Orange wine… certainly, for Italians, it might sound strange to use the term “wine” for a fermented beverage other than grapes, but as we have often seen on my channel, and also here on the site, we can ferment different types of fruit and obtain an alcoholic beverage that we will call “orange wine.” So let’s see how to make this orange wine that is perfect for an aperitif.
INGREDIENTS
| ORANGES | 9 kg |
| SUGAR | 500 g |
| WATER | 1 liter |
| BLACK TEA | 2 bags |
| BAKING SODA | 1/2 teaspoon |
| SALT | 1/2 teaspoon |
| YEAST | 1 teaspoon |
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Take 1 liter of warm water and soak the 2 black tea bags. The tea will compensate for the lack of tannins.
2) Squeeze the oranges and pour the juice into our fermenter. Filter the juice using a cloth inside a strainer.
3) Add salt and baking soda, which will help reduce the acidity, add the sugar, and mix well.
4) Add the yeast and mix. In my case, I used yeast for brewing beer, but if you want, as we did for other wines, you can use grape juice.
5) Close the fermenter with the lid, to which we will have attached the airlock, and make sure the closure is airtight.
IMPORTANT: PUT LIQUOR OR FOOD-GRADE ALCOHOL INSIDE THE AIRLOCK. DO NOT USE WATER, AS IT COULD CARRY WILD YEASTS THAT WOULD RUIN THE RESULT.
6) Wait for fermentation to start. Obviously, we will notice it when the airlock starts “bubbling.”
7) After about 21 days, when the airlock stops making sounds, we are ready to transfer our wine into bottles.
8) If you want a slightly sparkling wine, you can add directly into the bottle 8/10 grams of sugar per liter, NO MORE, otherwise, you risk having the bottles explode.
9) Let it ferment in the bottle for at least 2 weeks at room temperature, and our orange wine is ready for a sparkling aperitif.
