I have about 3 1/2 gallons of satsuma juice in the freezer that I pressed from fresh satsumas back in the fall and want to make wine out of. Have a few questions that I hope you all can help me with. 1-Are there any issues with making a wine from citrus juice, such as getting fermentation started, stalled fermentation, or any other issues I should be aware of when making a citrus wine? 2-What yeast would you all recommend for satsuma wine (or any citrus wine)? 3-Are there any other issues with making a citrus wine that I should know about (advice/recommendations you all have on making wine from citrus juice)? Thanks in advance!
Satsuma Wine
- Thread starter Cowboy77
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
I am a contrarian so you may find that others on this forum will have very different opinions but for what it's worth here are mine.
1. Wine ferments the sugars in fruit and that means that the flavor of wine is different from the flavor of the fruit (no surprise) but you may then find that when you ferment all the sugars from your satsumas that the acidity of the fruit is no way out of balance with the flavor of the fruit absent any sweetness. That may mean that you need to begin the process diluting the fruit a little (or a lot) to reduce the acidity to bring the flavor back into balance... Others may be more fortunate but I have never had a great deal of success fermenting oranges, for example. The wine tends to be very tart. Very tart.
2. I would check the pH of the juice. if it is low - around 3.0 I might want to begin by pitching a larger batch of yeast than you might normally use - Perhaps create a starter or use several packs of yeast.
3. You have expressed the juice already so this may be too late but I might add some zest (the peel without any of the fleshy part) to the secondary to increase the depth of flavor.
1. Wine ferments the sugars in fruit and that means that the flavor of wine is different from the flavor of the fruit (no surprise) but you may then find that when you ferment all the sugars from your satsumas that the acidity of the fruit is no way out of balance with the flavor of the fruit absent any sweetness. That may mean that you need to begin the process diluting the fruit a little (or a lot) to reduce the acidity to bring the flavor back into balance... Others may be more fortunate but I have never had a great deal of success fermenting oranges, for example. The wine tends to be very tart. Very tart.
2. I would check the pH of the juice. if it is low - around 3.0 I might want to begin by pitching a larger batch of yeast than you might normally use - Perhaps create a starter or use several packs of yeast.
3. You have expressed the juice already so this may be too late but I might add some zest (the peel without any of the fleshy part) to the secondary to increase the depth of flavor.
Similar threads
