Little secrets of winemaking

Winemaking is an art in which secrets take years to learn, but anyone can make homemade grape wine. It is clear that it will not be a masterpiece worthy of world exhibitions, but if you follow the instructions, the taste of homemade beverages will be better than many store-bought alternatives.

How to make wine at home?

There are a few nuances that you should pay attention to. Berries and other fruits are collected in dry sunny weather. Before this, it should not rain for a couple of days.

Regardless of which recipe you choose, the fruit must be ripe. Unripe fruit will ruin the taste. Fallen fruit should not be used. Processing of fruit should be carried out in 2 days, then the fruit becomes unusable.

The fruit is washed, peeled, crushed, placed in a container so that ¾ of the volume is occupied. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.

After the fermentation begins, it is necessary to squeeze the juice. It is filtered using gauze while pouring from one container to another a couple of times. This is done to oxygenate the juice.

The juice is then poured into fermentation containers. It can be either a bottle or a barrel.

What to store the wine in?

Owners of home vineyards often wonder: how to properly store homemade wine? It is necessary to know such nuances in order to preserve the aromatic and rich taste of the drink. It is known that grape wines are among those drinks that breathe, fade and age. Before storing them, you should prepare the right container: glass bottles or oak barrels. Of course, the best tank for aging homemade wine is an oak barrel. This is a universally recognized fact that requires no further proof.

Nowadays, it is easy to buy an oak barrel. It can be done by anyone. There are hundreds of such containers for sale in online and offline stores. Barrels and jugs of any desired volume are available, but you have to choose them carefully.

What you need to keep in mind

Choose quality fruit. Simple grapes from a supermarket or other berries will not make good wine. Before you get the juice, you should crush the fruit. Soft berries are crushed with a pestle.

The taste of the juice depends on the acidity. Additional processing is not required for drinks from grapes, some varieties of apples, and pears. In other cases, the acidity will have to be reduced.

It is recommended to squeeze berries with a special press of linen or kapron cloth. It is important to remove the sediment in time! The wine must be drained within two weeks after fermentation.

No metal containers! Wash the pot thoroughly with hot and then cold water and baking soda. This way you will get rid of unpleasant odors.

If you do not wash the berries, the yeast that is on them is enough to carry out the fermentation process. If after a week the process has not gone well, you should add more yeast.

Before you start making wine, take care of all the containers and equipment you use. To avoid contaminating the juice with pathogens, such as mold, the containers must be perfectly clean and dry. Wood barrels, bottles, buckets can be fumigated with sulfur, as it is done in the industry, or rinsed with boiling water, then wiped with a dry cloth.