I've tried a simple recipe off of the net for Orange wine. The first time I
tried it, the fermentation bubbled like boiling water for four days and
stopped almost cold. Since that was my first try ever I assumed I did
something wrong. So I tried the same recipe again and almost the exact thing
happened again - hard fermentation and then an almost complete stop.

When I measure the specific gravity it shows .99 or perhaps slightly below
that. When tasted it is completely tart without a trace of the copious
amounts of sugar added - 6 lbs to 2 gallons of water and 10 lbs of Oranges,
sans peels of course, ground up Oranges in a strainer sack.

When I read all the stuff about making wine they talk about it taking a week
in the initial fermentation and then perhaps a month in the first carboy
with additional fermentation the entire way.

Comment anyone?

Every fermentation is different. It depends on temperature, yeast
variety, nutrients available, oxygen available, etc etc.

The kits that I make are usually finished (ie down to .992 to .995)
within 8 days.

Do you know the starting sg? Certainly .990 (sg is usually quoted as
3 decimals), indicates that the fermentation is complete.

Hopefully you have now transferred from a pail to a carboy with
limited airspace. You can watch it clear, and take whatever oter
steps the recipe called for.

Steve

On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:23:50 -0800, "Tom Kunich"
> wrote:

>I've tried a simple recipe off of the net for Orange wine. The first time I
>tried it, the fermentation bubbled like boiling water for four days and
>stopped almost cold. Since that was my first try ever I assumed I did
>something wrong. So I tried the same recipe again and almost the exact thing
>happened again - hard fermentation and then an almost complete stop.
>
>When I measure the specific gravity it shows .99 or perhaps slightly below
>that. When tasted it is completely tart without a trace of the copious
>amounts of sugar added - 6 lbs to 2 gallons of water and 10 lbs of Oranges,
>sans peels of course, ground up Oranges in a strainer sack.
>
>When I read all the stuff about making wine they talk about it taking a week
>in the initial fermentation and then perhaps a month in the first carboy
>with additional fermentation the entire way.
>
>Comment anyone?
>

"Steve" > wrote in message
...
> Every fermentation is different. It depends on temperature, yeast
> variety, nutrients available, oxygen available, etc etc.
>
> The kits that I make are usually finished (ie down to .992 to .995)
> within 8 days.
>
> Do you know the starting sg? Certainly .990 (sg is usually quoted as
> 3 decimals), indicates that the fermentation is complete.
>
> Hopefully you have now transferred from a pail to a carboy with
> limited airspace. You can watch it clear, and take whatever oter
> steps the recipe called for.

That makes me feel a whole lot better.