fermenting in secondary? yeast? Ancient Orange?

[sangwitch]

I've seen some recipes that call for fermenting directly in the carboy, such as Joe M's Ancient Orange Mead. I wanted to try a 1 gallon welch's concentrate and I'm wondering if I can do it right in the 1-gallon jug so that I don't have to wait for a primary to be available.









Doesanyone do this with other recipes? (ferment in the gallon jug)


I'm thinking there might bea problem of it boiling up and through the airlock; butif that's the issue, why doesn't that happen with the Ancient Orange? Is it the yeast choice?


Speaking of which, why not use wine yeast to make the Ancient Orange instead of Fleishman's? Wouldn't the wine yeast be a better choice and ferment dryer?

 

[Wade E]

But then it wouldnt be ancient!

 

[Waldo]

I have made several gallon batches and did primary fermentation right in the jug sang and they fine. Just be sure and leave plenty of head space initially and you can top up then as fermentation slows down.


For the Ancient Mead.......USE BREAD YEAST !!!Edited by: Waldo

 

[smurfe]

Here is a pic of the Ancient Orange fermenting in the carboy. It will foam so leave plenty of room. And that is with bread yeast.


Smurfe

Edited by: smurfe

 

[smurfe]

Actually, I forgot to add to my original post that many ferment in the carboys if they don't need to soak a fruit bag or the such. If you are using straight juice you can. Many ofthe gallon recipes I see ferment directly in the jug. I know quite a few that do their primary fermentation for kit wines in a carboy instead of a fermentation bucket. I have seen many do the Ancient recipe and start it in a primary and transfer it to glass as well as use wine yeast instead of the bread yeast.


Smurfe Edited by: smurfe

 

[Wade E]

Hey smurf, what are those green things in there?

 

[sangwitch]

ok, I'll try the bread yeast... I don't know why, but itseems wrong for some reason.It's like I'm making prison hooch!

I had a tough time stirring up the lees on my chard kit as well, but I started toenjoy thatso...

 

[Cracked Cork]

One of the reasons I have seen to use bread yeast is that Joe says that
is all the ancients had. BS! They had winemaking yeast on their grapes
and if they made mead with grapes in it they had winemaking yeast in
there. We are doing an JAO with beer yeast to split the difference.
Crackedcork

 

[PolishWineP]

I didn't use bread yeast when I made my ancient orange. I did 3 gallons right in the carboy. But be sure to leave plenty of head room and top up later.

 

[smurfe]

Hey smurf, what are those green things in there?

Wade, those are Kumquats. The green things you see are the seeds. I just cut the kumquats in half and threw them in. They are soft and edible. You can eat those variety of kumquats whole. Just pop them in your mouth and enjoy. You don't have to peel them. The seeds are not tannic like an orange seed.


The sad thing is the tree those came from for some reason died right after that batch was picked. Kinda made me sad as I had an excellent fruit source and it died after I realized I could make wines with it.


Smurfe

 

[Wade E]

Makes you wonder whats in that carboy then! Just kidding, I think!

 

[sangwitch]

I picked up some welch's grape concentrate at the store as well. Do I need to do something special to overcome the sulfites and get the fermentation going? Should I use a starter?

 

[PolishWineP]

Are there sulfites listed as ingredients on the cans?

 

[sangwitch]

Are there sulfites listed as ingredients on the cans?

not on the grape, but on the white and white/peach it says "sulfites added to maintain freshness"

 

[smurfe]

Don't worry about sulfite's. Look for Sorbate on the label. If there is Sorbate on the ingredients list, don't try to use it.


Smurfe

 

[sangwitch]

No sorbate. So a little nutrient is all I need to overcome the sulfites?


There's nothing in the ancient orange recipe about stabilizing. It's safe to bottle after a couple months with no additional tinkering?

 

[PolishWineP]

We racked mine a few times before bottling, but I can't remember for sure if we stablized it or not. I'll check with Bert to see if he remembers.

 

[smurfe]

I didn't stabilize any of my batches of Ancient Mead. Some do. I did put the vaccu-vin on the carboy cap and degass. I really wish I would of racked off the fruit before I did that though. I probably lost a gallon of liquid as all of the fruit fell to the bottle when I degassed. My last batch has been in the bottle close to a year and is still fine.


Smurfe

 

[sangwitch]

I thought I would put those empty gallon jugs to use today.

Welch's white/peach
blueberry mead
Welch's grape
ancient orange (for flieshman's)
ancient orange (for wine yeast)


also started a riesling, a chocolate/orange port and an elderberry (vh)


Joan, if you read this, I can't PM you cause it says you're at your message limit.

 

[Wade E]

Message limit? Women I tell ya!