Pure orange Vs "from concentrate" - had no idea!

[Grape Expectations]

In the past I have typically bought the orange juice from concentrate because it's cheaper and to me, the taste of it from the carton isn't really any different to pure squeezed orange juice, that's about 22% more expensive.

Recently the store had sold out of the cheaper stuff from concentrate so I got the 100% pure stuff.

What a difference! The pure stuff is far more fruity, it's 10 times nicer (the SG is back down to around the levels of the original orange while the ABV is at around 11%). The wine is coming out so different with pure orange it's like a totally different juice altogether. Far more fruity, far smoother as well. Very nice and tastes really high quality. Easily worth the extra expense.

Compared with the "from concentrate" juice, the pure orange is more like it's mango juice or something with that tropical aspect to it. It's normally by accident I find these things out and this was no different, had they not sold out of the cheaper juice I'd never know there was such a big difference.

Another thing I noticed is the pure squeezed juice didn't foam up much and that initially got me worried, but using EC-1118 it's still bubbling away very frequently even on day 5. I'll leave it at least another 5 days and see what's what. Went from 1.130 SG to 1.048 SG in 5 days so, it's at around 11% now. It's just exquisite even as it is now, unfinished!

After reading up on just what it is they do with from concentrate juice, apparently they add water back to it but they also might add back synthetic/artificial stuff that boosts the juice's vitamin C back up, lost sugars and even oils that get lost from making it as a concentrate.

Folks, if you care even slightly about making nice wine and you're making orange, spend the extra on 100% pure juice. The difference is night and day.

 

[Rice_Guy]

The typical method of making concentrate in the US is to remove major solids that would foul a heater> apply a vacuum > mix the juice in a thin film over the heater> run evaporated material over a condenser to collect aromatics > add aromatics and possibly pulp back to create the finished appearance.

A punch product may have extra aroma/ flavor added. Orange juice typically does not have this. If there is added flavors the US label has to list it as an ingredient.

If wanting to create an orange wine I would use frozen concentrate. I would use lots of juice solids / let the juice provide sugars. I would not use a reconstituted juice and then add table sugar to reach a target gravity or finished ABV.

 

[Jovimaple]

The typical method of making concentrate in the US is to remove major solids that would foul a heater> apply a vacuum > mix the juice in a thin film over the heater> run evaporated material over a condenser to collect aromatics > add aromatics and possibly pulp back to create the finished appearance.

A punch product may have extra aroma/ flavor added. Orange juice typically does not have this. If there is added flavors the US label has to list it as an ingredient.

If wanting to create an orange wine I would use frozen concentrate. I would use lots of juice solids / let the juice provide sugars. I would not use a reconstituted juice and then add table sugar to reach a target gravity or finished ABV.

So you would add water just to get to the starting SG you want?

 

[Rice_Guy]

Yes, the style I like is “ better than accounting at work requires” so I run high fruit solids. That said my style makes it hard to balance taste with a dry wine. Expect that you may want 1.010 back sweetening or even 1.030.

If you do other flavors it is worth while to check the Coloma Foods web site.

 

[joeswine]

You might try orange extract along with the natural juice, just sayin

 

[winemanden]

In the past I have typically bought the orange juice from concentrate because it's cheaper and to me, the taste of it from the carton isn't really any different to pure squeezed orange juice, that's about 22% more expensive.

Recently the store had sold out of the cheaper stuff from concentrate so I got the 100% pure stuff.

What a difference! The pure stuff is far more fruity, it's 10 times nicer (the SG is back down to around the levels of the original orange while the ABV is at around 11%). The wine is coming out so different with pure orange it's like a totally different juice altogether. Far more fruity, far smoother as well. Very nice and tastes really high quality. Easily worth the extra expense.

Compared with the "from concentrate" juice, the pure orange is more like it's mango juice or something with that tropical aspect to it. It's normally by accident I find these things out and this was no different, had they not sold out of the cheaper juice I'd never know there was such a big difference.

Another thing I noticed is the pure squeezed juice didn't foam up much and that initially got me worried, but using EC-1118 it's still bubbling away very frequently even on day 5. I'll leave it at least another 5 days and see what's what. Went from 1.130 SG to 1.048 SG in 5 days so, it's at around 11% now. It's just exquisite even as it is now, unfinished!

After reading up on just what it is they do with from concentrate juice, apparently they add water back to it but they also might add back synthetic/artificial stuff that boosts the juice's vitamin C back up, lost sugars and even oils that get lost from making it as a concentrate.

Folks, if you care even slightly about making nice wine and you're making orange, spend the extra on 100% pure juice. The difference is night and day.

In the UK. we have freshly pressed, from concentrate, and juice with bits, whatever that may be!

 

[Jovimaple]

Yes, the style I like is “ better than accounting at work requires” so I run high fruit solids. That said my style makes it hard to balance taste with a dry wine. Expect that you may want 1.010 back sweetening or even 1.030.

If you do other flavors it is worth while to check the Coloma Foods web site.

I bought a bunch of concentrate cans with the intent to do an orange chocolate dessert wine. But then the RJS Cru Specialty Orange Chocolate dessert wine kit was released, so I made that. I am a huge fan of the RJS Cru Specialty dessert wines, and this one is good, but not quite what I was hoping for. It's more dark chocolate and I wanted milk chocolate. So making my own from concentrate and milk chocolate is back on the list!

 

[Grape Expectations]

In the UK. we have freshly pressed, from concentrate, and juice with bits, whatever that may be!

Yes at Aldi (where I got the stuff from concentrate and now the pure squeezed juice) they have all 4 variants: From concentrate or pure + smooth or with bits. I always get the smooth stuff but just because with bits has always been weird to me, but perhaps then it's even better (closer to being natural) as far as the yeast enjoying it.

It's the end of day 6 and the bubbling isn't slowing down much which has surprised me this many days into it. At the peak it was bubbling once per second and now it's once per 3 or 4 seconds but then, it was yesterday too. By now it's usually far less frequent. Full steam ahead anyway!

 

[Rice_Guy]

, and this one is good, but not quite what I was hoping for. It's more dark chocolate and I wanted milk chocolate.

A US milk chocolate will typically have a vanilla note. Try one drop of organic vanilla extract to a bottle (is without stabilizers on the ingredient list). One drop will probably come out strong. To increase the milk chocolate sensation more test with a pinch of sugar in a glass. US milk chocolate has a lot of sweetness. ,,,,, ie US chocolate is a created flavor which isn’t all chocolate.

A dark chocolate in contrast. Will have dominating bitter notes which are moderated by sweet notes. Roasting is done to some extent with dark chocolate. A heavy roast will have smokey bitter notes. If a light roast there should be fruity notes.

 

[Jovimaple]

Thanks, @Rice_Guy ! I have some vanilla extract that I made. I will definitely give that a try!