Homemade apricot wine

It is difficult to find a person who would not like ripe aromatic apricots. They are also used to make preparations for the winter. As a rule, these fruits are used for making compotes, preserves, jams, and preserves. Lovers of homemade wine believe that the most delicious dessert drink is made from apricots. It's all about the unusual taste and amazing aroma.

Wine from apricots at home can be prepared without much difficulty if the recipes and features of the production technology are known. We will try to talk about the basic principles of winemaking in an article based on the most popular recipes. Apricot wine combines taste and delicate sweetness. But the color palette will depend on the selected fruit variety. Shades of apricot wine range from yellowish to amber and red.

Cooking apricots

To prepare apricot wine, you need to take care of the correct selection and preparation of the main ingredient. The fact is that the taste of the finished hop drink will depend on the ripeness and variety.

So, how to choose apricots:

1. First, the fruit must be ripe and intact. The best option is those freshly picked from the tree (it is undesirable to pick it up from the ground, since apricot wine will taste like earth). Unfortunately, apricots are not grown in most of Russia, so you have to be content with the supply of stores. You need to choose fruits without rot and mold, otherwise the taste of the wine will be spoiled. After all, damaged apricots can contain pathogenic microorganisms, and the fermentation process began spontaneously and prematurely.
   
2. To make a drink, you can use not only cultivated varieties of apricots, but also the fruits of wild bushes. The taste, of course, will be different: wine made from wild apricots is more aromatic, and from cultural ones - sweeter.
3. Secondly, when preparing fruits (regardless of variety and origin), it is necessary to remove the seeds. This part of apricots contains hydrocyanic acid, which is dangerous to humans. It is a natural poison, and the use of pitted wine can be fatal. In addition, apricot pits add bitterness and almond aroma to the wine.
   
4. It is not recommended to wash apricots before making homemade wine according to any recipe, because wild yeast is lightly coated on the peel. If the fruits are contaminated, they are simply wiped with a dry cloth.

Important points

How to make homemade apricot wine so that taste, sweetness and aroma are harmoniously combined in it? This is possible if you pay attention to some of the nuances:

1. It is necessary to get acquainted with the recipe and understand all the intricacies in order to avoid problems.
2. To prepare a hoppy drink from apricots at home, choose enameled, glass or wooden dishes. It is not recommended to use aluminum, copper or iron containers, because wine interacts with metals due to oxidative processes. Enameled dishes should be free of cracks and chips.
3. Before making apricot wine at home according to the recipes below (and for any other), the necessary equipment is washed with hot water and soda, rinsed and dried.
4. The fermentation process must not be left unattended.
5. The temperature regime at home must be strictly observed, otherwise, instead of table wine, you will get apricot vinegar.

Any business, and making apricot wine in particular, requires effort and patience. Only in this case will you be able to taste the delicious aromatic drink when it ripens.

Wine masterpieces

Option one

This is a simple apricot wine recipe, but the quality of the finished drink is excellent.

For 12 liters of clean water we need:

• 4 kg of ripe apricots;
• 4 kg of granulated sugar.

Cooking method

1. Peeled apricots are kneaded by hand or grinded in a meat grinder with a large grill.
   
   Then the apricot mass is poured with warm water and placed in a warm and dark corner for fermentation in an enamel bowl. Gauze or a thin cotton cloth is thrown on top. The wort must be mixed, as the pulp rises upward.
2. On the second day, foam should appear on the apricot blank. If fermentation has not started for some reason, you need to add a handful of raisins. This catalyst must not be washed in order not to remove wild yeast from the surface.
3. On the fifth day, the wort is strained from the apricot pulp through cheesecloth folded in several rows and poured into a bottle. The juice from the pulp is also poured into the total mass.
   
   The precipitate that has formed cannot be removed, since this is wine yeast necessary for further fermentation.
4. Part of the juice is poured and granulated sugar is dissolved in it. It can be added all at once or divided by half. The second time sugar is poured in 5 days. The bottle is tightly closed with a water seal or a medical glove with a finger pierced by a needle is pulled over the neck. Fermentation of apricot wine at home according to the recipe should continue in a dark place at temperatures from +17 to +24 degrees for 20-25 days.
   
5. After the specified time has elapsed, the fermentation of the home-made apricot wine according to the recipe is completed. This can be determined by the water seal, since gas stops flowing into the water. If a rubber glove was worn, it will deflate and fall onto the bottle. Now the apricot wine must be removed from the lees. This must be done carefully so that the yeast does not get into the drink.
6. Poured into a clean bowl, apricot wine must be ripened. This stage, according to the recipe, lasts from two to four months. In the room, you need to observe a special temperature regime - + 10-12 degrees. At higher temperatures, vinegar is formed instead of apricot wine. During the period of standing, the drink gains taste and aroma qualities.
   
7. Wine made from ripe apricots at home is removed from the sediment again, after the allotted time for ripening. Strained and filtered apricot wine is poured into bottles or jars and hermetically closed.

Option two

According to this recipe, 3 kilograms of ripe apricots will require the same amount of sugar and 10 liters of water. The color of the wine will depend on the variety and color intensity of the fruit.

Recipe step by step

And now about how to make apricot wine according to this recipe at home:

1. We wipe the apricots, remove the seeds and knead them thoroughly with our hands. As a result, a homogeneous mass without fibers should be obtained.
2. We put it in a bowl with a wide neck, pour in water heated to 25 or 30 degrees (no higher!). Add half of the granulated sugar provided in the recipe and mix until completely dissolved. Sugar will be added in stages during fermentation.
3. Cover with a thin insect repellent cloth and remove for 5 days. In order for the fermentation process at home to be intense, you need a dark room with a temperature of 18 to 25 degrees. The pulp will rise upward along with the foam.It must be constantly drowned, otherwise the wine will turn sour. The fermentation process starts differently. Sometimes, after 8 hours, a foam cap appears. But most often, apricot wine begins to ferment after 20 hours from the moment of "launch". In addition to the foam, a hiss will be clearly audible.
4. After 5 days, the pulp must be removed. To do this, filter the wort through cheesecloth folded in several layers. We also squeeze the pulp, and pour the juice into the strained liquid. At this stage, add 0.5 kg of granulated sugar. We do not pour sugar into the total mass, but stir it in a small amount of liquid, pouring it out of a bottle of wine.
5. According to the apricot wine recipe, do not fill the bottle to the top, so that there is room for foam and carbon dioxide. We close the container with a water seal or pull a rubber glove with a punctured finger over the neck.
6. The container must be placed in a dark place with a temperature of 18 to 28 degrees for further fermentation for 25-60 days. During this time, every 5 days, add the remaining sugar twice more. As a rule, the process of fermentation of apricot wine at home ends in 50 days. If apricot wine continues to ferment, it must be urgently removed from the sediment and closed again with a water seal. If you miss the moment, the wine will have a bitter taste.
7. When apricot wine made at home becomes transparent and acquires the required color, it stops foaming, gurgling in the water seal, and the glove deflates - the drink is ready to be completely removed from the sediment and poured into small bottles. They are pre-washed and sterilized, since any microorganisms have a detrimental effect on wine.

At this stage of making homemade wine, you need to taste the apricot drink for sugar, add a little sweet ingredient if necessary. In this case, you will have to again keep the bottle under a water seal or a glove for 10 days to ferment the sugar, and again remove the wine from the sediment.

Bottles or cans, which will store apricot wine at home, are filled to the very top to reduce the amount of oxygen. The containers are sealed tightly with lids or stoppers. You need to store the finished apricot drink in a cool cellar or refrigerator for up to 4 months. If a sediment appears during the ripening period at home, remove the wine from the sediment again and filter.

There should be no sediment in the finished apricot wine after 5 months. A drink with a strength of 10 to 12 degrees (not fortified) is stored for about three years. Ripe homemade apricot wine has a unique taste and aroma of fresh fruits.

Option three - with nutmeg

In the previous recipes, nothing was added to the homemade apricot wine. But if you want to make a dessert drink with an original fruity flavor, you can add vanillin, ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg to it. How to make nutmeg apricot wine at home will be discussed later.

You need to stock up on the following products in advance:

• ripe apricots - 5 kg;
• granulated sugar - 3 kg;
• table grape wine - 1 liter;
• nutmeg - 1 tablespoon.

Water for this recipe for apricot wine needs 5 liters.

Some nuances

Knead juicy pitted apricots until smooth, pour 2.5 liters of water and grape wine. Add granulated sugar to the remaining 2.5 liters of water and cook the syrup. When it cools down to room temperature, add it to the base for future wine. Pour nutmeg here.

How to cook apricot wine at home is described in detail in the previous recipes:

• mash separation;
• fermentation for several months;
• multiple removal from the sediment.

It should also be noted that nutmeg apricot wine can be served with dishes after three months of aging. The wine is aromatic, and its color is golden.

Apricot-raspberry wine, recipe and cooking features:

Conclusion

Making homemade apricot wine, especially if you have even a little winemaking experience, is not difficult. After all, the process itself is almost the same. Although there are nuances, we talked about them in the article.

If you want to "cook" a drink from apricots with your own hands at home, carefully read the recipes and recommendations for them. Do not try to take large proportions right away. Experiment first, choose the recipe that works best for you. And then you can make as much wine as necessary. We wish you successful steps in winemaking.

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