Fermenting Mandarin?

[nathan_madness]

So are you going to try it out? If so let us know how it turns out.

 

[nathan_madness]

So are you going to try it out? If so let us know how it turns out.

Well curiosity got the better of me today. I juiced about 40 or so mandarins 4.5L worth. I have pasturised it also added a teaspoon of nutrient and now letting it cool in the fermenter till I can pitch the SN9. SG is 1.050. I will let you all know how it goes. Fingers crossed!

 

[Karhunkynsi]

Which recipe did you use?

 

[nathan_madness]

Which recipe did you use?

Just juiced the Mandarins added the nutrient boiled for 10min let cool to 28deg pitched SN9 at 8am this morning and it is slowly bubbling away. It is not bubbling like ciders though but she is on her way.

 

[Karhunkynsi]

Wouldn't boiling the mandarin juice kind of kill the flavour?

 

[nathan_madness]

Wouldn't boiling the mandarin juice kind of kill the flavour?

No, that is what they do to all the "No Preservative" juices on the supermarket shelves.

 

[barls]

I think you will find they are flash pasturized. High heat low time. Less damage to flavours.

 

[Muscovy_333]

No, that is what they do to all the "No Preservative" juices on the supermarket shelves.

Pretty sure they do not 'boil' commercial juices, but instead pateurise by means of pressure/time/temp to retain organoleptic properties and avoid a cooked flavour.

Regardless...cool experiment.

 

[nathan_madness]

I think you will find they are flash pasturized. High heat low time. Less damage to flavours.

Yeah, I am pretty sure that the juice passes through an instant heat system like (ZIP) not sure if it hits boil point but in my case better safe than sorry. My arm is killing me today after all that juicing and I would hate to loose it to some nasty bug.

 

[barls]

Ummm look up flash or tunnel pasturizing. It's mostly done in the bottle.

 

[Karhunkynsi]

I'm still curious to see how it will turn out. I love experimenting with this sort of thing.

I have a box of mandarins at the moment, if I get time this weekend I'm totally going to try a boiled ferment and a non boiled ferment.

Oh and barls, loving the "Beer is the mind killer", going to have to send that to a mate of mine who will absolutely love it. We're both mad dune fans.

 

[kcurnow]

I have fermented plenty of fruit wines (plum, mango, grape, pear, apple, pineapple, date and coconut) in the past without boiling the juice first and never had problems with bacteria or wild yeasts. I think the key is to make sure all your pressing or juicing equipment has been sanitised first where possible and then get the yeast you are using working on the juice as quickly as possible to start creating alcohol to retard or kill any bacteria. I was using wine yeasts though so the alcohol percentages were much higher than with beer yeasts (11-16%).

 

[Karhunkynsi]

Brewnut! Any chance of sharing the recipe and method of making said fruit wines? The mango one sounds awesome! I've always been keen to do a feijoia one. The only place I know that does a feijoia wine is just outside of heathcote, and is about 25 bucks for a tiny bottle, but is absolutely amazing. Also does a bloody fine cactus wine too. Sadly too expensive to drink in large quantities, but if you ever get the chance to be in the area, drop in for a chat with the bloke who makes the wine, he's a ******* legend.

 

[kcurnow]

Brewnut! Any chance of sharing the recipe and method of making said fruit wines? The mango one sounds awesome! I've always been keen to do a feijoia one. The only place I know that does a feijoia wine is just outside of heathcote, and is about 25 bucks for a tiny bottle, but is absolutely amazing. Also does a bloody fine cactus wine too. Sadly too expensive to drink in large quantities, but if you ever get the chance to be in the area, drop in for a chat with the bloke who makes the wine, he's a ******* legend.

I will see if i can dig out the recipe as my wine making days were a few years ago. Im pretty sure i still have all my recipes in my brewing box of tricks though. Really the main thing for the wines is to use a wine yeast as they can handle higher alcohol levels and will ferment all of the sugars out the of the juice leaving you with a dry (wine). Also there needs to be a lot of maturing time in the bottle.

 

[Karhunkynsi]

Awesome, cheers.

 

[brettprevans]

Technical speaking wine is just Alc% and specific wine yeast. wine was traditionally %, after wine were fortifides then spirits.

So sticky speaking just throw yeast on Mandarins etc and get it up to 11% or more. now of course u can add stuff if u want for a non straight wine.

Im sure other brewers have discussed fruit wines on here. if ur interested u should be able to find it easy enough if u have a bit of a search.

Edit. Completely OT, but that red type is awful to read.

 

[kcurnow]

I will see if i can dig out the recipe as my wine making days were a few years ago. Im pretty sure i still have all my recipes in my brewing box of tricks though. Really the main thing for the wines is to use a wine yeast as they can handle higher alcohol levels and will ferment all of the sugars out the of the juice leaving you with a dry (wine). Also there needs to be a lot of maturing time in the bottle.

Ok apologies for the tardy response but i have been building my man cave shed thingo for my brewery and this has got in the road of replying on here.
The recipe for Mandarin wine is as follows (its in imperial also)
2 pts Mandarin juice
2.5 lbs of white sugar
5.5 pts water
.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp citric acid
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed campden tablet
1 packet wine yeast

essentially the quick and dirty(its not really dirty as you need to sanitise everything as you would normally) process for most wines is bung all the ingredients together and let ferment, rack to a secondary and ferment further, bottle and age well.

However there are two special additions normally used for winemaking as you are not boiling anything.
The first special addition is the campden tablet (potassium or sodium metabisulfite) and this is added right at the beginning to all the the mixed ingredients except the yeast and allowed to sit for 12 hrs or so. This will kill off any wild bacteria or yeasts that are in the ingredients that might produce unwanted fermentation flavours.

The next special ingredient is the Pectic Enzyme, this addition is added 12 hrs after the campden tablet and is stirred into the juice mix and allowed to rest for another 12 hrs. The function of the pectic enzyme in winemaking or brewing is twofold, first it helps breakdown the plant (typically fruit) material and so helps the extraction of flavours from the mash. Secondly the presence of pectin in finished wine causes a haze or slight cloudiness, Pectinase is used to break this down and so clear the wine.

After the pectic ezyme has done its thing for 12 or so hours then the yeast starter can be added to the mix and let fermentation begin.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Karhunkynsi]

Awesome, cheers.