Distilling oranges

[elrojo]

Hello, gone through the various messages and info here on fruits and oranges. I had a bumper crop of Louisiana Sweets oranges. I juice and froze close to 3 gals pure orange juice. I also froze 2 dozen oranges. I do this ever year but got to thinking about distilling the oranges. I made wine long before this craze of home brewing got started. I didn't know anything and just crush 20 pounds of peeled oranges and added sugar and some wheat flakes. Came out real good. Was dry and tasty.
I realize that making a must of fruit for distillation is different. Can I just use the juice (heavy pulp); should I throw in the peels from the other oranges or the zest? Any idea of ratio of shins/zest to add? I will have other questions I sure but let me get the must/mash going. For now if you folks don't mind holding my hand through my first attempt. I hope to keep an on going diary.

I have a still what other tools do you recommend?
I know I can use plastic jar/bottle but I don't trust plastic. Today it is safe but tomorrow the gov. will come out and says oops don't use that plastic. I have also work in the petro/chem industry and know what goes in to plastic. Glass and crocks are my choices but hard to find
Thank You, Tim

[der wo]

For this you need untreatened oranges. No wax on the peels:
Squeeze the oranges out and peel the orange stuff from the skin with a potato peeler.
Ferment only the juice and freeze the peels.
When ditilling put the mash together with the peels in the boiler or gin basket. Or the mash in the boiler and the peels in the thumper.
The spirit will be cloudy diluted.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

From one noob to another. Go do some reading. Many answers that you didn't even know you needed await you.

Trust me, it'll be worth the work. Some of the old timers on this site love to issue spankings to over zealous nubiles such as you or I.

[BayouShine]

What type of product are you trying to make and what type of still do you have? There's several things you can do with oranges.

You can ferment on the pulp, but I would avoid getting any pulp in the boiler so there's no chance of scorching. Also, you're going to have to keep an eye on the pH of the ferment. Oranges are already acidic and the ferment will drop the pH further.

+1 with der wo, keep the orange peels. The zests are used to make a number of orange flavored liqueurs.

[Rod]

I assume you will need to add some sugar

and use still spirits classic yeast , to get the nutrients to ferment

enough sugar to bring it up to about 1090 to 1100 on the hydrometer

looked for a tried and true , other searches etc , found no gold

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I assume you will need to add some sugar

and use still spirits classic yeast , to get the nutrients to ferment

enough sugar to bring it up to about 1090 to 1100 on the hydrometer

looked for a tried and true , other searches etc , found no gold

Why such a high gravity?

[Danespirit]

+1 MDH

You can make a very tasty orangeliquor if you use the following recipe:

3-4 big oranges, wash them and cut them into slices about 1 cm each.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and pour 1 litre of 40% neutral over it.
Let it soak over night.
Drain the oranges and squezze them (hands will do).
Pour into a potstill and add 3 liter of 40% neutral....distill away as a normal spiritrun in a potstill.
Dillute to your desired strength.
Don't throw the orange peel out..!
Cut the "rings" you have open so you got a strip of peel, take a sharp knife and shave the white stuff off them.
Let them dry for a few days.
They are now excellent as dried, and can be used for different purposes. I used them for Odins gin recipe..

[der wo]

Btw,
the reason, only to ferment the juice, not the skins or the peels is: The skins and the peels contain much pektin, what would result in much methanol. But the juice not! You get more methanol fermenting apples than fermenting orange juice.

And I recommend, not to distill the white stuff of the peels, it is bitter. The orange part of the peels is also bitter, but has nice flavors too. So I like to use the "best of" the oranges, the juice and the orange part of the peel.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

+1 MDH

You can make a very tasty orangeliquor if you use the following recipe:

3-4 big oranges, wash them and cut them into slices about 1 cm each.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and pour 1 litre of 40% neutral over it.
Let it soak over night.
Drain the oranges and squezze them (hands will do).
Pour into a potstill and add 3 liter of 40% neutral....distill away as a normal spiritrun in a potstill.
Dillute to your desired strength.
Don't throw the orange peel out..!
Cut the "rings" you have open so you got a strip of peel, take a sharp knife and shave the white stuff off them.
Let them dry for a few days.
They are now excellent as dried, and can be used for different purposes. I used them for Odins gin recipe..

Should one of the 3l you added be the liter you used to soak overnight?

Would it help to add some zest into the charge to try and get some of the essential oils for a richer flavor?

[BayouShine]

Would it help to add some zest into the charge to try and get some of the essential oils for a richer flavor?

You could, but your product will be cloudy from the oils, sort of like having tails in your keep cut. To keep it clear, it would be best to steep the final cut on the zest itself. It'll have an orange tint, but still clear overall.

[Rod]

I assume you will need to add some sugar

and use still spirits classic yeast , to get the nutrients to ferment

enough sugar to bring it up to about 1090 to 1100 on the hydrometer

looked for a tried and true , other searches etc , found no gold

Why such a high gravity?

thought that would give a good yield

what hydrometer reading do you think I should aim for

this is what I aim for with my sugar wash

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I assume you will need to add some sugar

and use still spirits classic yeast , to get the nutrients to ferment

enough sugar to bring it up to about 1090 to 1100 on the hydrometer

looked for a tried and true , other searches etc , found no gold

Why such a high gravity?

thought that would give a good yield

what hydrometer reading do you think I should aim for

this is what I aim for with my sugar wash

Well, I by no means am one of the experts around here. But I know too much sugar (too high of a starting gravity) can stress the yeast and cause off flavors, if not prevent fermentation entirely.

I don't think many yeasts can survive 1.1 sg.

IMO a sg of 1.06-1.09 is a pretty normal range.

Do some reading on here. You'll find lots of reasons to not try and get your wash abv too high. Quality over quantity is a running theme around here.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

But then again, most of my knowledge comes from brewing. I am new to distilling.

[Rod]

I mainly do sugar washes as I am into gin and other infusions

the last batch was made with 8kg sugar in 27 litres of water which was 1090 on the hydrometer

[Danespirit]

+1 MDH

You can make a very tasty orangeliquor if you use the following recipe:

3-4 big oranges, wash them and cut them into slices about 1 cm each.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and pour 1 litre of 40% neutral over it.
Let it soak over night.
Drain the oranges and squezze them (hands will do).
Pour into a potstill and add 3 liter of 40% neutral....distill away as a normal spiritrun in a potstill.
Dillute to your desired strength.
Don't throw the orange peel out..!
Cut the "rings" you have open so you got a strip of peel, take a sharp knife and shave the white stuff off them.
Let them dry for a few days.
They are now excellent as dried, and can be used for different purposes. I used them for Odins gin recipe..

Should one of the 3l you added be the liter you used to soak overnight?

Would it help to add some zest into the charge to try and get some of the essential oils for a richer flavor?

+1 on what der Wo wrote...
That's also the reason why i recommended to "shave" the peel in my first post, prior to drying the peel for other purposes.
No...you add 3 liters to the macerated oranges, which will give you a little more than 4 L to distill.
I wouldn't add neither zest or peel. A little amount of zest comes over anyway when you squeeze the slices, but that doesn't matter.
The peel would give of it's essential oils and create a oily film on your distillate, so peel ain't desirable in the boiler.
Some of them would naturally have leaked into the maceration you made the day before, but not enough to make trouble.
Oh..i forgot to mention..be careful with the brown sugar..!
It will carry over as you distill, so unless you like it very sweet, be moderate with it.
I used 40-50 g , which was enough for me. If you use tangerines instead of oranges, cut back on the sugar as tangerines are sweeter.
Take foreshots as you would in every other spiritrun, do the heads and heart cuts. The tails tend to get watery below 30% ABV.
You should end up with about 2 L of very tasty spirits, ready to dillute to the desired strength.
Of course this recipe is scalable to the amount you want to distill,three bottles of orange liquor will last a long time at my place..my vodka tends to "evaporate"

[der wo]

I mainly do sugar washes as I am into gin and other infusions

the last batch was made with 8kg sugar in 27 litres of water which was 1090 on the hydrometer

Did you check your hydrometer with water? Your numbers are not correct. A good meter should give you the same results as calculated here:
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/sugar_sg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I don't think many yeasts can survive 1.1 sg.

The yeast he uses can handle this gravity

[Rod]

I mainly do sugar washes as I am into gin and other infusions

the last batch was made with 8kg sugar in 27 litres of water which was 1090 on the hydrometer

Did you check your hydrometer with water? Your numbers are not correct. A good meter should give you the same results as calculated here:
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/sugar_sg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I don't think many yeasts can survive 1.1 sg.

The yeast he uses can handle this gravity

hydrometer is 1.000 with water @ 20 °C

[Rod]

Just making a small batch

4 litres of juice put through a fine strainer

500 gm caster sugar

OG 1080 , cut the sugar , back considering some comments

I have small reflux still which I use as a pot still with out any scrubbers etc

mind you I make neutral spirit which I use with infusions like gin and distil some red wine for brandy

will I have to be careful with the early cuts , methanol etc , as this is my first with so much fruit

normally I would toss the first 50 ml of a 5 litre batch and determine the cut by taste

[Worm_Drippinz]

Praying you get what your shooting for.


Looking forward to an update!

[der wo]

Dear Rod,

there are two reasons for measuring the SG. The first is, because someone has told you, to do that. The second is, because you want to know, how much sugar is in the mash.
If you do it because of reason Nr.2, you have to find out...
"8kg sugar in 27 litres of water which was 1090 on the hydrometer"
...who was wrong, you or your hydrometer.
If you don't clear such strange data, behind any data you will give us in future will be a question mark.
My advice: Take EXACT 250g sugar and fill it up with water to EXACT 1l and compare your measurement with the calculator.

[cranky]

I haven't done oranges but it is a fruit so here is my .02

It looks to me like Rod is making high gravity sugar washes with the dreaded turbo yeast Lots of issues and reasons not to do that but we all have to decide those things for ourselves.

My personal recommendation is to check the natural SG of the juice and as long as it is above 1.06 don't add sugar. If you want to boost the take keep it below 1.09, add some oyster shells a day or so before the yeast to prevent PH crash, add nutrients (DAP or a little tomato paste) and some 1118. Let it work itself dry and run. I make gin with orange zest and if you leave it in when distilling it will be a very dominant flavor, pith (the white stuff) is very bitter so don't use that. If I were to add some zest it would be a very small amount and maybe only to a 2nd run if I thought the first wasn't orangy enough but I will bet even without it the final spirit will retain plenty of orange flavor.

[Rod]

all looks good

big bubbles , no troubles , so far

4 litres of juice was 1.040

add 500 grams of sugar to come to 1080

ps , when I make my neutral I add 1/2 pack of still spirits classic yeast and it ferments slow , takes about 2 weeks to finish

[elrojo]

I grow oranges, mini urban orchard. I do nothing but fertilize once a year and use no fungicides or pesticides at all. In south La the local parish sprays for mosquitos and the tree gets misted weekly. I wash the oranges with vinegar then juice. I have 3 gallons of juice that I have frozen and about 2 dozen whole oranges. I did not juice until the oranges were a step before going bad. They were sweet of the tree and a month later they were 3 times as sweet. So good it was like the blackberry thing, pick one eat 5.I was thinking I could ferment the juice, distill then pour the liquor over the crushed oranges. Grand Manier does similar but they start with brandy.
Best way to ferment the orange juice? Recipe?
Equipment list or place to find basic tools? Best place to shop online?


I agree that I need to read up more. Most of what you said means nothing because I ain't done lrned the vocab. Any recommendations on books or sites?

Thank y'all for the help. I am doing this between about a dozen other projects like get the potatoes in the ground, refinish some furniture and organize my garage. Wish y'all were here!
Tim

[rad14701]

This IS the site to learn from... Here in these very forums and the parent site... The biggest and best home distillation forum on the planet... Put it to good use...

[Rod]

all looks good

big bubbles , no troubles , so far

4 litres of juice was 1.040

add 500 grams of sugar to come to 1080

ps , when I make my neutral I add 1/2 pack of still spirits classic yeast and it ferments slow , takes about 2 weeks to finish

ran 4 litres with the reserved zest through the 5 litre still today and got 400 ml of 86%

want a cointreau liqueur

a search reveals the genuine is about 26 % sugar

so 400 ml water with 260 grams sugar , boil and cool

add spirit to the sugar syrup

should be close