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The history of grape wine goes back more than 6 thousand years. During this time, the cooking technology has changed several times, and many recipes have been invented. Today, every housewife who has a vineyard on her property tries to make homemade wine from grape juice, because this tasty and healthy alcoholic drink will surely come in handy at the table. We’ll talk about how to properly prepare such a natural product with your own hands at home later in the section.
Popular grape wine recipes
The grapes were given by nature itself in order to make wines from them: the berries harmoniously combine sweetness and light sourness. Their juiciness allows you to get the purest juice with a minimum amount of cake. Grape juice ferments quickly enough, resulting in a very tasty and light alcoholic drink.
The simplest grape wine recipe
To make a great, light wine, you only need two ingredients: freshly squeezed grape juice and sugar. So, for 10 kg of juice you will need to add 3 kg of granulated sugar.The process of making grape wine is simple, but will take a lot of time:
- Mix grape juice with sugar in a large container, then wait until the crystals dissolve.
- Pour the sweet grape juice into three-liter jars, leaving some free space in the containers.
- Put a rubber medical glove on the neck of each jar, previously pierced with a needle in several places. You can replace the glove with a special lid with a water seal.
- The junction of the glass and the glove at the neck of the jar must be sealed with plasticine or tape to prevent oxygen from getting inside the container.
- Under room conditions, the juice will soon begin to ferment, releasing carbon dioxide and forming foam. A swollen glove will indicate fermentation.
- After about 5 weeks, the rubber glove on the jar will deflate, which means the fermentation process is complete.
- Pour the finished wine into pre-sterilized bottles. It is important to ensure that no foam or sediment gets into the clean bottle.
- Bottles of grape wine are hermetically sealed with a cork and sent to the cellar for subsequent storage.
The proposed recipe is a classic, and the described preparation process is the basis of winemaking, so if you decide to prepare an alcoholic drink from grape juice, you must be sure to familiarize yourself with the proposed fermentation rules.
You can make light grape wine from sour berries by adding water. This recipe is clearly demonstrated in the video:
Fortified wine made from grape juice
For some winemakers, an important criterion is the strength of the resulting product. This figure, of course, can be increased by adding alcohol, but this will not be entirely competent and correct.Experienced winemakers know that the degree of wine needs to be increased with sugar. After all, when yeast processes sugar, it emits not only carbon dioxide, but also alcohol.
Prepare fortified grape wine can be done as follows:
- Sort the grapes, removing all spoiled or rotten berries. There is no need to wash the bunches, since there are yeast bacteria on the surface of the grapes that will directly participate in the process of making wine.
- All berries must be crushed with a masher or by hand. If desired, you can remove the seeds from the berries, since they will reflect a slight bitterness in the finished wine.
- If the seeds are left in the pulp for making wine, then care must be taken to maintain their integrity. Crushed seeds will be a source of tannins, which are very bitter.
- Transfer the grated grapes into an enamel or glass container. The neck of the container should be covered with gauze.
- In a dark place at room temperature, the grapes will begin to ferment within a day. Pure juice will settle down, and the pulp will rise above the juice in a thick cap. It needs to be removed.
- The optimal temperature for fermentation is +15-+250C. Temperatures below the marked limits cause the juice to sour; at temperatures above the indicated values, the yeast dies.
- Within a day, active fermentation of grape juice will be observed. At this time you need to add the first portion of sugar (150-200 g per 1 liter of juice).
- Cover the container with a rubber glove and leave for 4-5 weeks to ferment.
- When the yeast has processed all the sugar, carbon dioxide will no longer be released and the glove will deflate.At this time, you need to add another 50 g of sugar for every 1 liter of wort.
- Sugar must be added regularly until the wine is consistently sweet. This will mean that the alcohol concentration is close to 15% and the yeast died under such conditions.
- For a month, grape alcohol must be infused under a glove for further fermentation, then removed from the sediment and poured into sterilized bottles. Seal the containers tightly and store them.
Information on how to properly remove wine from sediment can be found in the video:
This recipe reflects in as much detail as possible all the conditions and rules for preparing homemade grape wine. By adhering to them, even a novice winemaker will be able to get high-quality, natural fortified wine from grapes.
Homemade wine from purchased juice
Most city residents do not have their own vineyard and making wine from freshly purchased grapes is very expensive, since the preparation process generates a large amount of waste, and the price of such raw materials is high. In this case, you can make grape wine from ready-made juice, which is sold in the nearest store.
To prepare homemade wine according to the proposed recipe, you will need 1 liter of grape juice, 200 g of sugar and 4 grams of wine yeast. From such a set of products, you can get excellent natural wine in 2 months by performing simple manipulations.
You can make wine from ready-made, purchased grape juice as follows:
- pour the juice into a glass bottle or jar;
- dissolve the yeast in a small amount of warm juice or water;
- when the yeast begins to “walk”, the liquid must be carefully poured into the container with the juice;
- add sugar to the wort;
- cover the container with a glove or a lid with a water seal;
- infuse the juice in a dark and warm room;
- when the juice stops fermenting, it can be poured into a sterilized bottle and sealed hermetically, and then sent for storage.
This recipe can be a real find for a novice housewife who does not have her own vineyard, but wants to surprise her family and friends with her wine-making abilities.
Original grape wine recipes
A separate niche in winemaking is occupied by wines prepared with the addition of spices. Some traditional and quite affordable seasonings can make a stunningly aromatic wine with a unique taste and blend. There is a wide variety of such recipes. We will try to briefly describe how to make wine with amazing taste from homemade grape juice:
Italian wine
This recipe combines several different spices and non-standard winemaking products. So, one recipe will require 10 liters of fresh grape juice, 50 g of ground cinnamon, 30-35 g of cloves. The unique ingredients in the recipe are wormwood roots (7 g), ginger (5 g) and hot capsicum (4 g). The excellent flavor is also based on the use of nutmeg (5 g). Finding all the products listed is not at all difficult by looking at the nearest supermarket. You can find wormwood at the pharmacy. At the same time, the combination of products allows you to get an amazing, unparalleled Italian wine.
It’s quite simple to prepare even for a novice winemaker:
- Lightly dry the spices in a preheated oven. Crush them and pour them into a fabric bag.
- Pour grape juice into a barrel or glass container.
- Dip a tied bag of spices into the juice.
- Cover the juice with a lid with a water seal and let it sit for several weeks until the end of fermentation.
- Remove the finished wine from the sediment and pour into glass bottles, closing them tightly.
You can use dark and light grape varieties in the recipe. As a result of preparation, you will obtain dry wine with an amazing aroma. A slightly less aromatic grape wine is also obtained if you use only grape juice and cloves. The principle of preparing such wine is similar to the technology proposed above.
Grape wine with lemon
The following recipe is unique. Its taste combines the pleasant aroma of grapes and lemon, as well as notes of fragrant herbs. To prepare this wine you will need 10 liters of grape juice, the zest of one lemon, a little mint and lemon balm.
The process of making wine can be briefly described by the following sequence of actions:
- Peel the lemon. Dry the zest, chop it, put it in a fabric bag.
- Place the lemon zest in a container with grape juice.
- Close the wine with a water seal for successful fermentation.
- When the wine has fermented, add mint and lemon balm and sugar to taste.
- Let the wine steep for a month, then pour it into glass bottles and put it in storage for further storage.
Grape wine with the addition of mint, lemon zest and lemon balm will probably remain a taste mystery for tasters.
Grape wine with apple flavor
Winemakers practice making apple and grape wine, but few manage to combine these two products in one alcoholic drink.And the recipe for making grape wine with apple flavor is very simple:
- You need to put several apples cut in half into the fermenting grape juice.
- After a few days, the apples need to be removed from the grape must and replaced with new, fresh fruit.
- Change apples until the fermentation process has stopped.
Most of the proposed original recipes do not involve the use of sugar. This means that the finished product will contain sourness and a low percentage of alcohol. In general, wines with added spices and herbs are very beneficial and can be used for medicinal purposes.
Conclusion
When grapes are ripening in the garden, you must take care not only of preparing compotes or jam, but also of making wine. It will certainly come in handy even in non-drinking families, complementing various dishes on the festive table and replacing other alcohol for visiting guests. Grape wine turns out to be surprisingly light and at the same time healthy. To prepare it, you can choose a classic or a very original recipe. In any case, loved ones will appreciate the efforts and the amazing blend of natural wine prepared with love.
