Orange Wine

[joebrady]

Got about 10 lbs of "cuties" mandarins and 7 lbs or so of tangelos yesterday and I think I will be getting some more each day now...

Anyone have any good tips or recipes on orange wine?

Or freezing them to save up for a large batch?

 

[Rocky]

Joe, here is an orange wine recipe from The Art of Making Wine by Stanley Anderson:

"Orange Wine

2 6 oz cans of frozen orange juice (EDIT: per Bernard's comment, this should be frozen concentrate)
1 gallon of warm water
1 orange sliced
1 lb of chopped raisins or 10 oz grape concentrate
1/2 t pectic enzyme
1 campden tablet
2 lbs of sugar
1/2 t yeast nutrient
wine yeast

Starting SG should be 1.090-1.095, acid 0.60%, makes 1 gallon of wine.

Mix all ingredients except wine yeast in primary fermenter. Cover with plastic sheet. Add yeast when must is cool (70-75 F). Stir once daily for 7 days. Siphon into gallon jug and attach fermentation lock. Rack in 3 weeks. Add 1 campden tablet and top up jug (use water if necessary). Rack again in 3 months. When wine is clear and stable, bottle. Age 1 year."

Perhaps you can adapt this to the juice or whatever you have. It appears that he starts with about 1 gallon 12 oz of juice to yield one gallon of wine. Good luck.

 

[BernardSmith]

I ask this as a newbie: what is the reason for adding water to orange juice if the OJ is not concentrated and would be drunk undiluted? Is this to cut the acidity? Why would a recipe not simply use the juice that was squeezed from the fruit or reconstituted with enough water to normal drinking concentration?

 

[Russ Stewart]

I started a batch (3 gal) of orange wine in December. I roughly followed Jack Kellers recipe using whole oranges and I added some raisins. I have since racked it off of the lees and it is clearly nicely. I am kind of excited about this batch of wine. It is quite a change from what I usually make, but the oranges were available and I was curious how it would turn out. Good luck!

 

[Rocky]

I ask this as a newbie: what is the reason for adding water to orange juice if the OJ is not concentrated and would be drunk undiluted? Is this to cut the acidity? Why would a recipe not simply use the juice that was squeezed from the fruit or reconstituted with enough water to normal drinking concentration?

Bernard, I went back to the book and although the author does not specify frozen concentrated orange juice, I am sure that is what he means.

 

[joebrady]

I'm wanting to make a five gallon batch, so froze these hoping to get some more in a few days. I was also looking at this recipe specifically for mandarins.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request130.asp