Technology for making wine from grapes at home

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The prices of alcoholic beverages are rising every year, so more and more people are thinking about making their own at home. The most common of them is wine, which is considered a noble drink that has not only a bright rich taste, but also many useful properties. However, in order for it to turn out to be of high quality, it is very important to adhere to all the requirements of manufacturing technology. Let's see how to make wine from grapes at home.

A few words about the choice of raw materials

These days, home-made alcoholic drinks are made from a wide variety of fruits and berries, but grapes are best suited for this. This plant is just perfect for winemaking. If the crop was harvested on time and properly processed, then sugar and sourdough would not even be required to make wine.

It is important to understandthat without the use of additional ingredients, you can only make dry wine from blue grapes at home. Dessert, sweet and fortified varieties of the drink require the addition of sugar to their composition. If the berries are too acidic, so much so that they are simply impossible to eat, then the juice will need to be diluted with water. In all other cases, dilution with liquid is not recommended, as it significantly impairs the taste of the wine.

As for the choice of raw materials, the ideal option is grapes grown independently on their own plot. This is due to the fact that the berries contain "wild" yeast, due to which the juice begins to ferment. However, if you live in the city and you do not have a summer residence, then in this case you can make wine from purchased grapes at home. But you must understand that any fruits and vegetables that are produced on an industrial scale are processed with pesticides, so they must be thoroughly washed before use. In this way, you wash off the "wild" yeast from the berries, and, therefore, a special sourdough is required to make alcoholic beverages. How to make it will be described later.

Wine from Isabelle varieties

So, how not to miscalculate with a choice? The best grape variety for making homemade wine is Lydia. Many do not use it because they mistakenly believe that it is unhe althy, but this is not the case. On the contrary, the drink from it is of excellent quality, with a very bright rich taste. Not everyone loves berries.people, because their pulp resembles mucus in its consistency, but no one can resist a glass of wine made from isabella varieties.

Harvest recommendations

To make delicious wine from grapes at home, it is very important to harvest on time. Green berries will be very acidic, so water and sugar will have to be added to the drink, which, in turn, will not only negatively affect its quality and taste, but also increase the level of methyl alcohol in wine, which is harmful to he alth in large quantities. And in overripe grapes, the process of acetic fermentation begins. Therefore, timely harvesting is a very important stage in winemaking.

Pruning is recommended in clear sunny weather. If it has rained before, then you should wait at least three days. Processing of raw materials must be carried out no later than two days after harvest. If the berries lie longer, they will begin to lose moisture and nutrients. In addition, they can rot, as a result of which you will no longer get a delicious drink. Therefore, you must sort through the grapes very carefully, selecting only high quality raw materials.

Preparation of containers

Which is best? Wine from green grapes at home can be produced in the following containers:

1. Three-liter jars - suitable for making a drink in small quantities. For the fermentation period, the container is covered with special lids or an ordinary medical glove is put on it, on one of the fingerswhich a small hole is pierced with a pin.
2. 10 or 20 liter glass containers. This glassware is sold in many stores and is most often used by many winemakers. The container is pre-washed with soda, after which it is rinsed with cold water and sterilized.
3. Oak barrels. These containers are ideal for making alcoholic beverages, but they are quite expensive, so they are rarely used at home. The container is first soaked in water for 10 days, then steamed with boiling water, to which soda ash is added at the rate of 25 grams per liter of liquid, and then rinsed.

Regardless of the vessel used to make wine from grapes at home, the use of a water seal is mandatory.

How to make sourdough?

At the heart of the preparation of any alcoholic beverage is the fermentation process, and wine is no exception. This is a very complex chemical process, which involves various microorganisms that, eating sugar, break it down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fermentation process is started thanks to the "wild" yeast contained in the berries. But if you bought grapes in a store and washed them, then they will not be on the fruit, so you will need a special sourdough. For its preparation, a wide variety of recipes are used, among which the three most common will be considered.

Grape starter

What do you need to make it? This type of sourdough is the most common,because it allows you to get a high quality drink. Shortly before the expected harvest, cut off a few bunches and mash the grapes well with sugar. The optimal proportions of wine from grapes at home are as follows: 2 parts of crushed berries, 1 part of water and half a kilogram of sugar. The sourdough is poured into a washed and sterilized container, shaken well, wrapped and stored for 10 days in a room protected from sunlight, where the ambient temperature is at 23 degrees Celsius. When the mash is ready, it is filtered from garbage.

Raisin starter

What are the features of cooking? If you do not have your own vineyard and you will prepare the wine from purchased raw materials, then the sourdough can be made from raisins. This will require 200 grams of dried berries, 50 grams of sugar and 2 cups of warm water. Further storage of the starter is carried out in the same way as described above. It is worth noting that mash can only be used to produce homemade wine within one week after preparation. Then it starts to sour, and the drink turns out to be tasteless.

Sourdough from wine sediment

This is one of the most popular choices. If you have some last year's wine left over, you can also use it to make sourdough. To do this, add some fresh berries crushed with sugar to the sediment. Undoubtedly, the quality of a drink made from wine sediment will be inferior to wine made on the basis of the two previous options.sourdough, however this method is also used by many winemakers.

The process of making homemade wine

The production technology of wine from grapes at home has been used by winemakers for many centuries, so it has been worked out literally to perfection. As mentioned earlier, the production of absolutely all alcoholic beverages is based on the fermentation process, however, in the case of wine, some nuances must be taken into account. For centuries, winemakers have passed down their secrets and secrets from generation to generation, which allowed them to produce high-quality wines. It is worth noting that each country uses its own approach to the production of this noble drink, which has certain characteristics. For example. In Italy, France or the Caucasus, the technological process will be similar, but there will also be significant differences. We will consider the easiest way to make wine, which will allow you to prepare a very tasty drink without much effort.

Types of wine

Depending on what proportions of wine from grapes will be used at home, you can prepare the following types of drink:

• Table - dry and semi-sweet. Prepared exclusively by natural fermentation. Do not contain sugar and third-party liquids. They have a very bright and natural taste.
• Fortified - made with added sugar, thanks to which the alcohol content in the drink can reach 20 percent.
• Flavored - dessert wine made from grapes, homemade with the addition of herbal infusions.

It is worth noting that this is a simplified classification of wines. In fact, there are a huge number of varieties of this drink, which only professional winemakers and qualified sommeliers can figure out.

Red and white wines: what's the difference?

Let's take a closer look at this. Wine made from grapes at home can be red and white. However, as practice shows, many novice winemakers have absolutely no idea what the difference is between them, except for color. The main difference between red and white wines lies in the technological process by which they were made. For the preparation of the first ferment, not only the pulp of the berries is used, but also the skin with seeds, in which tannins are present, giving the product a characteristic color, astringency, as well as a richer aroma and taste.

Preparatory process

The most common raw material for the production of a noble drink is black grapes. Making wine at home will turn out delicious only if you properly prepare the harvest. The first step is to sort through all the berries, taking away all the rotten grapes, vines, leaves and other debris. At the same time, the amount of grapes needed directly depends on how much wine you want to get at the output. One kilogram of berries is required per liter of drink. They are categoricallydo not wash to leave "wild" yeast on the peel.

Further, the grapes are laid out in small portions in enameled dishes and choked with hands, after which the must is poured into glass or oak containers and the sourdough is sent to a dark room for fermentation. It is not recommended to use any devices for crushing berries, because because of them the drink can acquire a bitter aftertaste. If you plan to make a large volume of wine, then the crop is choked the old fashioned way with clean feet.

To make white wine from blue grapes at home, the juice is filtered through a sieve with a fine mesh from the pulp. Such a drink will not have a very strong aroma, but the taste will be gentle and light. To obtain white wine, you will need to pre-prepare the sourdough.

Wine fermentation

How is this process carried out? Wine from grapes at home should ferment properly. To do this, the juice is poured into glass jars, which are covered with gauze and sent to a dark room with an air temperature of 26 degrees. It is worth noting that the taste of wine depends on the conditions under which fermentation will take place.

When foam forms on the surface of the liquid, as a rule, this happens approximately on the sixth day after the start of fermentation, the mash is filtered through cheesecloth, rolled up in several layers, and poured into three-liter jars. Every day the wort must be stirred. It should be noted that this stage of wine production is one of thethe most important, because if you overcook the mash, it will turn sour.

If you make wine from sour grapes at home, then you need to dilute it with water. However, in order to keep the taste and aroma of the drink at a high level, the amount of liquid added should not exceed 500 ml per liter of wort.

The container with wine is installed on a water lock, which is a plastic tube with a diameter of about one centimeter. One of its ends cuts into the lid, and the other is dipped into a container filled with water. If you keep wine in three-liter jars, then you can use a regular rubber glove instead of a water seal. This is necessary in order to ensure the tightness of the container.

The optimum air temperature in the room where the wort jars will be placed is considered to be at the level of 20-24 degrees. But here it all depends on the specific type of drink that you are making. However, regardless of this, it is not recommended to allow the temperature to drop below 15 degrees, because in this case the yeast will stop working and die.

You can determine the presence of the fermentation process by the air bubbles that are released. As the intensity of this process fades, another portion of sugar is added to the wort. To do this, a little wine is poured from the container, in which 50 grams of white powder is dissolved, after which it is poured back into a quarter and mixed well with a wooden spatula.

At the same time, take into account the fact that the more sugar you add, the stronger the wine from Moldovan grapes will turn outat home. However, don't go overboard, as anything above 13 percent alcohol will stop the yeast from working and the wine will be under-aged, which will negatively affect its flavor. If you do not add sugar at all, then you will get a light dry wine. To make fortified wine after it has finished fermenting, add alcohol to it.

On average, fermentation takes about 20 days, but some experienced winemakers extend it up to two months by manipulating the indoor air temperature. Thanks to this, they significantly increase the quality of the product, which can be compared with vintage wines. However, this process is quite complicated. Therefore, it is better for beginners not to take risks, but to make wine from green grapes at home using the technology described in this article.

If you used the sediment left from last year's drink as a starter, then you need to pour it into clean containers and send it for fermentation only after the air bubbles cease to stand out completely.

Quiet Fermentation

Wine made from sultana grapes at home can ripen from a month and a half to one year. But it makes sense to keep it for so long only if you use oak barrels as containers. The tree will give the drink a special aroma and increase its quality.

Fermentation is carried out using a water lock, and the container is stored in a room protected from light at a temperature of 8 to 12 degrees. Ideal for these purposes.suitable cellar. It will be possible to take samples after 40 days, however, high-quality red wine will not be ready before two and a half months. It is worth noting that the ambient temperature must be constantly monitored, as its fluctuations will negatively affect the taste of the noble drink.

Wine clarification

After the drink is ready, it is poured into tightly sealed containers with high tightness. To make it more pure and transparent, grape pomace wine is clarified at home. To do this, use clay, gelatin or egg yolk. If you don’t want to mess around with this, then you can do without clarification, since the presence of impurities has absolutely no effect on the aroma of the drink. In order for the wine not to lose its taste, it must be stored in a cool room, for example, a cellar or cellar is perfect for this.

As it turned out, making wine at home is not an easy process, but quite real. The most important thing is to stick to a certain technology, and then everything will work out.