On 06/05/2004 08:54 PM, Michael Thompson said:
> Hello All,
>
> I went against the advice of friends and decided to try and tackle
> orange wine. I used a recipe from an old book I found at the library with a
> few modifications. Below is the recipe and racking schedule.
>
> Orange Wine:
>
> 1. The juice of 25 Valencia oranges. I juiced all twenty five which made a
> little more then a gallon of juice. I triple filtered this and it came out a
> little less then a gallon, but there was absolutly NO pulp.
>
> 2.The Zest of 5 orange peels. I was sure not to grate any of the white stuff
> in the peels with this zest.
>
> 3. I mixed the zest in 1 1/2 gallons of water and slowly boiled this. While
> slowly adding 2 lbs of sugar.
>
> 4. At this point I mixed up a standard yest starter.
>
> 5. I added 2 tsp of fermax yeast nutrient to teh must.
>
> 6. I waited 12 hours and then added the yeast starter to the must.
>
> 7. 5 Days later I added another 2 lbs of sugar and racked into a carboy with
> an SG of 1.040.
>
> 8. 2 months later I racked with an SG of 0.990
>
> I gave the brew a little taste at this point and noticed it still had a
> yeastie flavor. It was very dry and tasted rather acidy.
>
> My question is, how should the acid content look in an orange wine and what
> should it be? Further more what rolls does acid play in the fementing
> process and the aging process?
>
I can't answer your specific questions, I never made an orange wine.
But I did make a Wineberry wine - it's a type of wild raspberry.
I first tasted this wine when it was 1 year old, and it was very
harsh and tart. The berries are very tart (and acidic?) so I guess
it was to be expected. Anyway, after waiting another year, it
really mellowed out and the wine was pretty good.
If you're tasting you wine at 2 months old, I don't think you should
jump to any conclusions - it's far too soon. After bottling, put
it away for a year, and then if it's still too acidic, wait some
more. When bottling, I always bottle some of each batch in 12 oz
beer bottles, can cap with a crown cap - then I can sample small
batches over time without having to open a 750ml bottle.
--
Joe
http://www.joekaz.net/
http://www.cafeshops.com/joekaz