Hi Hayles and any other financially embarrassed alcafrolics out there in lottie land!
Orange Juice Wine
1100ml (39 fl oz) canned or bottled orange juice (I buy the cheapest ones)
1100 grams (39 oz) granulated sugar
5 grams (1 tsp) tartaric acid
5 grams (1 tsp) ammonium phosphate
2250 ml (4 pints) boiled water
1 sachet yeast
pectic enzyme
The quantity of juice is not crucial, and in practice, any amountfrom 1000 to 1300 ml (35 to 46 fl oz) will do. the cloud present in teh ornage juice is largely pectin, so make sure that you add the pectic enzyme to ensure that you get a crystal clear wine.
Take only 2lbs of the sugar and dissolve it together with the tartaric acid and the ammonium phosphate in the water in the demijohn. Add the juice and yeast and allow fermentation to get uner way as usual. Place the lock in position after 3 or 4 days but do not top up with water at this point.
About 10 days after the yeast was first added, remove the lock and top up the demijohn with a syrup made by dissolving 110 gram (4 oz) of sugar in the appropriate amount of water. this method of dding extra sugar in syrup form part way through the fermentation is always used when a higher alcohol ontent is required. thus, more sugar means more alalcohol, but if all the sugar is added at the start, it sometimes proves too much for the yeast such that the fermentation either will not start, or alternatively, may come to a premature end. Now let the fermentation work itself out and rack the wine in the usual way once the wine clears.
Sulphite the racked wine (5 ml of 10% solution) and top up with sugar syrup made from the remaining sugar. If many yeast cells remain in the racked wine, it is possible that fermentation will start again despite the sulphite, and at least some of the added sugar will then be converted into alcohol to give an even stronger wine. The average yeast does not normally tolerate alcohol concentrations much above 15%, however, and so it stops working once this level of alcohol has been reached. The procedure you adopt depends upon whether the wine starts working again or not after the addition of sugar syrup. If the wine does not continue to ferment, then it can be allowed to remain in the demijohn until it is absolutely clear, when it is given a 2nd racking. the clear wine is tasted and if it is weet enough, it is sulphited and bottled. More sugar (in syrup form) can be added if necessary before the sodium metabisulphite is added and the wine bottled
If the wine starts to work again when more sugar i added, let it work itself out again and become clear before it is racked.
(I don't like using sodium metabisulphite, it tastes awful and is like adding bleach!), but you must do what you personally like, and see what happens!!!!!)
This is from a book called straightforward winemaking which a friend bought me waynback in 1980.