Cherry wine at home: a simple recipe

Content

1 Simple classic recipe
2 Dry homemade cherry wine
3 Frozen berry wine

Home winemaking has always been considered a special art, into the mysteries of which only select or especially passionate lovers of alcoholic beverages can be initiated. Meanwhile, from the many fruits and berries that grow in abundance in every garden plot, you can always make delicious homemade wine on your own. And it will be in no way inferior in taste to many store-bought drinks, and in terms of usefulness it will be many times superior to them.

Cherries can be found almost everywhere, and in harvest years, many housewives rack their brains over how best to process the unprecedented amount of berries. But making wine from cherries at home is much easier than even from traditional grapes.

Attention! You should even think about making homemade wine from cherries if you are tired of removing the seeds from the berries. Because the most delicious wine is made from cherries with pits.

Experts recommend practicing with cherries for those who are starting to master the fascinating process of winemaking for the first time. It produces a thick dark red drink with a wonderful aroma and wonderful rich taste. In addition, homemade cherry wine is quite easy to ferment and clarify.

Simple classic recipe

Those who are starting to make homemade wine for the first time need to know some secrets and nuances that will allow them to understand the process of making wine and get a tasty, aromatic and healthy drink.

Features of making homemade wine

Of course, to make real wine at home, you need to be patient, because it infuses from several months to a year or more. Experienced winemakers know that the longer a wine is aged, the more the aroma and taste of the berries from which it is made are revealed.

Moreover, real homemade wine rarely uses additives in the form of yeast, so the benefits of this drink can hardly be overestimated. How can the fermentation process occur if only berries, water and sugar are used? The fact is that on the surface of freshly picked berries there is always an abundance of so-called natural wild yeast, which allows fermentation to occur naturally.

Important! It is for this reason that you should never wash cherries before using them for winemaking.

It is also better not to pick cherries for winemaking after heavy heavy rains.

But the dust on the cherries should not bother you. After all, wine perfectly clarifies itself during the production process.

Almost any variety of cherry is suitable for homemade wine, although the most beautiful wine will be made from dark varieties of cherries. The berry must be fully ripe - wine from overripe cherries will not be as aromatic and tasty. And using unripe cherries, you risk getting a too sour drink.

The process of making cherry wine has one more feature.Berries have relatively little sugar and a lot of acid, so to get a real wine bouquet, you always add some water to the berries and increase the sugar content. In addition, adding water is necessary to soften the cherry berries, since due to their comparative density, it is quite difficult to squeeze the wort from one berry pulp.

However, there are recipes for dry natural cherry wine at home, but the requirements for the quality of the berries in this case must be the highest.

Advice! But if you decide to make wine from cherries, the sugar content in this berry is so high that to obtain high-quality wine, on the contrary, you will have to add citric acid.

Wine made from cherries with pits is slightly tart, with a slight aftertaste of bitter almonds. If you don’t like this taste in wines, you can remove the pits from the cherries before using them in wine.

Main stages of manufacturing

Below is a fairly simple recipe for making cherry wine at home, although some aspects may seem complicated for beginners.

So, you need to prepare:

5-6 liters of cherries with pits;
10 liters of purified water;
3-4 kg of granulated sugar.

First of all, sort through the cherries, removing twigs, leaves, and any damaged or softened berries.

For fermentation, you can use any glassware, food-grade plastic or enamel. A lid is required. Place the sorted cherries into a container of a suitable size with a neck wide enough so that your hand can easily fit in, such as a bucket. Then gently mash the berries with your hands so as not to damage the seeds, otherwise there may be bitterness in the wine.

Comment! It is for this reason that it is not recommended to use sharp kitchen utensils, such as a blender and others, to mash cherries.

Now the berry mass can be filled with warm water, added the amount of sugar required according to the recipe and stir well using a clean wooden stick. Then cover with a lid and place in a dark place with a temperature of about +20°+22°C.

Rapid fermentation begins the very next day and from this moment it is necessary to open the container with cherries several times a day and mix the foam cap that forms on the surface with the rest of the mass. These actions must be performed within 4-5 days. Then we leave the fermented liquid alone for the same period until foam stops forming on the surface.

This recipe does not use a water seal, we will talk about this a little later, so in the next step, carefully, without stirring, use a colander to collect all the cherries at the top of the liquid and remove them, squeezing them lightly with your hands.

Attention! After all the “top” berries have been removed, close the container with a lid and leave for another 5 days for “bottom” fermentation.

When you open the lid on days 5-7, you will see a small amount of foam on the surface, and all the pulp should sink to the bottom as sediment. At this stage it is necessary to drain the wine from the sediment. To carry out this procedure, prepare another clean container and a long transparent hose. Having placed the container with the wort higher, place one end of the hose inside, without bringing it to the bottom with sediment, and from the other end, using the method of communicating vessels, suck in air until wine flows out of it. After which the end of the hose is immediately placed in a clean vessel.

Drain, thus all the wine liquid, pour out the remaining grounds.And close the drained wine with a lid again and transfer it to a dark and cool room with a temperature of about +10°+12°C.

After 10-12 days, the wine must again be drained from the sediment, but this time filtered through a sieve or cheesecloth into glass bottles. It is worth closing the bottles with loose lids, as the fermentation process may continue. While it is still ongoing, that is, foam with sediment appears, every 10-12 days it is necessary to pour the wine through a sieve into a clean container.

After the fermentation process has stopped, when bubbles stop forming, the bottles can be sealed with airtight lids and stored in a cellar or refrigerator.

Comment! Wine prepared according to this recipe can be consumed immediately after the fermentation process is completed, but over time its taste only improves.

Recipe using a water seal

Traditionally, a water seal is used to make homemade wine. What is it, what is it for, and how to make it yourself? It is known that during the fermentation process a large amount of carbon dioxide and alcohol is released. And when oxygen enters, the activity of microorganisms is activated, which convert wine alcohol into acetic acid. But if the fermentation container is tightly closed, thus protecting it from oxygen, then due to the large amount of carbon dioxide released, the pressure inside the container may increase so much that the walls of the container cannot withstand it.

Therefore, a water seal is often used - which is a kind of valve that allows carbon dioxide to be removed, but at the same time prevents oxygen from entering the fermentation tank.

In the recipe described above, a water seal was dispensed with, since during the period of intense fermentation, a layer of carbon dioxide forms between the wort and the lid, which acts as a plug, preventing oxygen from penetrating inside.

Advice! For beginners in winemaking, it is advisable to begin their experiments after gaining some experience, and first still use a water seal, especially since its design is very simple.

In its most traditional form, it is enough to use a lid with a hole in it for a small transparent tube, which is sealed tightly so that its end does not touch the wort. The other end is lowered from the outside into a glass of water. When carbon dioxide is released, many bubbles appear in the water. But the cessation of fermentation can be accurately determined by the calmness of the surface of the water in the glass.

Another common method is to use an ordinary surgical glove, which is put on the container with the wort and do not forget to additionally secure it with tape or an elastic band. A hole is pierced in one of the fingers to allow gases to escape. As the fermentation process begins, the glove inflates strongly and deflates when the process ends. This serves as a signal that the wine can be poured into separate containers.

In general, all steps when using a water seal or glove are exactly the same as in the recipe described above. But when the first 5 days of rapid fermentation have elapsed, the cherry wort is filtered, the pulp is squeezed out, and at this moment a water seal is installed. The only difference, perhaps, is that when using a water seal, the sugar is not added all at once, but is broken into portions. At the first moment, add approximately 1/3 of the total amount prescribed according to the recipe. At the moment of squeezing out the cherry pulp, add another 1/3 of the sugar.The remaining sugar is added after another 5 days and all this time the wort should ferment at a temperature of about +20°C.

Subsequently, the wine is left to ferment with a water seal for about 1-2 months. When a large layer of sediment accumulates, the cherry wine is filtered and poured into a clean container, just as in the previous recipe.

Dry homemade cherry wine

One of the most delicious and easy to prepare recipes for homemade cherry wine, even without adding water.

Comment! The resulting dry natural wine is popularly called cherry. This wine is especially loved by women for its sweetness, which is uncharacteristic of dry wine.

To make it, use a bucket of fresh cherries with pits (10 liters) and 4 kg of granulated sugar.

Cherries are sprinkled with sugar, placed in a specially prepared container and placed in a sunny place to ferment for a month to a month and a half. It is advisable to cover the neck with gauze and an elastic band to prevent insects.

After this period, the liquid is filtered into another container through cheesecloth, and the cherry berries are ground on a sieve and the berry pulp is also added to the wort. The wort is kept in the sun for another 4-5 days and again filtered through cheesecloth.

The entire process of making cherry wood at home with a water seal is clearly shown in the video:

The resulting cherry drink is kept in the usual place at a temperature of about 20°C for another two weeks until the end of fermentation. From this moment on, dry wine can already be placed on the table.

Frozen berry wine

With a large cherry harvest, it has become fashionable to freeze the berries for the winter. Indeed, after defrosting, cherries are quite suitable for compote, jam and even for making wine.After all, wine made from frozen cherries at home is practically no different from wine made from fresh cherries.

Attention! But there are no natural yeasts on the berries anymore, so you need to use ready-made wine yeast.

Well, for fans of everything natural, we offer a recipe in which dried raisins are used as yeast at home.

What do you need:

Frozen cherries – 5 kg;
Purified water – 3 l;
Sugar – 1.5 kg;
Raisins – 100 grams.

To begin with, the cherries must be allowed to completely thaw at room temperature. Then transfer them to an enamel or plastic container, mash well, add water, sugar and raisins. Mix everything thoroughly, cover with a lid and place in a warm place for 8-10 days. During vigorous fermentation, which will continue throughout this time, stir the contents of the container every day. Then strain the wine into a clean container and place a water seal for quiet fermentation.

After about 1.5 months, strain the wine again, bottle it and place it in a cool, dark room to mature.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the process of making wine from cherries. Perhaps the most important thing is the patience that will be needed to wait for the result - tasty and healthy homemade wine, which you will not be ashamed to treat your guests to during any celebration.