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In the midst of an apple harvest, a good housewife often has eyes from the incredible amount of blanks that can be created from apples. They are truly versatile fruits that make equally tasty compotes, juices, jams, preserves, marmalades and even cheeses. And those who have tried to make wine from apple juice at least once must repeat their experiments in the next season. After all, this wine has a completely incomparable taste, and its lightness is very deceiving, the effect from it can exceed all expectations.
Among the many recipes for making homemade wine from apple juice, only those that use only natural ingredients, without the addition of alcoholic drinks with a high degree, will be presented here.
The process of making wine itself is not at all as complicated as it might seem from the outside. Although for those who are about to cook homemade apple wine for the first time, you must definitely pay attention to all the subtleties and features of the process and observe them strictly. How to make apple wine so that everything works out the first time is described in detail in the next chapter.
The classic apple juice wine recipe
If you do everything correctly, then this recipe should make a delicious dark amber drink with a subtle smell of ripe apples and a natural strength of about 10-12 degrees.
Selection and preparation of fruits
As for the choice of variety, almost any variety of apples is suitable for making apple wine, both in terms of ripening time (summer or winter), and in color (red, yellow or green) and in acidity. Perhaps the main condition for obtaining high-quality wine is that the apples are fully ripe and quite juicy. It is unlikely that a tasty wine will turn out from "wooden" fruits, and if you use very sour varieties (like Antonovka), then it is advisable to either mix them with sweeter apples, or add a little water (up to 100 ml per liter of ready juice).
If the apples themselves are juicy and not very sour, then adding water is undesirable even in small quantities, let alone diluting the juice two to three times.
It is advisable to store apples collected from a tree or from the ground before processing for no more than 3-5 days in a cool place. In no case should you wash the fruits, since special natural yeast microorganisms live on the surface of their peel, with the help of which fermentation will take place. If individual fruits are heavily soiled, it is allowed to wipe them with a clean, dry cloth.
Partially damaged apples can also be used for wine, it is only important to carefully remove all spoiled or rotten parts so that only fresh white pulp remains. In order to prevent the slightest note of bitterness from home wine, it is imperative to remove all seeds and internal partitions as well.
Juice from processed and cut into pieces apples is best obtained using any kind of juicer - in this case, you will get pure juice, containing a minimum amount of pulp, and this will greatly simplify the further process.
But if it was store-bought and pasteurized, then wine yeast may need to be added.
The first stages of the process
At the first stage of making apple wine, the juice from the apples must be defended for 2-3 days. To do this, it is placed in a large container with a wide neck, on top of the hole must be tied with gauze to protect the juice from getting inside insects. During this period, the juice, under the influence of the spores of yeast microorganisms, will begin to break down into two components: liquid apple juice and pulp (remnants of pulp and peel). The pulp will start to build up in the top of the juice. In order for the process to proceed correctly and intensively, in the first two days, you should remove the gauze several times a day and actively stir the contents of the container with a clean wooden stirrer or just by hand.
On the third day, foam, hissing and some alcohol-vinegar aroma appear on the surface of the juice - all this is evidence of the beginning of the fermentation process. At this time, all the pulp, tightly collected on the surface of the juice, must be carefully collected with a colander and removed.
After removing the mash, it is necessary to add sugar to the apple juice and put the juice already for full fermentation in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
The addition of sugar when making wine at home is an important procedure, which, as a rule, is carried out in several stages. After all, if the sugar content in wine exceeds 20%, then it will not ferment enough intensively or the process will stop altogether. Therefore, sugar is added in small portions.
The amount depends on the type of wine you want to get.
- To obtain dry table apple wine, 200 grams of sugar per liter of juice is enough.
- For semi-sweet and dessert wines, it is necessary to add from 300 to 400 grams per liter of apple juice.
So, on average, after removing the mash, about 100-150 grams of sugar per liter are added to the apple juice. At this stage, it is allowed to simply pour granulated sugar into the fermented juice and mix well.
Subsequently, sugar can be added every 5-6 days using 40 to 100 grams per liter. When sugar is added, the water seal is removed, a small amount of wort (fermented juice) is poured into a small container, the required amount of sugar is dissolved in it, and the sugar mixture is again poured into the fermentation container.
After the procedure for adding sugar, the water seal is reinstalled and fermentation continues.
Fermentation stage
For proper fermentation, it is necessary to simultaneously remove the possibility of oxygen from the air entering the container with the future wine, and remove the excess carbon dioxide, which is necessarily released during the fermentation process. For these purposes, a water seal is used. It is easy to make at home. A small hole is made in the lid of the fermentation tank to accommodate the end of a small flexible tube. The other end of this tube is dipped into a vessel of water.
For the same reason, fill the fermentation vessel with apple juice no more than four-fifths in height.
The simplest version of a water seal is an ordinary rubber glove with a small hole made in it and well fixed on the neck of the fermentation tank.
The container itself with apple juice during fermentation should be in a room without light, at an optimum temperature of + 20 ° + 22 ° C. The fermentation stage usually lasts from 30 to 60 days. Its end is evidenced by the appearance of sediment at the bottom of the container and the prolonged absence of carbon dioxide bubbles in the container with water.
The last stage is maturation
For the most impatient, making wine from apple juice has come to an end - you can already taste it and treat your loved ones with it. But its taste is still far from perfect, and it can only be improved by long aging.
Ripening of apple wine should take place in absolutely dry and sterile glass vessels with airtight corks. It is advisable to pour wine into these vessels using the principle of communicating vessels, using a water seal tube, so as not to touch the sediment at the bottom as much as possible. After tasting the wine before pouring, you may want to add sugar to it. In this case, within 10-12 days, the wine must be put back on the water seal, if it suddenly decides to ferment again. When ripe, it should be stored at a temperature of + 6 ° + 15 ° C. In the first months, it is advisable to free the wine from sediment every two weeks by pouring it into clean, dry bottles. In the future, the precipitate falls less and less and with its minimal precipitation, homemade apple wine is considered ready. This usually happens in 2-4 months. You can store ready-made apple wine for three years in hermetically sealed bottles.
Apple juice wine recipe with added yeast
If you decide to use ready-made apple juice for making apple wine at home, it is recommended to add wine yeast during making for the best result. The simplest recipe for such a homemade wine is presented below.
For 4 liters of apple juice, it is enough to prepare 2 teaspoons of dry wine yeast and about 400 - 800 grams of granulated sugar.
The easiest way is to take an ordinary five-liter plastic bottle for fermentation and, after thoroughly mixing all the components in a separate container, pour the apple mixture into the bottle.
Then attach a balloon or rubber glove to the top of the bottle and place it in a dark, cool place for up to 50 days. The next day, the fermentation process should begin and a small hole should be made in the ball for the gases to escape. When the fermentation process comes to an end - the ball is deflated - the wine is ready, you can drink it.
By the way, if you put the apple juice in a warm place, then after three to four days you can taste apple cider - unripe apple wine with a small strength, up to 6-7 degrees.
Try different ways of making apple wine and enjoy a varied palette of flavors, because it requires almost nothing to make, except apples and a little sugar. And you can get enough benefit and pleasure for yourself and your loved ones to last for the whole harsh and long winter.
