If the wine does not ferment, what should I do? How to save wine?
If the wine does not ferment, what should I do? How to save wine?
Anonim

A rich harvest of grapes, berries and fruits is a reason not only to close up plenty of jams and compotes for the winter, but also to try yourself as a winemaker. What many people use. But not everything is so simple, often beginners find themselves in situations where something goes wrong. And then questions arise like: “The wine does not ferment, what should I do?” Indeed, the creation of wine is a creative process that requires special attention to detail. Therefore, for a person who has recently decided to join the great art of winemaking, to find out why homemade wine does not roam is not only not shameful, but also extremely necessary. Well, let's try to help with this.

wine does not ferment, what to do
wine does not ferment, what to do

What is fermentation?

As experienced winemakers say: "If the art of making good wine is sometimes on the verge of mysticism, then the magic of making excellent wine is often beyond this line." Of course we won'tto insist that mysticism has something to do with the fact that the wine does not ferment. What to do in such cases will become obvious if we consider in detail the fermentation process itself. It is known that fermentation is the process of splitting the sugar contained in grape juice into carbon dioxide and alcohol under the influence of enzymes produced by the culture of wine yeast. And yeast is a single-celled fungus, certain conditions are necessary for their normal life. If they are not observed, the wine does not ferment. What should be done in this case? Of course, create a favorable environment for yeast.

Types of fermentation

Note that professionals, as well as experienced winemakers, distinguish two stages of fermentation. Vigorous fermentation - until removal from the sediment, and quiet fermentation or "fermentation". We, in this case, will be interested in the stage of rapid fermentation. Because before the separation of the pulp, there is no wine as such yet - there is must, and after removal from the sediment, the situation is not so critical. Thus, we have clarified in which period it is dangerous that a situation arises when the wine does not ferment. What to do in such cases?

Fermentation conditions

In order to clearly imagine what stage of production we are talking about, we will briefly outline the part of the technological process that interests us. So, after the fermentation of the grape must and the separation of the pulp, a cloudy liquid is obtained, which is a fermented juice and is the prototype of the future wine. This liquid can be transformed into wine of one quality or another only under the necessary conditions and in the case of the right actions.winemaker.

why house wine does not ferment
why house wine does not ferment

The physical conditions necessary for fermentation are, first of all, the temperature of the environment. The most favorable temperature is considered to be 15-20 ºС. At temperatures above 25 ºС there is a high probability of ruining the wine (the process will go too fast and it will become impossible to control it), at 10 ºС fermentation will stop. The physical conditions should also include the size of the container in which fermentation takes place, and the possibility of oxygen access. Important biological conditions are: the purity of the yeast culture, their concentration, as well as the saturation of the nutrient medium. If wild yeast is used, especially at low temperatures, fermentation can be significantly slowed down. With a low sugar content, it can stop altogether. Too high a sugar content also threatens to stop fermentation.

Your actions that will lead to the resumption of fermentation

If the wine does not ferment, what should I do first? To begin with, make sure that the temperature in the room has not fallen below the critical one (sometimes it is enough to increase it by just a few degrees). You can check the sugar content with a hydrometer (household wine meter) most accurately in grape juice. If there is not enough sugar, you need to select a part of the juice, add a part of the required amount of sugar to it and dissolve it by heating it to 50-60 ºС. After the juice has cooled to room temperature, pour it into a fermentation container. Then you should “restart” the wine with a new yeast starter. It need hardly be said that the resultmay be more convincing when a pure wine yeast culture is used. Usually 2-3% of the starter is enough (depending on the amount of juice), it depends on what strength of wine you want to get.

how to make wine ferment
how to make wine ferment

Conclusion

And now that you know how to make wine ferment, it remains for us to wish you the best of luck in your positive experience of making the wonderful drink of the gods - grape wine.

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