How best to sweeten homemade grape wine, features and a classic recipe
When making homemade wine, there are many nuances. Starting from the technology itself and ending with the fact that in the end the alcohol does not taste as we would like. Very often the drink must be additionally sweetened. How to sweeten ready-made homemade grape wine so that it does not turn out sour.
Which wine is considered sweet?
There are several varieties of wine, depending on the sugar content. The drink can be dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet. You can determine which of the species it belongs to by the content of sugar in the composition. In sweet wines, the sugar content is at least 45 g / l.
Cooking features
Homemade wine can be made from any grape variety. The varieties can even be mixed together or added with additional berries and fruits. The bunches are harvested in late September or early October, when frost hits. In frozen grapes, the sugar content is higher. The main thing is to have dry and sunny weather during the collection.
After the bunches have been collected, they are sorted out, the fruits with mold are thrown away. Then they immediately start cooking. The main thing is not to wash the raw materials used before starting the process. The skins of grapes, fruits and berries contain wild yeast, due to which the fermentation process takes place.
The containers in which the drink will ferment must be perfectly clean. You can use wooden barrels or large glass bottles.
Ingredient selection rules
For the preparation of alcohol, you can use any fruits and berries of any kind. The varieties can even be combined. Thanks to this, you can get unusual tastes of the drink.
You can use overripe fruits, but not unripe ones. When using unripe fruits, fermentation will not take place as actively.
In addition to fruits and berries, cooking will require sugar, water, raisins. In some cases, it is necessary to use wine yeast if fermentation does not start for a long time.
The classic recipe for dessert wine
It only takes two ingredients to cook.
What ingredients are required:
- grapes of any varieties (or other berries);
- granulated sugar.
How to cook at home:
- In order for the fermentation process to take place, the berries are not washed.
- Put the bunches in a large enamel bowl, crush them with your hands or with a crush, to get a lot of juice.
- Then the container must be covered with gauze and removed to a warm, dark room for 4-5 days. Twice a day, the mass must be stirred with a wooden spatula.
- After the grapes begin to rise, squeeze the juice through cheesecloth. Pour it into jars and add granulated sugar to make the wine sweeter.
- After a while, the liquid should become lighter, and the bubbles will stop appearing, you can gently filter the drink and close it with a cork. The main thing is that the yeast does not end up in clean bottles.
- Place bottles in a cool place for about 1 month. During this month, the drink must be poured into clean bottles three times to separate it from the sediment.
When the wine is ready, it is recommended to store it in a cool place, for example, in the refrigerator, or you can empty the bottles into the cellar.
How to sweeten the finished drink if it turns out to be sour?
Quite often, if the proportions were not correctly calculated, the drink turns out to be sour and you have to add additional sugar to it. In order to make a sweet wine, you need to add sweetener at one of the stages of its preparation. This is best done when the wine stops fermenting and the stage of separation of the drink from the sediment begins. You can try it, and if it turns out sour, sweeten it. Mix well and leave to infuse for a few more weeks.
How to sweeten dry wine
If the drink turned out to be very sour, the question immediately arises of how to make it sweeter and more pleasant to the taste. The drink can turn out to be too sour, not only due to non-compliance with the proportions, but also due to the characteristics of the variety of grapes used. If a variety with a low sugar content is used, then the drink from it will not turn out sweet.
Some people believe that if you leave the drink to infuse for a long time, then over time it will acquire a sweet taste. But it can only become more transparent or lighter, but it still will not acquire sweetness. In this case, you will have to resort to additional measures.
You can add sugar already at the stage when the alcohol is completely ready and it is planned to bottle the drink. Then it must be mixed thoroughly and left for several more weeks. This will make the wine quite sweet, but not very strong.
It should be borne in mind that dry wine tastes and should be sour. This is within the normal range, so you should not pour as much sugar into it as possible, if only the drink is sweet. So you can only spoil it.
