Panels
Homemade grape wine with a glove is the way out! Technology for making homemade wine from glove grapes. Homemade grape wine

Homemade grape wine with a glove is the way out! Technology for making homemade wine from glove grapes. Homemade grape wine

In Ukraine, grapes grow almost everywhere. They make everything out of it - they cook compotes, make jellies and desserts, dry it, pickle it, salt it... and, of course,make excellent homemade red wine.

There are legends about the benefits of wine. It improves appetite, helps with migraines, normalizes blood pressure, improves immunity and much, much more.

And it’s included in so many dishes! Marinades, sauces,fondue, jellies, mulled wines, punches...the list goes on and on. A fairy tale in one word!

What’s stopping us from making a couple of bottles of excellent homemade wine and enjoying the excellent taste of the “drink of the gods” on long winter evenings?

Recipe for making homemade grape wine

So, to make excellent homemade wine, we first need ripe grapes of sweet varieties, for example Isabella blue, Hamburg Muscat, Lydia, Aligote, etc.

The grapes should be sorted, the berries separated from the branches, and sorted.

Whether it is worth washing grapes to make homemade wine - opinions differ on this issue.Some argue that when washing grapesthe bacteria necessary for the fermentation of wine are destroyed; advocates of sanitation have a different opinion. If the grapes are heavily contaminated, it is better not to tempt fate and wash them.

We knead the prepared grapes with our hands, after putting on medical gloves. Stains on the hands that cannot be removed by anything for a long time, and nails with a dark border, not comme il faut, you know.

Pour the grape mixture into a large saucepan or enamel bucket, cover with gauze and place in a dark, warm place to ferment for about three to four days (stir the grape mixture with a dry wooden spoon two to three times a day). INDuring this period, the grape pulp floats to the top, and the juice remains at the bottom. We squeeze out the pulp, transfer it to a separate bowl, and strain the juice through a colander and carefully pour it into a 5-10 liter wine bottle.

We put the pulp again into a pan or bucket, fill it with water level (the grape cake should be covered with water, but no more), repeat the fermentation procedure: as soon as the pulp rises to the top, squeeze it out, filter the juice and add to the previous one.The bottle should be 2/3 filled with juice, be sure to leave 1/3 unfilled so that the wine has room to “play.” We throw away the cake without a twinge of conscience.

So, our output should be pure grape juice, the amount of which must be measured. For each liter of grape juice add 200-400 grams. sugar (depending on what taste of wine we want to get at the end), mix thoroughly and set for fermentation.

A water seal or water seal for fermenting homemade wine from grapes

To ferment grape wine, install a water seal on the bottle. I think everyone knows what this is. You can buy it at any householdstore or do it yourself.To do this, one end of a thin gas outlettubes 35-45 cm long (can be from under a dropper) are hermetically mounted using plasticine (wax, dough, etc.) into the lid of the cylinder, and the other end of the tube is immersed in a vessel with water. After a while, the first signs of wine fermentation - bubbles - will begin to appear in the vessel.

But there is another “fun way” to ferment wine without special equipment - put an ordinary medical glove on the neck of a wine bottle and secure it with an elastic band or tape. If there are children in the family, invite them to watch the trick"The Living Hand"As fun as it is, a great way to make wine without much hassle is to not have to worry about the cleanliness and amount of water in the vessel. Just don’t forget to use a thin needle to make a couple of small holes in the glove.

Once the wine has fermented, this process usually takes about a month (signsare as follows: in the first case, bubbles in a vessel with water will no longer be released, in the second case, a fallen glove is an eloquent sign), it must be drained from the sediment using a thin tube, for example from a dropper.

Let's trywine tastes. If there is not enough sugar, add.

Storing homemade grape wine

We close the bottle and leave the wine in a cool place for a month and a half. During this time, the wine should lighten and become transparent.

We drain the wine from the sediment, pour it into beautiful bottles, and store it in a cool place. Homemade grape wine will be ready for consumption in a month.

To make light table wine, the grapes are picked slightly unripe: the longer the fruits remain on the vines, the stronger the drink becomes. Dessert wine is obtained from fruits that were left on the bushes until they withered.

Do you dream of learning how to make excellent homemade grape wine But you don’t know which way to approach this responsible task? Use proven recipes and be sure to pay attention to important subtleties. After all, even the best grape varieties do not guarantee excellent taste of wine if the rules of winemaking are neglected.

Photography of grapes

Not every variety from your vineyard is suitable for creating a truly tasty and aromatic drink. Using table varieties, you are unlikely to achieve the desired taste and aftertaste, but such popular wine varieties as Isabella, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Noir, will fit perfectly. Sweet wines are made from Muscat grapes, but they grow best in southern climates.

Grapes begin to be harvested from the end of September, before frost sets in. If the weather is sunny, you can leave the fruits on the vine longer, but if it rains all day long, it is better to hurry with harvesting, otherwise the berries will begin to rot and will no longer be suitable for winemaking. An important condition for harvesting is dry bunches.

Video about the secrets of winemaking

The collected fruits should be sorted, discarding dry, rotten, spoiled, etc. Do not forget to also remove the twigs, otherwise the wine will acquire a bitter, tart taste due to the presence of tannins in the clusters. The whole process of sorting the berries may take a lot of time, but the drink will have a more pleasant taste and aftertaste. As a result, the berries should remain clean, but there is no need to wash them, since the whitish coating on the grapes is wine yeast necessary for fermentation.

Glass containers intended for juice fermentation must be smoked with sulfur before bottling, otherwise mold may appear on the walls of the bottles.

Photo of wine fermentation in glass containers

It is impossible to leave sorted grapes for a long time, since in this form they will ferment earlier than necessary. So proceed immediately to the next stage - thoroughly crushing the berries using a regular wooden masher or a special crusher.

Grape skins contain natural dyes, so to create red wine, the pulp and juice are fermented together, and when making white wine, the juice is separated immediately.

The crushed grapes are left for 3 days at room temperature in an enamel container covered with a cloth, stirring at least three times a day. Don’t be afraid that the wort will turn sour, because the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation will prevent oxygen from getting inside. After three days, the pulp will float, and it will be possible to strain the juice, also squeezing out the precious drops. Leaving the wort unstrained for 5-6 days will give the drink a more tart taste.

If you want to get a sweet wine, sugar must be added in portions to the strained juice in the first ten days of fermentation, until the taste of the drink begins to resemble sweet tea or compote. The amount of sugar added can vary greatly depending on the sugar content of the grapes and the individual preferences of the winemaker. It is best to pour a small portion of grape juice and stir the sugar in it, then pour it back into the bottle. After fermentation is complete, adding sugar is useless, as it will simply preserve the wine.

Photo of adding sugar

Pour strained grape juice with dissolved sugar into bottles to the top and close with a nylon cap, or with a medical glove pierced in several places, securing it with an elastic band. Carbon dioxide will escape from under a tightly closed cap and from holes in the glove, and oxygen will not be able to penetrate the bottle.

Place the filled bottles in a dark place with a temperature of +10 degrees. The lower the temperature, the longer the fermentation process will take. While the grape juice is fermenting, it should be filtered once a week so that the sediment does not spoil the taste. And when after a month or two the bubbles stop appearing, taste the drink: if it has acquired strength and pleasant sweetness, and no sugar is felt, then the grape wine is ready!

Amateur winemakers usually make homemade wine from Isabella grapes using the above technology. At the same time, about three kg of sugar is needed for five kg of grapes, and to obtain a milder taste, 12 liters of water are added to the juice a week after fermentation.

Video about homemade wine from Isabella grapes

But the variety of grape wines does not end there, and for those who want to expand the range of home-made drinks, we offer several interesting recipes based on grape juice or ready-made wine:

Table wine in Polish - instead of sugar, raisins are used, and they take twice as much as sugar would be needed.
Hungarian - 5 kg of white selected raisins are poured into a barrel and 6 liters of wine are poured, after which they are left in a warm place for two days, and then yeast is added, the barrel is tightly sealed and buried in the ground for a year.
Clove - a bag with crushed cloves sewn into it is placed in a barrel of grape juice. After the juice has fermented, the drink is poured into another container.
Lemon - for 10 liters of grape juice, add the dried zest from one lemon, tied in a bag. When the juice has fermented well, add a pinch of lemon balm and mint, the peel of 1 orange, 1 kg of grapes, sugar, and let the drink brew.
Moselle - evaporate a barrel with a decoction of elderberry and mint flowers and do not pour it out until the barrel is saturated with aroma. Then fill the barrel with grape juice, add mint and a little more elderberry flowers, and leave.

Pictured is Mosel wine

Muscat - put a bag of sage seeds and elderberry flowers into the young wine while it is fermenting. Leave for 2 weeks, then bottle.
Apple wine - put the apples in a container where the grape juice has just begun to ferment and periodically replace them with fresh ones until the wine has completely fermented.

Making homemade wine from grapes is not particularly difficult, and provides a wide field for the expression of imagination. If you didn’t manage to achieve the desired taste the first time, experiment - each winemaker changes the basic technology in his own way, using his own little tricks.

Making wine at home has recently become increasingly popular. This is explained quite simply. Firstly, the tireless work of breeders to develop frost-resistant grape varieties has led to the fact that the geographical area for cultivating this crop is constantly expanding. Thus, home winemaking recipes are becoming in demand by more and more people. Secondly, it is important that for little money you become the owner of an exclusively natural product. Good wine, as a rule, is quite expensive, and you don’t really want to buy a powdered surrogate. Thirdly, in the age of developed communication technologies, you can quite easily find a suitable recipe and answers to all the questions that arise in the process of home production. When studying a particular recipe, many beginners are puzzled by the fact that grapes do not need to be washed before processing.

It seems that the dishes must be sterilized, and all instruments must be perfectly clean, and hands must be washed thoroughly, and it’s not that it is recommended not to wash grapes, but it is absolutely forbidden to wash them! Crushing dusty grapes with clean hands? Where is the logic here? Oddly enough, it is.

Wine at home can be made in two ways. This, of course, is a very conditional division, used solely in the context of this article in order to explain whether grapes should or should not be washed. The first group of recipes implies exceptional naturalness, when the wine is fermented with the help of wild yeast cultures that abound on bunches of berries. The second is some interference in the natural process, when fermentation is started by adding a starter containing a pure yeast culture (PYC) to the wort.

Most people follow the path of using “savages”; making your own drink is easier and cheaper. There is no need to buy anything and put off the process of making sourdough when your hands are itching with impatience to immediately begin this sacred rite. The whitish coating on the berries is precisely the place of residence of the yeast fungi involved in alcoholic fermentation. Moreover, several cultures of wild wine yeast can coexist in it at the same time.

It is interesting that wine prepared at the same time from the same grapes, according to the same recipe, all other things being equal, but fermented with different cultures of yeast, isolated and specially grown, tastes different. Now imagine that wild fungi of different types have got into your wort - and each one “sings in its own way.” This does not mean at all that the wine will turn out bad, no, it can turn out absolutely magnificent. But! It is absolutely impossible to predict the taste of such a drink.

Of course, for fermentation to take place correctly, with the required intensity, as many “workers” as possible must get into the wort. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully collect the grapes, trying not to accidentally erase the plaque and thereby destroy the “labor force”. For the same reason, there is no need to wash the grapes, so as not to wash away the plaque, and you cannot harvest if at least three days have not passed since the rain.

But, in addition to yeast fungi, other microorganisms live on the surface of the berries that can harm the future drink. Once in the wort, they begin to live their own lives. Some of them are ways to turn grape juice into vinegar, others cause various diseases of wine, such as bloom, or mold, obesity, and so on. Of course, this happens only under conditions suitable for their life. Winemakers try to follow the recommendations specified in the recipe as much as possible in order to provide favorable conditions only for fungi involved in alcoholic fermentation, while blocking the “oxygen” from harmful ones.

The composition of the “inhabitants” of the grape coating, as already noted, is heterogeneous. But not only in terms of species composition. The proportional amount of certain microorganisms is also very different. Fermentation may not begin at all, or may proceed very sluggishly, because, for example, precisely at the time when the grapes were being harvested, the “numerical advantage” for various reasons was not on the side of wine yeast. And when all this collection falls into the wort, each fights for its life, taking away the substances necessary for nutrition and respiration from others and releasing the products of its vital activity, which can be destructive for other species. Whoever has more survived, it’s simple.

So, for all its simplicity and budget, making homemade wine using “savages” is akin to a lottery. Using this recipe, you can win by getting a great-tasting drink, or you can lose by pouring everything down the drain. Much more often the result is mediocrity. Here the result is unpredictable, and the quality of the drink made at home largely depends on the majesty of chance.

If you study this topic more deeply, you will certainly come across recipes from experts who say that it is quite possible to rinse grapes, and in case of severe contamination it is even necessary. Well, are they wrong? Of course you are right! These are experts in the production of homemade wine, whose technology for producing the drink beloved by many has been worked out to the smallest detail, the recipes have been time-tested, the scale claims to be industrial, and accidents are kept to a minimum. They just don’t try to preserve the coating on the berries; it is of no value to them. Moreover, winemakers try in every possible way to get rid of all microflora present on the surface of the skin. To do this, as a rule, sulfur dioxide is added to the wort prepared for fermentation. And all vital activity in it is actively suppressed. And fermentation is provoked by a starter added to the wort, containing a large number of well-developed wine yeasts of the same culture. The starter must be made in advance by adding your chosen culture of selectively bred yeast to a small amount of grape juice.

With this method, there are practically no surprises in the form of defects; the process and result are quite predictable.

Therefore, using the fermentation recipe with CHKD, you can completely rinse the grapes, and rinse heavily contaminated bunches. Although it is better not to simply make homemade alcohol from them, but to discard them. Water penetrates the berries, and the juice is diluted, the taste of the must, and subsequently the wine, becomes diluted. Remember? Even after rain, a couple of days must pass for the berries to absorb enough sunlight and heat. Then their taste will be the best and the sugar content will be maximum. Therefore, before making grape alcohol at home, there is still no need to wash the fruits.

If there is such a need: the summer is dry, the vineyard is located right next to the road, etc., the berries need to be washed two or three days before the planned production date directly on the vine with a hose, simulating rain.

Within a few days, not too much dust will accumulate on it. And the one that ends up in the wort is not terrible. Large pieces of debris will not pass through the filter, which is usually fabric or special paper. The rest, in the form of tiny particles, will settle to the bottom during the aging process and will be removed along with the sediment. Dirt and dust in the usual sense are not as dangerous to wine as pathogenic bacteria living under unkempt nails and on the walls of dirty dishes. This is where the enemy lies. Therefore, hands, tools, dishes, corks - everything needs to be washed thoroughly. You can wear sterile medical gloves on your hands. And at the end of processing, it doesn’t hurt to rinse the dishes with a soda solution.

Isabella grapes. Wine from Isabella grapes: homemade recipes and preparation. Why is Isabella wine harmful?

Red grape varieties include French, Italian and American. And among the latter there is one that is well known in Europe and Russia - the Isabella grape. It has been cultivated in European countries since the mid-17th century, and the American state of South Carolina is considered its homeland.

Isabella was also called “fox grapes”: the smell and taste of this grape was unusual for Europeans, and they decided that it was the smell of a fox during the mating season, and they considered wine with such a taste to be of low quality. Today such a name may seem funny: did winegrowers really catch foxes to sniff them? However, it has stuck with this grape variety, which is loved by so many people.

Isabella grapes

The Isabella variety is considered a table variety: this means that it is better to make table wine or juice from the grapes than to consume them fresh. This variety ripens later than others, and is often used for landscaping and decorating various places: in the city, in the countryside, gardens and parks. It is also used as a rootstock: other, less “tenacious” grape varieties are grafted onto cuttings of the Isabella vine to make them more resilient and protect them from pests.

Isabella is frost-resistant- can withstand very low temperatures, and this variety can be grown in different climatic conditions - you don’t even need to cover it, however, in the most northern regions this may be impractical - because the grapes ripen late. Isabella tolerates high humidity better than drought - this variety grows poorly in dry areas.

Isabella berries are medium-sized, oval or round in shape, and covered with a waxy coating; their color is black, with a bluish tint. Although the skin of the berries is rough, the pulp is very tender, and its quality is best demonstrated in the production of juices and wines.

It must be said that today in all countries of the European Union, and in the USA too, commercial production of wines from Isabella grapes is prohibited. This is explained by the fact that a lot of methanol is formed in prepared wines - a toxic substance that causes chronic diseases of the liver, kidneys, impaired vision, etc. Production prohibited wines from Isabella and in Russia, although pasteurized juice from this grape is absolutely safe. In the USA, these grapes are also used to make homemade wines and juices.

However, in regions such as the Krasnodar Territory, the Caucasus, and Moldova, table wines continue to be made from it - although their commercial production is still not permitted. They do this best in Azerbaijan: table wine turns out light pink, and many people, especially women, really like its taste.

Isabella grape harvest

To get a good harvest Isabella grapes, you need to be more careful when cultivating it: when the shoots are neglected, the berries ripen unevenly, become unsweetened, and the quality of the harvest deteriorates. This variety is also surprising in that it can produce young shoots from an old vine if the main buds and shoots freeze out - this allows you to get a harvest in any case. It is also necessary to thin out the leaves in a timely manner - this will improve the harvest.

Medicinal properties of Isabella grapes

Isabella has healing properties, like any grape variety: for example, berries and wine can be used as an expectorant for acute colds and respiratory diseases.

Wine from Isabella grapes: recipe and preparation

Disputes about whether it can be consumed wine from Isabella, are still underway, but we prepare such wine at home quite often - after all, in Russia these grapes are grown everywhere. How to make wine from Isabella grapes at home?

There are many ways – let’s talk about one of them first.

1st recipe for wine from Isabella grapes

First, of course, the grapes must be collected and then carefully sorted, removing unripe and spoiled berries, debris, twigs and leaves. There is no need to wash the grapes before making wine, but they must be clean, which is why careful sorting is required.

Then you need to squeeze the juice out of the grapes: with a press, a wooden crush, even with your feet - as in the famous Italian film.

The pulp is placed in an enamel pan or plastic food container. About 30-40% of the pulp volume is added to water, and sugar is added at the rate of 40 g per liter, and left for 3-4 days. After this period, the pulp will begin to ferment, and a “cap” will form - you need to stir the pulp and destroy the “cap”. After some time, a “cap” will begin to form very quickly - then it must be removed and the pulp squeezed out using 2 layers of gauze.

Boiled water must be added to the resulting liquid - approximately 40% of the weight of the pulp and the removed “cap”, and left to ferment again. Then pour the wort into glass bottles, filling them to ½, and close the necks with cotton swabs so that no foam comes out. When the fermentation of the wort becomes calmer, you can put a medical glove on the neck of each bottle, fasten it on it and pierce it with a needle in some place - so that gas comes out during fermentation.

When the glove falls, you need to add sugar to the wort - 200 g per liter. You need to pour the wort from the bottle, dissolve sugar in it, heat it, stir it and pour it back. When all the sugar has fermented, you need to leave the bottle for a month, and then use a vinyl straw to pour the wine into bottles for long-term storage. You can add more sugar to taste, without stirring.

2nd recipe for wine from Isabella grapes

The description of the next method is much shorter, but the result will most likely be almost the same. You need to take 5 kg of grapes, 3 kg of sugar and 12 liters of boiled water; crush the grapes, add sugar to them and leave for a week. Then add water and leave for another month, after which strain the wine and bottle it.

Is it even worth making homemade wine from Isabella grapes if it is so unhealthy? Is there any serious evidence for this, and should people be warned against using it?

There is no particularly serious evidence on this subject yet, and no studies on this topic have yet been published. It may well be that it is simply not profitable for producers of expensive wines for people to drink inexpensive wine, which is also quite tasty.

Wine from Isabella It costs much less because this variety is easy to care for, sugar rich and produces good yields. Some wine producers say that their products are often praised at private tastings, but in public they say something completely different.

Why is wine made from Isabella grapes harmful?

For example, talk about the formation of tartar. Why is cream of tartar harmful? The most unpleasant thing that can happen due to the presence of cream of tartar in the bottle is that it will be difficult to uncork it carefully, and the wine may spill out. Tartar crystals do not spoil the properties of wine - they are safe and have no taste. Many consumers believe that this is a defect, and producers cool the wine to near freezing temperature and then filter it. At the same time, the aroma of the wine deteriorates, so it is the cream of tartar in the bottle that can indicate that the product is of high quality.

Glycosides– substances contained in the fruits of many plants are also called harmful. Indeed, some of them are toxic to humans, but this only happens when large quantities are involved. In addition, glycosides are contained not only in Isabella grape varieties, but also in other grapes, and even in other berries - currants, etc.

Methanol, which is talked about in connection with Isabelle wines, they really do have it, and it’s toxic – it’s poison. However, a dose hazardous to health may be contained in 200 or 300 liters of such wine.

If we remember what our alcohol industry produces today, then wines from Isabella will seem absolutely harmless - although any alcohol is harmful, especially in excessive quantities.

Various types of beer, so widely advertised today, contain many toxins, but attention is not focused on this.

Today, stores sell many varieties of wine with different beautiful names, and often they contain components that are truly dangerous to health.

If you look deeper, alcohol as such is one of the most dangerous poisons in the world. It is enough to drink 2 liters of any alcoholic drink - wine, moonshine, vodka - to get a dose dangerous to health. And there are many problems in our world due to alcohol consumption: disasters, tragedies, loss of life, broken lives - but few people will drink non-alcoholic wine.

Nobody thinks about the dangers of alcohol, so the dangers of this or that wine are often talked about only to avoid competition.

As for home-made wines, even the best, elite variety of grapes can be ruined if the wine from it is incorrectly prepared and stored incorrectly, and even consumed without moderation.

You can end your discussion on the topic of the harmfulness of Isabella wines with the famous quatrain, the author of which is considered to be one of the greatest scientists and physicians of all times and peoples - Avicenna.

“Wine is our friend, but deceit lives in it:
Drink a lot - poison, drink a little - medicine.
Don't hurt yourself with excess
Drink in moderation, and the peace and kingdom will last.”

Is it possible to wash grapes for wine?

Igor, is it worth getting involved with Taifi?

I didn't understand the question. Get started - what to do with it? If it's for wine - definitely not!

Hello. Igor, what is your opinion about the varieties listed below for making wine? (what to remove, what to add, perspective)
Zhytomyr region , the ground is sandy.
Bianka, Bukovinka, Citron Magaracha, Pink Traminer, Solaris, Cab.Cortis, Save Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir

Alexey, wherever possible, I write that, as a matter of principle, I do not give advice from the series “what should I put on wine”! ?? True, I haven’t written here yet... I can only assume “they will ripen/not ripen.”
Moreover, I am not familiar with the climate of the Zhytomyr region. In theory, all the varieties you listed should ripen, except for Traminer. Save blanc and chardonnay raise questions, but try it.

“as a matter of principle, I don’t give advice from the series” - sorry, I didn’t come across it.
Thanks for your comment.

Hello, Igor! I have read your articles more than once, each time I find something new for myself. Thank you very much for the material! If until now I was skeptical about pyrosulfite, chkd and many other technological operations, now I realized that without them you can make wine, but with their help you can make healthy and high-quality wine. Since I have never used chkd before, I had questions. Is it possible to use chkd for white wines in the production of red wines and vice versa, chkd for red wines in the production of white wines? In years when the quality of the grapes is not the best and accordingly more pyrosulfite is required, does pyrosulfite not preserve the work of the chkd? Which chkd (brand name) do you consider to be some of the best for white and red wines? Is there a relationship between % Brie of grapes and what chkd to set? Thank you!

1. Of course you can, but the result will be either unpredictable or worse.
2. In recommended doses, pyrosulfite is not harmful for CKD.
3. I like Lallemand
4. CHKD is selected according to many parameters, among which Brie does not play a special role. Try looking here.

In this article, I found the answer to a question that haunted me. Last year I made a lot of mistakes in wine production, so I’ll write it down, maybe it will help someone. Firstly, Igor correctly writes, you need to make wine from one grape variety, and when crushing the grapes, I mixed Cabernet (60%) and Muscat (40%), I wanted to make Cabernet wine with a Muscat aroma. The wine has now become clearer, but, unfortunately, the aroma of Muscat is practically not felt; the article clearly states why. The second mistake, crushing the grapes and violent fermentation took place in the open air, and the air temperature at that time was very high, and the article says that overheating the Cabernet must has a bad effect on the further aromatics of the wine. That's it. At that time I didn’t know about the site, maybe I wouldn’t have made such mistakes. Once again, many thanks to Igor!

What is your personal opinion about wine made from Rubin grapes (Bulgaria)?

None. I didn't have to try.

At the International Forum of Winegrowers and Winemakers in Kyiv, you said that you would like to work with the Eumolpia and Rubin varieties. I am also interested in them, but unfortunately information on the experience of growing them is very limited. Has your attitude towards these varieties changed for any reason?

No, it hasn't changed.
I would still like to. ??

Hello, Igor! Using tartaric acid, we reduce the acidity of the wine to the required value, but what about increasing the acidity of the wine and what can be done?

I didn't understand the question.
By using tartaric acid we INCREASE the overall acidity.

Sorry, the question is worded incorrectly. How to reduce the overall acidity of wine?

Slightly off topic... Have you read this article?

We determine the sugar content in grapes by the density of the grape juice (or with a refractometer, I don’t have one, so I don’t know how to use it). In the table you indicated, you can determine the sugar content and even the strength of the future wine, but what if you need to adjust it?
Is sugar content a mass or volume %?
If this is a mass%, then it is easier to determine the required amount of sugar (g/l) by subtracting the sugar content of your grapes from the required sugar content.
And if it is volumetric, then what should we do?

What table are you talking about? It seems like there are no tables in this article. Read the following article, and then ask if anything is unclear.
In the table given there, sugar is “gram/liter”, alcohol is “% by volume”, everything is written in the “header”... You need to adjust - grams per liter and add.

Sugar, of course, in % by mass, alcohol in % by volume.
But for the practice of home winemaking, I (and no one) bother with this.

P.S. We respect the nesting of comments, please.

Good afternoon You said that most of the grapes for your wines are bought in the Odessa region. How do you keep it healthy during long-term transportation? After all, along the way it can choke, release juice, premature oxidation, fermentation processes, etc. will begin. It’s not for nothing that the best wineries are located in close proximity to the vineyards; moreover, harvesting is often practiced at night, during cool hours.

Well, “it’s those who can” (c). ??
Soft transportation, small boxes (capacity 14…15 kg), air conditioning. And I bring the grapes just at night, and immediately - crushing.
In fact, after 12 hours, there is so much juice collected at the bottom of the box that you can blot it with one paper napkin. So no oxidation or fermentation processes will have time to begin.
Why are you asking?

just interesting... there has been such a strong trend lately that winemakers producing high-quality wines treat grapes very carefully and with the utmost care (harvesting by hand in small boxes with holes for juice to drain, using dry ice or refrigerated containers during transportation, triage at the winery, i.e. sorting the best berries, etc.) I just wanted to know how this issue is resolved on your farm. and I’m also tormented by one question (maybe not entirely related to the topic of the article, but still)… why is malolactic always carried out after the main fermentation? After all, lactobacilli are initially present in the wort and their action is suspended by adding sulfur.

Yes, in different ways... At the end because, as a rule, the sulfur concentration drops towards the end of fermentation, and the pH rises. Often malolactic therapy goes away simultaneously with AB. There is a separate article about it on the website: http://www.zaika.in.ua/vinodelie/avtorskoe-garagnoe-vinodelie/faktory-vlijauschie-na-jmb/

There is information (I think Bisso mentioned it in one of the entries) that YAMB is carried out at the end because unfermented sugar under the influence of lactobacilli turns into vinegar. Is this true?

The article is still not about JMB. ?? Let's comment in the appropriate section under articles about JMB. If you don't find the answers in them.

I read somewhere that when the grapes ripen on cool nights, the sugar in the berries breaks down and the acidity slows down its breakdown. Is this true?

Mine is yours don't understand. ??

Igor, thank you for your help to all beginners and not only winemakers.
I spent 2 weeks studying the information, everything was clear and intelligible. I bought almost everything needed to make wine.
the question is:
In our city there are no technical varieties of grapes; you can only buy table varieties.
Please advise which table varieties can be used to make red wine.
(if you have had such experience)

Hello. When I made wine from table varieties (the first time), I didn’t bother with what I used. I advise you, if there is no other option, to choose varieties with smaller berries. And it’s better to be sour - it’s easier to adjust sugar than to measure, look for and add tartaric acid.

Thanks, I'll look for it.

Hello Igor Vladimerovich. Thank you for your help, especially for novice winemakers. There was a question about the pH of the wort, but your article clarified everything. Please tell me what can replace tartaric acid to lower the pH if it is not available at the moment? Thank you.

Replace with lemon. Some people don't like the taste, but it may not bother you.

Good afternoon, Igor!

Greetings from Crimea! I didn’t find the point about adding tartaric acid. This is my second day of Cabernet fermentation (I took it in the village of Uglovoye), and it revealed low acidity around 3.7. (sugar 27/1115 at the start) Is it possible to add now, say 1.5 g/l or after spinning during quiet fermentation. Or maybe 1 gram now and 1 gram later? And also, if you want to increase the acidity to 3.3, i.e. by 0.4, it turns out that you need to pour almost 4g per liter, isn’t that a bit much? The device was calibrated at 4pH. It would be nice to have a separate article on this issue. I haven’t measured the titratable acidity yet, tomorrow I’ll get an alkali solution and check it, but I don’t really trust the device.

And one more thing... I use Bioferm Rouge CHKD. I haven’t added sulfur yet, but with such acidity, I’ll probably add 100-150. When is it better to do this, right now or quietly? The fermentation process is now intense, temp-20 degrees Celsius, I plan for seven days in this mode, then shutter.

If you read my articles carefully, you will notice that everywhere I recommend adding sulfur as early as possible - when crushing the grapes. Realize why there is sulfur in wine, and all questions - why, how much and when - will disappear!

Good evening. For accuracy and saving acid, I would recommend adjusting after pressing from the pulp.
Yes, the empirical formula is 1g of tartaric acid reduces the pH by 0.1. I think that 4g will be reduced by 0.5.
For Cabernet, you can stop by adjusting to 3.5. Red wine is not white, it should not be too fresh.
Although, again, everything is decided by a specific winemaker based on a specific situation and his own vision and taste.

Igor Vladimirovich, the article talks about a hydrometer for sugar calibrated within 1000 (980)…1200 g/dm3.
1) I found a device here, but the scale of which is 0-30%, how can I compare the units of measurement?
http://www.vinorob-kovach.com.ua/index.php/mikrovinod-1/sah30.html
2) Please provide a link to a hydrometer with a scale in (g/dm3)

1. Please read the next article in the series. Here is the link: http://www.zaika.in.ua/domashnee-vinodelie/sdelat-vino-samomy/
2. I don’t understand. I have it on my shelf at the winery.

1) You can measure sugar with a Refractometer, but since I don’t have one, I have a sugar hydrometer with a scale of 0-30%. This will allow me to measure my sugar in a similar way to a refractometer. And having found my Brie value in the SUGAR CONTENT column, I get the expected strength of the wine. Did I understand correctly?
2) I had no doubt that your measuring instruments were in the right place?? But they were bought somewhere before they ended up there. I meant that I have not come across a hydrometer calibrated by specific gravity, perhaps you know where to buy them.
3) Maybe I’m getting into the weeds, but still...I found it on Wikipedia. Brix can be calculated using the following formula:
261.3*(1 - 1/р), where р is the density of the solution at a temperature of 20 °C. I calculated the table (density-brie-spiritus) and something doesn’t add up. Those. Taking the BRI value from the table, the density does not come out of the table.

1. Yes, you understood correctly.
2. I bought my device from the homewine.com.ua store.
3. I don’t bother about this. Up to 20 units of brie and sugar in g/100g are practically the same, above 20 - minus 1, above 25 - 2. That is. if the refractometer shows 28, I take sugar = 260g/l. From here I calculate the alcohol content (*0.57). But you need to remember that the values are approximate and depend on many factors.

Igor Vladimirovich, thank you for your answers and your patience.

Hello, Igor! Did I understand correctly that the higher the sugar in grapes is from the norm, the higher the pH value is from the norm, and the titratable acidity, on the contrary, decreases? Wouldn’t it be a mistake to reduce the pH once with tartaric acid, after cryostabilization, since the tartar will fall out, and not several times from crushing the grapes and after cryostabilization? My chardonnay had sugar at 24 brie, now ph = 3.35, so, I think, in February - March we should adjust it to the norm of 3.2 or would it be more correct to do this now?

Without fanaticism. There is no “norm” up to tenths. Try it. Or maybe the wine is quite balanced? The fewer additives, the better. You need to worry when the pH is above 3.6.
And if we need to make adjustments, the sooner the better. More complete assimilation.

Igor, Merry Christmas to you! And you can take grapes from the market for wine at this time, as they are preserved, they were picked a long time ago and not for a day. Probably you can hardly put wine on it (or you shouldn’t pull his ears). And wait for the next harvest in 2014.

Try to evaluate the grapes “from the market” according to the parameters given in the article and subsequent comments, and make a decision. I personally wouldn't take it.
Wine can be made from any grape, but which one? If it suits you personally, do it...

Is it possible to make wine from dried grapes and raisins?
Or are you just using fresh grapes? It is clear that the quality is much lower, but the same grapes and all the substances in them are preserved in the fruit; there is just no water or liquid, as you might say, and fewer vitamins.
I heard there are factory wines made from suzum.
You can put wine all year round, without rushing to put everything at once at harvest. The wine is light, healthy and pleasant, they say.
Igor, if I may, I would like to ask whether it is necessary to give pyrosulfite, how much water should be there, how vigorous and quiet fermentation should occur when using the lees for aging, etc...
There is little information on the Internet. only on all sites they write, a kilo of raisins, two kilos of sugar, six seven liters of water, citric acid, chkd replenishment of yeast. Can you calculate the sugar content and pitch in such a must or wine?
Answer if possible in at least two words.
Thanks in advance Igor.

Wine can be made from anything. But what will it be like?
I have never encountered raisins as a raw material, so I won’t say anything. Give it a try.

Hello Igor, I have a question: I froze the grapes because there wasn’t enough containers, but now I’ve started processing them (black raisins), tell me, does it change the parameters when frozen? and how critical is sugar? acidity? I have a suspicion that the acidity drops. Should I add something to the wort after freezing?

We kindly ask everyone to write comments under the RELEVANT articles, and not just where.

Hello, Andrey.
I had nothing to do with frozen grapes. Take measurements of sugar, pH, or acidity - and get the answers. I can’t tell you anything, how do I know what kind of grapes you had and what they became?

Igor, thank you for your thorough approach to winemaking and the desire to share your experience!
My question: I decided to make wine from Gewürztraminer - the aroma is fabulous, but in the dry version of the wine it was not left, but in the dessert version it was fully present! Sulfated with cadefit 1g per 10l of wort. What is my mistake? What did I not take into account?

It's not your mistake. Muscat aromas in dry wine do not last long. Then they transform into bitterness.
They are preserved by sugar and alcohol, which is why they are preserved in dessert wine.

Hello Igor, I have a question for a novice amateur winemaker.
There are two devices: Refractometer (Brie) and Hydrometer-saccharometer (0-25%)
At the beginning of fermentation, their readings are almost identical (differ by about 1)
At the end of fermentation the spread is much greater (10 Brie and 2.5%)
Where is the mistake? Why navigate?
Thank you.

Hello, Andrey.
Your mistake was in a hurry.)) Read the entire series of articles, comments (questions) asked earlier by your colleagues and the answers to them, and I’m sure everything will become clear to you.
A refractometer is not used to evaluate fermenting wort. Like a hydrometer-saccharometer. Only a hydrometer, calibrated to estimate density.
Read here: http://www.zaika.in.ua/vinodelie/domashnee-vinodelie/sdelat-vino-samomy/

Hello Igor. I have been on your site for a long time and have read the column on wine making many times (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WHICH). And every time I make wine I have to re-read it, because we do it once a year.
From your answer, I understood that the Refractometer and hydrometer-saccharometer cannot determine the accumulated alcohol content, knowing the initial value of Brie or % of sugar, but only by the density of the fermenting wort or finished wine. Then I couldn’t find two questions on Google.
1- What is the ratio of Brie to % sugar?
2- How can you convert % sugar to density?
Thank you.

Excuse me, I read it several times. But the questions did not disappear. Perhaps I'm not very understanding.

Igor Vladimirovich, good health!
This year they started harvesting Chardonnay with sugar 1073...1074 (at +20C) (i.e. about 17g/l) and pH = 2.6...2.8.
In your opinion, is there not enough sugar and not enough acid?
And is it possible to obtain drinkable dry wine from such grapes without adjusting sugar and acid?

P.S. We kept the pulp overnight at an air temperature of +16...+18 for maceration, I hope we will get an additional “chardonnaise” aroma and smooth out the acid. In the morning I press the pulp into the press.

In my opinion, there is not enough sugar. Acid will fall.
I would chaptalize at 2…3 Brix and make a light table wine.
Acid will only add freshness.

Hello, Igor. Thank you for your articles. Please give me some advice. Chardonnay pH 3.6, squeezed out the juice, added the yeast. It started playing vigorously - everything went according to plan. Afterwards I found where to buy tartaric acid. I added it to 400 liters. 800 g of wort on the second day. As usual, I added ammonium chloride 0.3 g per dal. It stopped playing. It was two days without change. The first time I added tartaric acid. What can be done to restore fermentation? Please tell me.

Hello, Maxim.
Very strange. Adding tartaric acid in an amount of 2 g/l does not affect fermentation in any way. So look for the reason elsewhere.

Igor Vladimirovich, hello.
I want to ask you about the ripeness of the grapes. Do your suppliers influence the quality of raw materials or do they not have such a task?
I noticed from your vintages that the acidity is >pH3.2. For comparison, I took the results of my measurements - on average for white and red varieties, Igor V. Zaika says:

I determine the ripeness of grapes by the seed: brown - ready.
If it is necessary to adjust one or two units of sugar or acid later, I adjust it.
I don’t titrate the acidity, there are no conditions. I only work with the pH level. As I wrote in the article.

Since pH gives us the sense of acidity in wine, then how does titratable acidity affect the quality of wine?

I didn't understand the question.

What is the point of measuring total acidity? Or are these already higher matters?

General acidity is, in fact, a very important parameter that shows the ripening of grapes and, indirectly, the quality of the future wine. Its role is fully described in specialized literature.
Another thing is that it is much easier to measure pH at home, and therefore I only “bother” with it and its role in the winemaking process.

Tell me, how to calculate the amount of tartaric acid? 1 gram per 1 liter of wort, or 1 gram per 1 liter of already squeezed juice?
In the article about the first day of winemaking, you advise adding it directly to the must for red wines and for more bouquet wines. Do I understand correctly that then we count 1 gamma of acid per 1 liter of WORT?
And the second question: Very often in the description of yeast there is the following phrase: “refers to yeast with a low requirement for nitrogen content.” What does this mean? Do I also need to buy fertilizing for them or, on the contrary, does this yeast work without fertilizing?
In one of your articles, I read that you do not recommend fertilizing for red wines; there is already enough of it in red juice. Then how to react to this inscription if it still recommends adding additional nutrition?
Thank you very much again.

1. What does “per liter of squeezed juice” mean? If we stick to the terminology, then “squeezed juice” and “wort” are one and the same. Explain. Are we talking about white wine?
2. If the yeast has low nitrogen requirements, then you can do without fertilizing. Again, what kind of wine are we talking about? About “I don’t recommend.” You misunderstood me. It’s one thing if we “can get by,” but it’s another if we want to “make the most of it.” I sometimes add fertilizing to red wines after pressing the pulp for quiet fermentation.

1. We are talking about red wine. By juice I mean pressed wort after several days on the pulp
But after reading your answers to my namesake, in order to save acid, you recommend calculating its amount not by the volume of wort with pulp, but by the volume that we set for quiet fermentation.
2. About red wines. I understand - if we want to get the maximum out of it, then we’ll encourage it.

1. But we measure and remember pH BEFORE fermentation begins, so that we can then know how much acid to add?!

pH can and should be measured at all stages of fermentation and winemaking in general. What prevents you from measuring already pressed wort?
Yes, in order to save money, I add both acid and sugar after pressing the pulp of the red wort when setting it for quiet fermentation.

Thank you very much again!!

Please tell me how to reduce sugar in finished wine.

Actually, not at all. Is it possible to recognize the wine as “not ready” and cause secondary fermentation by converting excess sugar into alcohol, if the alcohol content is not higher than 16%.

I put the wine on a few days ago, the pH of the must was 3.6. Tartaric acid for correction was not available (supplied as is). Tomorrow I will get acid, does it make sense to add it on the 5th day, or leave everything as is?

Of course there is. After all, the pH of the wort is important at all stages of the wine’s life: both fermentation and aging.

Dyakuyu. I'll adjust it to 3.4

Yes... I thought that I was making wine, but after carefully studying the articles on your site, I realized that my wine was slop. Thank you very much for the articles, recommendations and great patience in communicating with ignoramuses like me. Nowadays you rarely meet such people. I wish you health and longevity.

Thank you for your kind words. ??

Good afternoon Igor, please tell me.
When crushing the grapes, I added 1 kg of sugar per 10 liters of must to the must, after 6 days of vigorous fermentation I squeezed it into a 20 liter bottle. It’s been 22 days now and the gurgles rarely come. measured density 1040, pH 5.9. I bought tartaric acid and pyrosulfite, I didn’t add pyrosulfite before. what to do? thanks in advance.

Don't know. Drink what you got.
Or read articles on this site where:
1. After pouring kilograms of sugar into the wort, don’t ask me any questions.
2. It is useless to measure the sugar-alcohol-water mixture. Only the dynamics from the first day according to the table.
3. pH 5.9 - either the device is unusable, or you don’t understand what’s in the bottle. If the value is higher than 4 - a compost pit.

Hello! Please tell me whether adding tartaric acid to adjust the pH affects the “bouquet” of the wine. If yes, what is the maximum acceptable threshold.

By “bouquet” we usually mean aroma. On him - indirectly.
Practice shows that it is pointless to add more than 2 g/l: the excess will precipitate. But this is all empirical and may not happen. ??

How then can you lower the pH from 3.9 to 3.3?

Good afternoon, Igor Vladimirovich!
How much tartaric acid should be added to a 20 liter bottle to lower the pH from 3.7 to 3.4-3.5?
In advance, thank you very much!

I will answer for Igor.
If you have exactly 20 liters in a 20 liter bottle, that is, to capacity, then everything is simple:
You need to lower the pH by 0.3.
1 gram of acid per liter reduces pH by 0.1. Therefore, to reduce the pH by 0.3, we need 3 grams of acid. And multiply our 3 grams of acid by your 20 liters. We get 60 grams of acid per 20 liters of wort.

Does it make sense to make wine from well-ripened black grapes? There is no way to harvest the crops now.

You need to understand its conditions: sugar and pH. Overripe grapes often lose acidity.

That is, it is possible, but do you need to regulate the acidity with tartaric acid?
I have tartaric acid made in China, will this work?

I don't know, I guess.

Hello! Is the Zabava or Charlie variety good for wine? Thank you

Wine can be made from anything, but what kind? Measure the sugar content of the wort. If necessary, add sugar to at least 20 Brie.

Hello.
1) If the PH value for red is 3.0, nothing needs to be done with it?
2) How to properly add tartaric acid to wort?

Sometimes it’s 2.9... Work with what you have. If after fermentation the acidity does not suit you, adjust it. How - I wrote in the relevant articles.

Igor, good day.
I decided to get into winemaking. I bought Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet. I relied on my friend’s three-year experience (I buy wine only from him, it’s no worse than factory wine and maybe better than some) and probably made a number of mistakes. Sulfur was added to Pinot at the rate of 50 grams of sulfur per 640 kg of grapes. Isn't that a lot? It seems to me that 25-30 grams is enough (there is almost no rot or mold). A friend measured Ph in Pinot after vigorous fermentation and pitted maceration, which lasted 2 weeks, and said that it was necessary to lower Ph by adding tartaric acid because... the indicator was 4.0. And here I probably made a mistake, added a lot of acid and now Ph is 2.8. I wanted to lower it to 3.5 and added according to your example, i.e. 1 gram per liter of wort, to lower Ph by 0.1. After pressing, it turned out to be 345 liters. 300 liters poured into a stainless steel container. and added 1500 grams of acid there. I did not add to the remaining 45 liters. Now the wort without adding acid has a pH of 3.5. Did I do everything right? Why did Rn fall so much? I forgot to say that 2.8 is already my device. The discrepancy with my friend’s device is 0.3, i.e. my device would initially be 3.7. The temperature in the basement is 19-21.

What is the best way to increase Ph? Thanks in advance.

How to make homemade wine from grapes

In Ukraine, grapes grow almost everywhere. They make everything from it - they cook compotes, make jellies and desserts, dry it, pickle it, salt it... and, of course, make excellent homemade red wine.

There are legends about the benefits of wine. It improves appetite, helps with migraines, normalizes blood pressure, improves immunity and much, much more.

And it’s included in so many dishes! Marinades, sauces, fondues, jellies, mulled wines, punches... the list goes on and on. A fairy tale in one word!

What’s stopping us from making a couple of bottles of excellent homemade wine and enjoying the excellent taste of the “drink of the gods” on long winter evenings?

Recipe for making homemade grape wine

The grapes should be sorted, the berries separated from the branches, and sorted.

Whether it is worth washing grapes to make homemade wine - opinions differ on this issue. Some argue that washing grapes destroys the bacteria necessary for the fermentation of wine; advocates of sanitation have a different opinion. If the grapes are heavily contaminated, it is better not to tempt fate and wash them.

Pour the grape mixture into a large saucepan or enamel bucket, cover with gauze and place in a dark, warm place to ferment for about three to four days (stir the grape mixture with a dry wooden spoon two to three times a day). During this period, the grape pulp floats to the top, and the juice remains at the bottom. We squeeze out the pulp, transfer it to a separate bowl, and strain the juice through a colander and carefully pour it into a 5-10 liter wine bottle.

We put the pulp again into a pan or bucket, fill it with water level (the grape cake should be covered with water, but no more), repeat the fermentation procedure: as soon as the pulp rises to the top, squeeze it out, filter the juice and add to the previous one. The bottle should be 2/3 filled with juice, be sure to leave 1/3 unfilled so that the wine has room to “play.” We throw away the cake without a twinge of conscience.

A water seal or water seal for fermenting homemade wine from grapes

But there is another “fun way” to ferment wine without special equipment - put an ordinary medical glove on the neck of a wine bottle and secure it with an elastic band or tape. If there are children in the family, invite them to watch the “Reviving Hand” trick. As fun as it is, a great way to make wine without much hassle is to not have to worry about the cleanliness and amount of water in the vessel. Just don’t forget to use a thin needle to make a couple of small holes in the glove.

As soon as the wine has fermented - this process usually takes about a month (the signs are as follows: in the first case, bubbles in a vessel with water will no longer be released, in the second case, a fallen glove is an eloquent sign), it must be drained from the sediment using a thin tube, for example - under IVs.

Let's taste the wine. If there is not enough sugar, add.

Storing homemade grape wine

We close the bottle and leave the wine in a cool place for a month and a half. During this time, the wine should lighten and become transparent.

We drain the wine from the sediment, pour it into beautiful bottles, and store it in a cool place. Homemade grape wine will be ready for consumption in a month.

Vessels for making and storing wine

Home winemaking is popular because it allows you to produce high-quality natural wine at low material costs. Most often, intoxicating drinks are prepared at home from grapes, apples, cherries, plums, raspberries, and strawberries.

In addition to desire and certain knowledge, every novice winemaker will need a good recipe and suitable utensils for preparing and storing wine.

Glassware for winemaking is important

Glassware is an important attribute of winemaking. Therefore, when planning the purchase of grapes (or other fruits/berries) for homemade wine, you need to focus not only on the recipe (number of ingredients), but also audit the available containers that can be used at different stages of wine preparation.

It is better to adjust the recipe to reduce the ingredients than to buy more grapes than you can process at home. In addition, wine production is a long process, it can last throughout the winter, so you need to think about where you can put the fermentation tanks. Limited space can also affect the choice of container shape and volume.

The material from which the containers for preparing wine are made is very important. Suitable cookware:

wooden (oak);
ceramic;
glass;
enameled (without defects or damage to the enamel).

Any metal utensils - aluminum, copper, iron (with the exception of containers made of high-quality stainless steel) cannot be used for preparing wine. It should not be used even for short-term storage of wine products.

Glass containers

In home winemaking, especially at the stages of fermentation and storage, glass containers (jars, carboys, bottles) are used. One of the important advantages of glassware is the ability to easily observe the fermentation process.

You can use three-liter glass jars, bottles with a wide neck (5, 10, 20 l.), They are also used for pickles. As well as special containers for fermentation - suley.
These are large bottles with a narrow neck, on which it is very convenient to place a water seal. They can be made of green, brown glass or transparent. Such containers are widely used for preparing wort, fermenting and storing wine, cognac, and other intoxicating drinks at home. Such vessels are often placed in wicker baskets. They are produced in different shapes and sizes (from 1 to 54 liters), there are braided suleys, with handles and other useful additions.
The disadvantages of glass containers include their fragility (it breaks easily and requires careful handling), it allows light to pass through, bottles and carboys with a narrow neck are difficult to wash. Experienced winemakers point out another drawback - glass is impenetrable to air. The fact is that to speed up the fermentation process, minimal air access through the walls of the fermentation tank is necessary.

At the stages of maturation and aging in glass containers, wine has to be drained from the sediment more often than in containers made of porous material (wood or clay).

For proper fermentation, the temperature regime is important; to ensure more comfortable fermentation conditions, glass vessels are wrapped in felt, wool or thick fabric and placed in wicker baskets. This is important because wine is made from grapes in winter. Such actions also reduce the fragility of the glass product.

Wooden containers

Wooden utensils (barrels, vats) are traditional and are considered ideal for the production and storage of wine from grapes. It has a number of advantages: it reliably protects from light, allows you to avoid temperature fluctuations, the micropores of the wood allow enough air to pass through for the vital activity of yeast. In such containers, wine tolerates summer and winter well.

Wine in barrels matures faster, its taste has a richer bouquet than the same wine in a glass jar.

All wooden containers for winemaking are made from oak. This material has a beneficial effect on grape wine, enriching it with tannins, giving a special nobility to the intoxicating drink.
But a wooden container has a number of disadvantages: it is difficult to keep it perfectly clean, and it is impossible to visually control the process. But, of course, the main problem is the difficulty of cleaning the inner surface.

As noted above, only oak barrels are suitable for wine. In this case, you should not use containers that previously contained pickles, beer, fish, vinegar or chemical liquids. Barrels that are painted inside are also not suitable for winemaking.

The best option is old oak barrels in which wine, alcohol or cognac have already been stored. After strong alcoholic drinks, it is enough to rinse barrels with clean water. New barrels require special treatment before wine is poured into them.

And although barrels are produced in different sizes, they are not used so often in home small-capacity winemaking. If you liked the wine, but the recipe requires aging in an oak container, which is not available, you should expect that homemade wine from grapes according to this recipe will taste different from what you expected.

Metal enamel dishes

Enamel cookware is suitable for various intermediate stages. The main thing is that the enameled surface does not have even the slightest flaw. As a rule, these are large pots, buckets, basins that are used for various household needs. They are comfortable and wash well. The main disadvantage is the fragility of the enamel.

Plastic dishes

In recent years, many winemakers have added products made from high-quality food-grade plastic to this list. All kinds of plastic containers are used for preparing wine material, intermediate transfers, and fermentation.
Now you can even find a recipe that describes in detail the technology of fermentation in a plastic bottle.

Of course, using plastic utensils is the best choice for home winemaking. It is light, does not break, and is easy to clean. The industry produces a large assortment of such products, so it is not difficult to buy containers of the required volume, and the prices for such dishes are quite reasonable.

It is worth noting that not all winemakers abandon tableware made from traditional materials, using modern plastic in wine production only for some operations: transporting grapes, temporary storage of berries, squeezing them, etc.

Containers for rapid fermentation

If the recipe corresponds to red wine (on the pulp of dark grape varieties), then crushed berries can ferment in the container where they were crushed. This should be a fairly large container, since a third of the volume should remain free. This could be an enamel pan, a deep basin, or a glass bottle. The container should have a wide neck so that it is easy to stir the pulp during fermentation (this operation will have to be done quite often).
The fermentation tank is covered with linen or gauze, which will protect against midges, but will allow carbon dioxide to escape freely.
The recipe for making wine using white technology (recipe with juice) makes it possible to pour the wort directly into special bottles with a narrow neck (suley) or large glass jars. You can immediately install an industrial or home-made water seal on the fermentation tank.

The quiet fermentation stage for red and white wines is carried out in glass bottles. This process can continue throughout the winter. The wort will have to be periodically drained from the sediment into a clean container.

With small volumes of wine in cramped conditions, you can do quiet fermentation in a plastic bottle.

Containers for storing finished wine

At home, wine can be stored in small barrels, standard wine bottles, preferably made of dark glass. You can store the drink in a jar (2,3,5 liters), if it is possible to seal it hermetically with a glass lid (it is not recommended to use metal lids). Jars are convenient if the wine requires improvement and must “survive” the winter until the next harvest.

Amateur winemakers often bottle wine into plastic bottles, but such a container cannot be considered suitable for storing wine, especially long-term wine.
Wine is preserved very well in ceramic vessels, but at present such vessels can be classified as rare.

The finished wine is poured into standard wine bottles, which can be used to make racks, taking into account the fact that they must be stored in a horizontal position.

Vintage rose color Oriflame lipstick 100% color Vintage rose There are more than enough lipsticks from Oriflame in my cosmetic bag, and it all started with the culprit of the current post. I ordered it because the price was more than reasonable and the color was the most universal. And then she came to [...]
Caring for spathiphyllum at home It is not easy to create a green world in the apartment so that the plants delight you with a healthy appearance and the beauty of the flowers. Those who do not have south-facing windows are unlucky; the upper balcony is shaded. A godsend for such flower lovers will be the pictured […]
Phalaenopsis without watering. How long will it last? I suggest everyone watch phalaenopsis. In particular, how long they can survive without water. Many people think that phalaenopsis orchids need to be moisturized in every possible way: by soaking, spraying […]
How to root a lemon cutting Propagating lemons by cuttings is the main and most accessible way to propagate Pavlova lemons. In the old days, in the Bogorodsk lemonarium it was used throughout the spring and summer period - from February to August. But practice has shown that spring […]
Planting gloxinia with tubers If there is gloxinia in the gardener's home collection, planting a tuber is an obligatory step in growing this amazingly beautiful indoor plant. When, after mass flowering, an ornamental crop begins a period of dormancy, thanks to the […]

Homemade grape wine has always enjoyed considerable popularity at any table, so every winemaker, even a beginner, happily tries to create wines according to various recipes, including the classic version - from grapes.

Here is a recipe for excellent grape wine: step by step and easy at home (with photos and instructions).

Choosing the right vintage for wine

In order for grape wine (and not just homemade wine) to be truly tasty and aromatic, it is necessary to use exclusively high-quality and, most importantly, the right product to create it - wine varieties.

The berries of these varieties are characterized by their small size and density on the bunch. Below are some valuable tips from experienced winemakers regarding the selection and preparation of material for wine:

Advice. Grapes collected for making wine should not be washed, because the white coating that forms on them is nothing more than wine yeast. Rinse or even wash grapes only if a starter with high-quality wine yeast is used.

The harvested grapes should be separated from the ridges, sorted, removing all unsuitable ones, including dried and moldy berries. After preliminary selection, the berries are poured in small batches into a deep container and crushed. You can use a regular potato masher or a meat grinder. The berries should be crushed very carefully so that each of them releases all its juice.

Wine making process

Making quality wine is a fairly simple process if you strictly follow all steps of the recipe. The following is a step-by-step process for preparing wine.

Fermentation of pulp

The finished pulp or crushed berries, previously separated from the ridges, are poured into a suitable container and covered tightly with a cotton cloth. Keep in mind that the container should only be 2/3 filled with wine material.

The container with pulp is installed in a room with a strict temperature regime, falling between 18 and 23 degrees. If the temperature is above the second mark, the pulp may ferment too intensely, which will result in it turning into vinegar. If the temperature is below the first mark, the fermentation process may proceed too slowly or may not even begin at all.

So, after a few days, the fermentation process will begin and the must (juice, which is essentially young grape wine) will begin to separate from the pulp. The pulp and wort should be thoroughly mixed every day, otherwise the former will simply turn sour and the taste of the not yet finished product will be spoiled.

Preparation of grape must

5-7 days after the start of fermentation, the pulp should be thoroughly squeezed out, thus separating the wort from it. The first spin is done through a colander, the second through several layers of gauze. The purified wort should ferment. To do this, it is poured into a clean container (it should be filled only 3/4) and tightly closed with a stopper and tube.

Attention! Experienced winemakers believe that separating the pulp from the wort is a mistaken action, which will subsequently deprive the finished product of its valuable deep aroma and delicate aftertaste.

If you want to leave the pulp, you should not squeeze it out to separate the wort: just pour all the product into a new container and close it with a lid with a straw. The tube will serve as a kind of protection against oxygen: one end of it must be lowered into a container of water, the other into wine.

At this stage, it is important to control the strength and sweetness of the wine, which depend, first of all, on the fructose content in the product. You can regulate this indicator by adding this or that amount of sugar. In our area, predominantly varieties with a low fructose content grow, therefore, if sugar is not added during the preparation of wine, it will turn out dry.

The dosage of sugar is usually taken as follows: about 1 tbsp. per 1 liter of semi-finished product. Sugar is added as follows: you need to pour a little wort, heat it and pour sugar into it, stirring the mass until the latter dissolves completely. After this, pour the resulting sweet composition back into the container with wine.

Corking of semi-finished wine

At this stage, you should separate all the sediment from the finished wort (to do this, you just need to drain the wine through a straw, carefully lowering the container with water below the container with wine). Be sure to check the product for the amount of sugar: if you like dry grape wine, you won’t need sugar. Otherwise, be sure to add it to the wine and stir thoroughly.

All that remains is to pour the grape wine into a dark glass bottle and seal it loosely (this is necessary so that the remaining carbon dioxide contained in the wine finds a “way out”).

Product sterilization

This is the last, but no less important stage in making homemade wine. Some winemakers believe that this process should occur naturally: the wine must be left in a dark, cool place for several months (2-3) until the fermentation process stops, having previously installed water seals on each bottle. During this period, you should drain the wine at least several times to remove any sediment.

There is another way to sterilize wine - forced. It is necessary to loosely close the wine bottles, wrap them with cloth and place them in a container filled with water. Place a thermometer in one of the bottles and sterilize the product until its temperature rises to 60 degrees. After this, all the yeast will die and the fermentation process will stop completely. The remaining carbon dioxide will also escape through a loosely closed plug.

Afterwards, you can tightly cork the bottles and send them to a cool, dry place. A product that has gone through all the preparatory stages correctly will be able to gain all that wonderful aroma and depth of taste for which many people love grape wine so much. Good luck!