TOP 3 recipes for making semi-sweet grape wine at home
Getting a high-quality alcoholic drink at home is not easy, it needs to be learned. If you follow the technology, making a semi-sweet grape wine is possible at home and for a novice winemaker. If the recipe is followed, the drink may turn out better than in the store. Semisweet is one of the most popular homemade wines. The drink goes well with almost all dishes.
Features of creation
Semi-sweet wine has a mild taste and delicate aroma. It can be made from any grape variety. Winemakers with experience identify several of the most suitable: Riesling, Rkatseteli, Sapevari, Feteasca, Arevik, Lydia, Muscat, Cabernet Sauvignon, Isabella.
This semi-sweet drink contains a small amount of sugar - up to 12%; it is served not only with fish, meat, but also with desserts and fruits.
For the manufacture you will need grapes, sugar, add water. Several cooking features:
- To prevent the product from turning into vinegar, pasteurization is needed. It will exclude the multiplication of microorganisms, protect the drink from souring.
- The fruits are kept until fully ripe in order to accumulate enough glucose in them.
- A yeast film forms on top, thanks to which the fermentation of the product will be correct.
The containers for the future drink are used clean and dry. It is allowed to smoke them with sulfur in order to exclude the ingress of microorganisms.
Cooking methods
There are two ways to obtain a homemade alcoholic beverage.
From juice and dry wine
First, wine is prepared, sealed in bottles. The juice is squeezed out separately, poured and pasteurized at 85%, left for storage. For a semi-sweet drink, mix two products in a ratio of 7: 3.
For example - 700 ml of wine and 300 ml of juice. Sugar there is about 6%, alcohol - 8.5%. For a sweeter taste, instead of juice, add 100 g of honey per liter of wine if desired. Drink the drink prepared in this way immediately.
Method with pasteurization
It will require grapes with a sugar content of at least 23%. Actions:
- Squeeze the juice from the grapes, pour into a clean container, and stand for 12 hours in a cool place.
- Then it is poured into a new container through a siphon so that the sediment remains in the old container, and set for fermentation. In this case, the air temperature is set no more than 15 FROM.
- After seven days, you need to taste the wine and not miss the moment when there will be an optimal amount of sugar for the drink to be pleasant.
- Then stop fermentation by heating at 80 FROM.
- Before the procedure, drain the wine from the sediment, pour, seal.
- Let bottles with a capacity of 10 liters stand for 50 minutes, then remove from the water and leave for 24 hours. Then take it to the cellar for 2 months.
When the drink brightens, it is poured, corked with clean steamed corks, they are tied with parchment. Then pasteurized again at a temperature of +72 C, containers of 0.5 liters are kept for 25 minutes. After cooling down, it is allowed to taste the wine. Store at +10 C, no more.
Rules for choosing the main ingredients
Before preparing a drink, you should know the basic rules. Bunches removed from the vine are not washed, even if they are dusty. After all, there is live yeast on their surface. There is no need to pick grapes immediately after the rain; you need to wait a few days.
To obtain a high-quality alcoholic beverage, the bunches must be dry, without moisture drops. The berries are separated from the branches, dry, discarded with mold. The berries are thoroughly kneaded, do it in portions. Each is poured into prepared dishes.
Experts advise that if the grapes are harvested in cold weather, let them stand at room temperature for several hours.
How to make semi-sweet grape wine
There are many recipes for making an alcoholic drink, several of the most popular are distinguished.
Simple recipe
To make an alcoholic drink at home, it is better to take artesian water or defend tap water. The technology is almost the same as for the dry beverage. Ingredients:
- berries - 10 kg;
- water - 600 ml;
- granulated sugar - 1 kg.
Clean the collected bunches of debris. Then separate the grapes from the brushes, crush them, preferably with your hands, you can use a wooden crush. Do not allow berries to come into contact with metal utensils. Put the resulting mass in a bulky dish, ideally in an oak barrel, cover with a clean cloth, put in a room where the temperature is + 25 C. Leave for 5 days, stir regularly with a wooden stick 1-2 times a day.
After a while, drain the juice into a separate container. Pour crushed berries without juice with peel with water, add sugar and leave for 3 days. Then mix both liquids in one bowl and install a water valve to remove carbon dioxide. For this, they use factory, ready-made water locks or their own homemade design
After three weeks, when fermentation is complete, drain from the sediment. Pour the liquid into bottles, then pasteurize. Heat the water in a saucepan to +60 C, put a grate on the bottom and put bottles. Withstand them for 20 minutes. Then take out and cool.
The wine still needs to mature for a month or two.
From Rkatsiteli grapes
Making wine from this variety is characterized by a large amount of sugar. Rkatsiteli has a tough taste, there is little glucose, but the product is stored longer. You will need:
- Rcaticeli - 40 kg;
- water - 8 l;
- sugar - 7.5 kg.
Squeeze the berries, pour into a clean container, leave for 4-5 days. During this time, mix several times. Then drain the juice into a separate bowl. Dissolve sugar in water, add pulp. Let it stand for another 5 days. Then pour the juice and pulp into one container. Leave for the fermentation procedure for at least a month, installing a wine water seal. Then bottle it.
Isabella variety
Isabella's fruits reach maturity at the end of October. To form a sufficient amount of sugar, the grapes are harvested after another week. Ingredients for a semi-sweet drink:
- grapes - 20 kg;
- sugar - 2-4 kg;
- water - 0.5-0.7 liters.
Place the crushed berries and squeezed juice in a sterile container with a wide neck. After 4 days, when fermentation has just begun, strain the juice and squeeze the pulp through a two-layer cheesecloth.
Pour half of the sugar into the juice and pour into a fermentation vessel. Fit the water seal cover tightly. Put the future wine in a dark place with a temperature of + 18 ... + 28 C. After 5 days, add the rest of the sugar.When fermentation takes place, try and, if necessary, add more sugar. Transfer to another container without affecting the sediment, you can use a special filter tube. Place in basement for 3 months aging. Then bottle it.
How and how much can you store
It is better to store wine in glass, it is possible in plastic bottles. They should be cleaned from food and washed thoroughly, without any foreign odors. Then the containers are disinfected using a solution of iodine and water in a ratio of 1: 2500. The lids are also soaked in the solution for an hour.
The disinfectant is drained and the bottles are filled with wine, not reaching the neck 1-2 cm. The closed container is lowered into the basement and kept in an upright position. A drink is tasted every 2 weeks.
The room temperature is desirable + 14 ... + 16 C for dessert wines, + 10 ... + 12 C for canteens, humidity - 80-85%. There should be no mold or products prone to decay.
Grape wine is stored for 4 years, plum, cherry - 3 years. It is allowed to keep a drink in a plastic container for no more than 7 months.
Wine is kept in oak barrels for 1-2 years.
