a 5-6 gallon batch of Orange wine, I bought 16 lbs of fruit and after peeling and cutting up, I came up with 12.2 lbs of fruit. Unfortunately, my mentor measures his fruit in gallon plastic bag amounts. He says we need 3 bags, but my 12.2 lbs only filled 2 bags. Thoughts?

The more fruit the better the flavor IMHO so if he has made it before and that what has worked for him that is what I would do.

4. We usually add 5 lbs of cane sugar, but I have seen other postings talking about adding between 10-15 lbs. What's the status quo here?

depends on how strong you want it. get a hygrometer and add enough sugar to get the SG that gives you the desired PA

5. In my experience with beer, the water makes a huge difference and I have come to realize that the local tap water instills a nasty taste in my beer so I use spring water. Should I do the same with my wine or does it make a difference? (Redneck Mentor uses tap water out of the hose- I want to prove to my friend I can make even better wine than the teacher).

Thanks for the help fellow brewers/vitners!

I use filtered water. Thats just my personal taste preference. Of corse I drink filtered water as well