Why wine can turn into vinegar, how to identify and fix it
People who are engaged in the creation of aromatic wine do not become professional winemakers right away. Sometimes you need to spend more than a dozen years to prepare a high-quality and tasty wine drink. Newbies who decide to do this for the first time often encounter the fact that the created drink begins to smell like vinegar. To prevent this from happening, you need to figure out in advance why wine sometimes turns into vinegar.
Why is the wine sour
There are several main reasons why vinegar is obtained from a wine product. These include the following:
- The appearance of bacteria in the liquid. More often than not, an alcoholic drink turns into vinegar if harmful bacteria appear in it. Therefore, experts who have been making wine for many years advise keeping it in pre-sterilized jars. This increases the shelf life at times.
- Unsuitable storage conditions. Sometimes a grape drink starts to decay if it is not properly stored. Most often this happens if the liquid is in a too warm room for a long time, where the temperature does not drop below twenty degrees Celsius.
- The content of a large amount of oxygen in containers where fermentation takes place. If the cooked wine begins to smell like vinegar, it may not ferment properly.
How to determine it
People who are going to seriously tackle the creation of a grape alcoholic drink should know how to distinguish sour wine from normal wine.
Finding out that wine turns into vinegar is quite simple, and you can do this even without an alcohol meter. The souring process is most often determined by the taste of the liquid and by its unpleasant odor. Wine that starts to spoil smells bad and tastes sour. Over time, it gives off a little vinegar. In this case, the acidity of the taste increases several times. Therefore, to check whether a drink is sour or not, it is enough to smell it and check its taste. During the check, it is recommended to drink no more than 2-3 sips, since a spoiled drink can negatively affect your well-being.
How to fix spoiled wine
Many are interested in whether it is possible to save a wine drink on their own if it has begun to sour. This can be done only in the first forty-eight hours after the start of the souring procedure.
However, experienced winemakers recommend doing this in the first hours, as this increases the likelihood of restoring the taste of the wine.
There are several ways to get rid of the unpleasant vinegar odor.However, the most effective method is pasteurization, which is performed in several stages:
- first you need to remove the gray film that appears on the surface;
- distill the liquid into clean, sterilized containers;
- place the filled container in a pot of water;
- put a container with bottles on a gas stove and warm up for half an hour;
- move the vat with filled bottles to a room with an air temperature of about 9-10 degrees.
Prevention measures
There are some helpful tips to help you avoid turning a wine drink into vinegar:
- Prepare grape liquid only from high-quality berries. Grapes must be sorted in advance to get rid of rotten and spoiled berries.
- Sterilize the dishes. Experts advise to pre-sterilize the container in which the drink will ferment and be stored in the future.
- The wine cap should be dipped in the wort periodically. This is done so that the drink does not start to spoil.
- Use quality lids. During the fermentation process, you need to use good water locks, which will prevent air from entering the containers.
Can you make vinegar from sour wine?
Sometimes time passes quickly, and people do not have time to save the wine, which has begun to turn sour. In this case, you can simply throw away the spoiled drink or make vinegar from it, which is often used by people in everyday life. The vinegar liquid made from wine turns out to be very aromatic and therefore it is added to various dishes to add a little piquancy to their taste.
To prepare wine vinegar, containers of liquid are opened and left open for 2-3 weeks. At the same time, the drink should be infused at a temperature of at least 20-25 degrees above zero. Under such conditions, the liquid will quickly turn sour and turn into vinegar.
Methods of using tartaric acetic acid
If during fermentation something went wrong and acetic acid turned out instead of wine, you should not be upset, since it can also be used. Most often people use it in:
- The culinary field. Many housewives and professional chefs use acid in their cooking. On its basis, aromatic sauces are made, which in the future are added to vegetable salads. Also, this vinegar is used for marinating meat products or fish.
- Life. Spoiled young wine, which began to sour, can be used in everyday life. For example, it easily removes dirt from clothes or dishes. Also, this liquid is used to wash things to make the fabric softer.
Is it okay to drink wine that has turned into vinegar
Spoiled and sour wine has lost everything useful, because of which it could be drunk.
Therefore, if he has a vinegar taste, it is recommended to refrain from drinking such a drink.
Conclusion
People who have never been involved in the manufacture of wine drinks are often faced with the fact that they begin to smell like vinegar. To avoid such a problem, you need to familiarize yourself with the prevention of its occurrence and with the methods of restoring sour wine.
