My fruit and berry winemaking

At the request of our distinguished colleagues, I will give here the general principles of making wine and answer all questions, if any.

So let's start with the raw materials. I'll make a reservation right away that I didn't make wine from everything that grows in our country. There were also bad options. The apple one turned out to be tasteless, and it didn't want to lighten. Well, don't, Calvados did.

The main raw material for me is cherry. Then, in descending order: plum, currant, raspberry and blackberry. The technology is the same, it differs only in nuances. I take the berries clean, ripe, without rot. Do not wash, especially if fermented with wild yeast. I don't really care about this, I use CKD for red grape wines. Anticipating objections, I will explain. Yeast is not active on all berries, after rain they are almost absent, along with them unwanted, even very harmful microorganisms are necessarily present. Laboratory yeast wins everyone and makes the result predictable.

First, the berries should be mashed. I don’t bother with bones, the devil is not so scary. In the short time that maceration takes place, nothing will have time to turn into the wort. I take a test for acidity from mashed berries. This is of great importance, since it needs to be normalized to 6-8 g per liter of future wine. I do the rationing after straining the pulp. In the meantime, I add yeast dilution at the rate of about 5 g of dry yeast per 20 liters of future wine. The wort ferments on the pulp for 5-7 days. If you want more tart, you can take longer.

Now about the water. I determine the amount of water based on acidity. Then I take a sample of the wort and dilute it according to the calculation. If you are satisfied with the richness of the wort, then rinse the pulp with the calculated amount and mix the two plums. If the diluted wort has a watery, unsaturated taste, then I partially quench the excess acid with water, and neutralize the rest with chalk. Pure building chalk does not enter into other reactions with wine components and does not affect the taste. But the amount of chalk must be accurately calculated. All of these formulas are included in the titration kit for winemakers. This stage ends with the installation of a water seal.

Then the sugar is added step by step. For the wine to win well and keep well and mature, you need about 200-250 g of sugar per liter. I add sugar in 4-5 doses. So you can catch it when the yeast has stopped working and the wine is won dry.

After that, I begin to drain from the sediment using a siphon. In this case, it is necessary to keep the containers with wine full, refilling them as needed. When the wine has cleared enough (I have it after 4-7 overflows), I fill the bottles as fully as possible, close them tightly with a lid, and it is better to leave them under a water seal, and put them in the basement. Can be bottled after a few months. I used to use vodka bottles, rolling up screw caps, but I have been using cork caps for about 10 years. In my experience and from the literature I have read, berry wine is less stable than grape wine. Therefore, I pasteurize it in bottles. I heat bottles with wine in a water bath to 60 * and hold for 20-30 minutes. Then I bottle it up.

All. All that remains is to stick the labels and drink with pleasure in good company. Pasteurized currant wine was kept for at most 5 years, then it just ended, and cherry wine has been standing for 7 years. Unfortunately, it is constantly impossible to make berry wine. There is no garden of our own, but it is expensive to buy. The grapes in our area are much more affordable and the wine is better. But, for a change, sometimes I also make berry.
Good wines and a pleasant drink in good company.

Thank you for taking the time to share your information with us! :)Very interesting!
I will bookmark, I will wait for the harvest of berries and fruits.

There was experience of pasteurization several years ago, on small batches of different wines (black currant, red grapes, plum, white grapes, apple). Temperature 60 gr., Time 20-25 minutes. Red wines have significantly reduced their taste, whites have practically become impersonal. And pasteurization and natural sparkling wines are generally incompatible.

Dear Vita. No need to juggle. I have not written anything about Soviet chatterboxes and about sparkling, which I myself do not make. If something did not work out for you, this does not mean that the method is bad. I only write about what has been checked repeatedly.

Leonid, I never jerked. It's you, after all, in my topic, wine technology, you unsubscribed that the wine needs to be pasteurized, and it was there that the technology of sparkling currant wine was given. Therefore, in your topic, I just clarified this point. And about pasteurization, I just expressed my opinion. And it did not mean that the experiment was not successful, but just that this method of processing wine does not suit me, it does not meet my taste. This forum is so good that you can share the nuances. And the people, already knowing all the nuances, choose what they like. Any recipe topic has a discussion. And neither mine nor your opinion is the ultimate truth. We are all different - that is why we are good.

Now everything fell into place. You have not read it from me, I have not read it from you, hence the misunderstanding. Excuse me.