How to make wine at home from the best grape varieties? Many people love red wine, but few know how to make it right at home. Homemade wine is very different from store wine, if only because you always know that a delicious grape drink made according to your own recipe is 100% natural, without additives and alcohol fortification.
After harvesting the grapes, ripe berries are placed in a crusher. This device can be of completely different designs, but its purpose is the same, namely, to crush grapes.
The unit has two drums, which has a rough surface. Both drums are spinning in different directions, because of this, bunches of grapes are crushed between the drums or against the walls of the crusher. It depends on the direction of the moving drums.
A step-by-step recipe for making wine from grapes at home:
click on the photo and expand the full instructions for making grape wine
To complete this step, you need to place the pulp in a press, which is a hollow cylinder with rigid walls. It has a handle and a lid at the top, and a faucet and a hole at the bottom. A helical rod passes between this cylinder and the lid, on which the handle is located. It is attached to the bottom of such a press.
If you twist the handle, then it presses on the lid, which begins to put pressure on the pulp of the grapes. Under pressure, the mixture releases the remaining juice, which flows through the tap into a container, such as a bowl. When the juice is no longer flowing from the press, the handle is turned in the opposite direction to remove the lid and get the “cake”. By the way, the remaining pulp can be given to chickens.
Barrels for wine:
The juice obtained earlier must be passed through gauze, which should weed out small particles of debris. Now this juice, which is also called wort, is ready to go into a wooden barrel. No need to pour wine to the brim. You need to leave a little space to fit another bucket filled with boiled wine with a little sugar. The wine is boiled so that it does not turn sour, does not turn into vinegar, and so that mold does not appear. Now you know how to properly make this grape drink at home.
Berries:
The wine must be aged in a barrel (approximately 21 days). To increase the degree in wine, you need to add sugar during fermentation. After three weeks, the wine is ready to drink, but it's better to keep it as long as possible so that the wine becomes stronger, acquires the taste of a barrel. You can put a little blackcurrant in the barrel. Also, many other "spices" will give the wine a pleasant smell and taste. But, before adding them to the wine, you need to hold your "spices" a little over the steam to clean them of microbes.
The range of wine products is quite rich. But wine made from white grapes deserves special attention of its consumers - a light drink with a pleasant smell and delicate taste. Depending on the amount of sugar added, the product is dry, semi-dry or dessert.
People who are far from professional winemaking think that white wine can only be made from grapes with light-skinned berries. However, it is not. Varieties with dark and pink fruits are also suitable for the production of white wine. The main conditions for raw materials are its juiciness, moderate acidity and sufficient sugar content. Juice squeezed from colored grapes should be light.
White wine differs from red "relatives" in its manufacturing technology: it ferments in own juice and is not saturated with natural dyes. Coloring substances are contained in the skin of the berries and do not stain the juice.
You can make white wine from fresh grape juice. It should not be diluted with water and sweetened with sugar. We will master several recipes for wine from white grapes, the preparation of which is available at home.
How to make grape juice for white wine
White grapes are harvested when overripe. Such raw materials give the drink a mild taste, pleasant aroma and strength of real alcohol. But residents of hot regions must harvest in a slightly unripe form so that the berries provide the product with the listed qualities. Clusters are picked in sunny weather or a few days after rain. Moisture washes away wild yeast, so it is necessary to wait for new strains to appear that start the fermentation process.
Juice for white grape wine is obtained as follows:
- The fruits are removed from the brushes and sorted, throwing out rotten and insect-damaged raw materials.
- Unwashed, the berries are crushed with a wide wooden rolling pin.
- The bones are not removed or crushed.
The resulting juice is the must. 1 kg of grapes gives approximately 650 - 750 ml of juice (the amount depends on the quality of the berries and the plant variety). If the owner wishes to add sugar to it, the amount of sweetness should not exceed 27% of the total must.
White grape wine with juice
This wine recipe is considered a classic. It does not require additional ingredients. The main raw material will be Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Aligote or other technical grapes. Strongly smelling muscats are not suitable for the production of table wines.
It is generally accepted that fine wine from white grapes at home is obtained only from the juice that has expired on its own without human intervention. It is better not to squeeze the pulp, because it makes a good secondary wine. Fresh juice must be kept in a glass or enamel bowl for 6 to 12 hours so that the suspension of the smallest particles precipitates. Drain the settled liquid using a siphon or a thin hose. Fill a clean fermentation bottle 2/3 full.
To improve the quality of the drink and protect against diseases, sulfur dioxide is added to the wort. The proportion is 0.5 - 1 g of the substance per 10 liters of juice. Sulfitation is carried out at will, because at home the volume of alcohol production is most often insignificant.
Fermentation of white grape wine should take place at room temperature without changing conditions. The container is closed with a water seal and the fermentation process is observed. If the wort is not fermenting, it is important to prevent it from sour. To do this, throw a little raisin into the bottle or add a special leaven.
Wild yeast processes natural sugar in 1.5 - 2 months and gives initially dry Home wine. If you need a white semi-sweet drink, fermentation is forcibly interrupted by raising/lowering the temperature of the wort or by carrying out sulfitation.
Young wine is removed from the yeast and taken out to a cool room with an air temperature of 5 - 10 ° C. The remaining yeast will settle in 1 to 2 weeks. The product is again removed from the sediment and poured into another container. When stored in a dark, cool cellar, the wine will begin to lighten due to the accumulation of sediment. During the year, it must be periodically drained from the thick. Troublesome, but the wine will turn out transparent, fragrant and impeccably tasty.
With sugar
Consider the steps involved in making wine from white grapes with added sugar. There will be no other ingredients in the drink. If you need a large batch of alcohol, start from the original proportion of 5 kg of berries per 1.5 kg of granulated sugar.
Recipe for making wine from white grapes and sugar:
Icy white grape wine
Recently, dessert wine Eiswein, which the townsfolk call "ice wine", has been in high demand. It differs from other white wines in its rich aroma and mild light taste. The technology of its preparation does not coincide with classic recipes, however, it is quite possible to make fashionable ice wine with your own hands.
Ingredients:
Winemaking begins with freezing the berries in the freezer, where they lie for 1 day. Under the influence of low temperatures, the raw materials acquire other qualities that make the future wine unique.
On the second day, the fruits are laid out in a bowl, kneaded and squeezed out the juice. Further comply general principles wine making. Sugar is added to wine final stage production, when the drink is filtered and ready to be bottled for storage.
Store white grape wines in dark, cold rooms with high humidity and good ventilation. Under such conditions, corks do not dry out and do not oxidize from contact with alcohol.
Dry wine is desirable to use in the first two months after maturation. For strong white wines, experts advise aging up to 12-15 years. An important condition for the preservation of the qualities of intoxicating is the horizontal arrangement of the bottles.
First, let's look at a few important points to be taken into account in the production process.
- To make homemade wine, you should not take spoiled berries and fruits, even one rotten fruit can ruin the raw wine and make your work in vain. When preparing berry wine, raw materials are also necessarily sorted out, separating rotten berries, in which the fermentation process could already begin prematurely.
- When preparing wine, it is necessary to categorically exclude all metal objects. An exception can only be enamelware, which is usually used in the initial stages of cooking. The interaction of the metal with wine will lead to its oxidation and spoil the taste of the final product. When mixing the wort, it is better to use wooden or plastic tools. The wine must mature in glass containers or wooden barrels.
- Berries and fruits that you will use in the winemaking process cannot be washed, because there are living microorganisms on their peel - which will be directly involved in the fermentation process. For the same reason, picking berries after heavy rain is not recommended. If the fruits are heavily soiled, they are wiped with a rag or brush.
- The stage of winemaking cannot be left without control. If you are a novice winemaker and you need to follow the recipe exactly, over time, with the necessary experience, you will be able to mix the necessary ingredients by eye.
- An important step in all winemaking processes is temperature control. If the temperature is too low, the fermentation process can stop, if the temperature is too high, the yeast can die, which will also stop the fermentation process, as a result of which the wine can turn into vinegar.
- It is possible to make wine without adding sugar and water only from very sweet and juicy fruits. For some types of raw materials, the regulation of acidity with water, and sugar content with granulated sugar is mandatory, otherwise the fermentation process will not work.
Throughout the history of winemaking, which goes back many thousands of years, has accumulated great amount wine recipes.
The technology of its production has been worked out to the smallest detail, all the chemical processes that take place in this case have been thoroughly studied. You can make homemade wine from various raw materials, ranging from the usual berries and fruits that grow in our gardens, to exotic ones from overseas. The procedure for making wine at home is simple, and the equipment can be found at home.
Universal Recipe
Consider a universal recipe for making homemade wine from any fruit or berry raw material. The final product will be a sweet dessert wine with an alcohol content of about 15%, sugar -20%, acidity 0.8%.
Fermentation of the pulp
The collected and pre-prepared raw materials must be crushed or crushed. The resulting mass is called the pulp, it must be placed in a container with a wide neck, in which the wort will be fermented - the juice that will stand out from the pulp, filling it with no more than two-thirds of the volume.
Once again, we remind you of the need to comply with the temperature regime. The temperature in the room at which the fermentation process should begin should be 18 - 23 degrees.
This temperature regime is the most optimal, deviation from it can lead to acetic fermentation and turn the wine into vinegar. Lower temperatures can completely block the start of fermentation. For this reason, raw materials that were collected at temperatures below 15 degrees cannot be immediately recycled. It is necessary to maintain it for a certain amount of time at room temperature so that it warms up to the optimum temperature, which will ensure fermentation.
The container must be covered with a clean breathable cloth in order to avoid getting wine flies into the pulp. Fermentation will begin the very next day. Together with carbon dioxide, the pulp will rise to the surface, forming a cap. For its formation, a place is required, which is why we did not fill the container to the very top.
In order to avoid souring and all sorts of diseases of the wine, the resulting cap must be monitored by stirring several times a day and completely immersing in the must. After 35 days, the must is separated from the pulp, filtering it through a colander or squeezing it with a press.
In some cases, wine is made from juice by pressing it before fermentation begins. However, as a result of tossing the pulp from the peel of berries, coloring, aromatic and tannins pass into the must. Wine made by tossing the pulp tends to be much more aromatic and more intensely colored than wine made from squeezed juice.
intensive fermentation
The wort, which was obtained after filtering the pulp, is filled with a glass container. It also needs to be filled not completely, but approximately three-quarters of the volume. In this state, the wine is put on fermentation.
An important step at this stage is the installation of a water seal. It is designed to isolate the must from oxygen, which can lead to souring of wine at home. At this stage, intensive fermentation will be accompanied by a copious release of carbon dioxide, so if you just close the wine with a lid or cork, it can be pulled out. A device that simultaneously prevents oxygen from entering the wine and allows carbon dioxide to escape is called a water seal. At home cooking, it is quite possible to replace it with a medical glove in a small hole.
Adding sugar
The amount of sugar added to wine depends on the sweetness of the raw material. Sugar is the main food for bacteria that provide the fermentation process, after they process all the sugar, the fermentation process will stop and the wine will not gain the necessary strength and sweetness. Therefore, sugar must be added.
3 days after the intensive fermentation process has begun, the wine must be tasted for sugar. If you feel that it tastes sour, it means that the yeast has already processed the sugar into alcohol.
You need to add sugar gradually, periodically tasting the wine for sugar. For each liter, you need to add about 50 grams of sugar. This procedure is repeated several times throughout the fermentation process. Until the sugar content stops decreasing. This will mean that the wine has gained the necessary strength and the fermentation has stopped. This is due to the fact that the yeast cannot live in an environment whose alcohol content exceeds 15%. Thus, having developed the maximum possible amount of alcohol, the yeast destroys itself, settling to the bottom.
Filtration
The process of intensive fermentation lasts from 15 to 30 days. Its end is indicated by the cessation of carbon dioxide emission, as a result of which the glove falls down. As it stops fermenting, the wine begins to clear. The dead yeast bacteria sank to the bottom, resulting in a precipitate that must be filtered. This is done with a rubber hose, pouring the wine into another container. It must be poured very carefully without shaking.
silent fermentation
The next stage of the production process is silent fermentation. The wine is moved to the cellar, leaving it under a water seal. Fermentation of wine will continue, but at a much lower intensity. Some winemakers at this stage prefer to stay with the fermentation. This can be achieved. To do this, the wine is heated to 75 - 80 degrees. Under such temperature conditions, the remaining yeast is finally killed. After the heat treatment is completed, the wine is once again removed from the sediment and poured into bottles, tightly sealed and left to cool. The cooled wine is lowered into the cellar. After warming up, the ripening of the wine goes much faster. it is very well clarified and becomes soft, acquiring a velvety harmonious taste. During the ripening period, the wine will need to be removed several more times.
Storage
The best place to store wine in a home production environment is the cellar. Wine can be preserved for quite a long time, while its taste and appearance are only getting better.
Each wine has its own optimal lifespan. White table champagne wines live from 3 to 5 years. The life span of red table wines is almost twice as long, 5 to 10 years. Dessert wines containing more sugar can be stored for 20 years. Long-lived in the family of wines are liqueur and fortified wines, their lifespan can be about 100 years or more.
Oh, what a delicious wine this is, isn't it? Especially if this wine is made with your own hands at home from grapes - which you have grown yourself!. Many say - there is, and what, we can safely say that these people are telling the truth. In today's recipe, you will learn how to make homemade wine from grapes, what you need for this, and you can also watch the entire cooking process in the video at the end. Homemade wine can be one of the ingredients of mulled wine, a punch or a punch. But now that's not about it, let's get straight to the point.
We need 10 kg of grapes (the most suitable varieties are chasselas, aligote, muscat, lydia)
Making homemade wine from grapes
- We sort the berries, you do not need to wash them.
- After all the berries have been sorted out, we proceed to the next stage of preparation, namely, we crush them with our hands over an enameled bucket. If you have a hand press, you can apply it.
- Place the resulting juice and cake in a balloon, cover with gauze and put it in a warm place, the temperature there should be about 25-28 degrees. We keep it there for 2-3 days. The cake should rise to the top, and the juice should settle to the bottom.
- After about 5-7 more days, the juice will need to be filtered into an enameled bucket, and the cake should be squeezed well with your hands over a colander.
- The resulting juice is poured into a clean bottle, we install a water seal and leave it for fermentation.
- Fermentation at this stage will last from 12 to 20 days (everything will depend on the temperature conditions in the room). Signs that the fermentation is over will be as follows: no more gas bubbles will appear in a glass of water, the yeast will settle to the bottom, the wine will gradually become lighter.
- Then, using a siphon, we pour the wine into a clean bottle, install a water seal again and take the bottle to the cellar, where we leave it at a temperature of 8-12 degrees for 2-2.5 months.
- Pour clean wine into bottles (not close to the neck) and cork. Your task is to make delicious homemade wine from grapes, try to stick to the recipe.
Where and how to store homemade grape wine?
You need to store homemade wine in a cool place, it is best to do it in the cellar, because there are the most suitable temperature conditions. Sugar should be added if the grapes were not sweet enough (less than 20% sugar). Under this condition, the wine will not have enough alcohol and may spoil. To prevent this, sugar is poured at the initial stage of 50-100 g per liter of juice.
What recipe do you use to make homemade wine from grapes? Write your answers in the comments!
A simple recipe for making grape wine at home will be mastered even by novice winemakers. Adhering to simple recommendations, you will certainly get a decent drink, the taste of which will be no worse, and in most cases only better than its purchased analogues. In addition, you will be absolutely sure of the naturalness of the resulting wine, which is also important.
Homemade grape wine - a simple recipe
Ingredients:
- any grade - 15 kg;
- granulated sugar - 500-2000 g.
Cooking
Making homemade grape wine in a simple way we start with the preparation of the basis of the drink - grape berries. They can be of any variety, but always ripe, without damage and rotten areas. It is necessary to cut the bunches from the vine only in dry and sunny weather and in no case after rain. It is also not recommended to wash the grapes before processing, because the very same ones live on the surface. yeast mushrooms, which start the wine fermentation process.
The grapes plucked from the bunches are placed in an enamel bowl and rubbed with a wooden pestle or pusher so that not a single whole berry remains. You can help to further knead the grape mass with your hands. Do not use metal utensils or kitchen utensils. It is also not recommended to grind grape berries with seeds, as the wine will be bitter in this case.
Now we have a bowl with crushed grapes (pulp) at room conditions for three days to start fermentation, stirring the mass several times a day. A good sign over time will be an active hiss and a sour smell coming from the pulp container. Next, we collect the upper “cap” with grape skins and pulp with a sieve and squeeze it thoroughly with gauze or a press. We filter the rest of the liquid two or three times through a gauze cut, pouring it from one container to another. Such a procedure will not only rid the wine of impurities, but also saturate the workpiece with oxygen, which will be required for active fermentation at the initial stage. To maintain it properly, pour the juice into fermentation containers, filling them three-quarters, put on a glove with one finger pierced by a needle, or install a device with a water seal.
The next step in the preparation of wine depends entirely on the taste of grapes, their sweetness and acidity. It happens that adding sugar is not required at all, the grapes are so sweet, but often a total of about two hundred grams per liter of the resulting is added. Sugar is always introduced in small portions, fifty grams every three to four days during the first two to three weeks of primary fermentation, each time evaluating the taste of the product so as not to make it cloyingly sweet and oversaturated.
Fermentation of homemade wine may take an average of one to two months. But if the process continues after fifty days, then it is imperative to drain the young wine from the sediment and ferment again. At any time during fermentation, if the workpiece seemed too sour to you, you can enhance the sweetness of the drink by adding an additional portion of granulated sugar.
After the water seal stops showing signs of fermentation or the used glove has deflated, we can pour the finished young wine into bottles, cork them and put them in a cellar or cellar for aging. White wine will require a minimum of forty days, and red wine at least three months.