Chokeberry wine at home

Chokeberry or, as it is also called, chokeberry grows not only in gardens, but also in plantings, in the forest. Despite the large number and availability, the berry is rarely used, because mountain ash is astringent and bitter. A big plus of black chokeberry is its usefulness: mountain ash contains a large amount of vitamin B, ascorbic acid, several metals and minerals that are very necessary for the human body. Compotes and blackberry jam turn out to be tasteless, so people came up with another way to eat berries - to cook wine from mountain ash.

You can learn how to make chokeberry wine at home from this article. Here you can also find some of the simplest recipes for healthy and tasty chokeberry wine.

Features of chokeberry wine

Stages of making wine from tart blackberry the same as in the case of a grape or some other alcoholic beverage. The only significant nuance can be considered the low sugar content in the black chokeberry, so the fermentation stage for rowan wine takes twice as long: instead of the usual 2-3 days - 5-7.

As you know, for the fermentation of black rowan wine or some other berry, two components are needed: sugar and wine yeast. Therefore, if a winemaker sees that his black rowan wine does not ferment, add sugar or use purchased wine fungi.

How to make homemade chokeberry wine not only tasty, but also beautiful and healthy:

1. The blackberry must be harvested after the first frost. If you neglect this condition, the wine can be too tart or even bitter. In some cases, the preparation of wine is preceded by freezing rowan in a regular freezer.
2. To make wine from black chokeberry, you can use not only garden, but also wild culture. In this case, you will need to add more sugar to the wine, since the wild berry is more bitter and tart.
3. Another problem with black mountain ash is that it is difficult to extract juice from its berries. Because of this, winemakers have to pre-blanch the blackberry or cook the wort twice on the basis of one pulp (this technology will be discussed in detail below).
4. To make mountain ash wine with black fruits transparent and had a beautiful ruby ​​hue, it needs to be filtered many times. To do this, the wine is constantly removed from the sediment using a plastic tube or dropper. It is necessary to pour wine from blackberry into clean containers both at the stage of fermentation and in the process of maturation.
5. You can not pick rowan after rain, and even more so, you can not wash the chokeberry before making wine from it. The fact is that on the peel of the mountain ash there are wine yeast fungi, without which wine fermentation is impossible. There is no need to worry about the purity of the berries; during the winemaking process, all the dirt will precipitate.

A simple recipe for making chokeberry wine at home

Homemade chokeberry wine can be prepared from the usual ingredients (water, berries and sugar) or with the addition of natural starters such as raisins, rose hips, raspberries, citric acid and others.

Often, the natural sugar content and wine fungi from the black chokeberry are enough for the fermentation process to begin. But, if the winemaker is afraid for his wine and is afraid of mold on its surface, it is better to use some kind of sourdough.

So, in this recipe for homemade chokeberry wine, it is proposed to add a handful raisins... So, to make wine you need the following ingredients:

• ripe blackberry - 5 kg;
• granulated sugar - 1 kg;
• water - 1 l;
• raisins - 50 g (raisins must be unwashed, otherwise they will not help the fermentation of homemade wine in any way).

The technology for making a homemade drink from black chokeberry consists of important stages:

1. Chokeberry is kneaded by hands so that each berry is crushed.
2. The prepared blackberry is transferred to a ten-liter container made of glass, plastic or enameled metal. Add half a kilogram of sugar there, stir. It is not recommended to make wine from chokeberry without adding sugar, since its content in the berries themselves is quite low - the wine, if fermented, will be very weak (about 5%), so it will not be stored for long. Put a handful of raisins in a mountain ash with sugar, stir. Cover the container with gauze or natural cloth and put in a warm dark place for fermentation. Every day for a week, the wort is stirred by hand or with a wooden spatula so that the pulp (large particles of black fruit) falls down.
   
3. When all the berries rise to the top, and when the hand is immersed in the wort, foam begins to form, the preliminary fermentation must be completed. Now you can separate blackberry juice... To do this, carefully remove the pulp, squeeze out the juice and put it in another dish. All the blackberry juice is filtered through an ordinary colander or a coarse sieve, small fragments will later precipitate and also be removed. Pure juice is poured into a fermentation vessel (bottle), filling no more than half of the volume.
4. Half a kilogram of sugar and a liter of water are added to the remaining pulp of black chops, stirred and put back in a warm place for fermentation. The wort is stirred daily. After 5-6 days, the juice is filtered out again, the pulp is squeezed out.
5. The bottle with the juice that was obtained immediately is closed with a water seal and placed in a warm place (18-26 degrees) for fermentation. When the second portion of blackberry juice is ready, it is poured into a bottle and stirred. First remove the foam from the surface of the wine. After mixing, the bottle is again covered with a water seal (a glove with a hole or a special lid for winemaking).
   
6. Fermentation of black chokeberry wine will take 25 to 50 days. The fact that fermentation has ended is evidenced by a fallen glove, the absence of air bubbles in the wine, the appearance of a loose sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Now the wine is poured through a straw into a clean container, being careful not to touch the sediment. Now you can add sugar to blackberry wine to improve the taste or alcohol for greater strength and long-term storage.
7. The bottle with young wine is covered with a tight lid and lowered into the basement (you can put it in the refrigerator). Here the homemade wine will mature for 3-6 months. During this time, the drink will become tastier and brighter. If sediment reappears, the wine is poured through a tube until it becomes transparent.
8. Six months later, homemade blackberry wine is bottled and tasted.

How to make homemade wine with cinnamon

This simple recipe allows you to get a very aromatic and spicy drink from a regular blackberry. Cinnamon makes mountain ash wine look like an expensive liqueur.

For cooking, you need ingredients in the following proportions:

• • 5 kg blackberry;
  • 4 kg of sugar;

• 0.5 l of vodka;
• 5 g ground cinnamon.

You can make wine in several stages:

1. Sort the blackberry thoroughly, remove all spoiled, moldy and rotten berries. Mash the blackberry with your hands or with a wooden crush until smooth.
2. Add sugar and cinnamon powder to the resulting puree, mix. Transfer the mass to a wide-necked dish (saucepan, basin or enamel bucket), cover with a cloth and place in a warm place.
3. You need to stir the wort as often as possible, but at least 2-3 times a day. After 8-9 days, you can remove the pulp and drain the juice.
4. Pour rowan juice into a fermentation bottle, cover with a water seal and wait until this process is completed (about 40 days). If there is no more foam or bubbles, you can drain the young wine.
5. The wine is filtered, vodka is added to it, stirred and poured into glass bottles.
6. Now bottles with homemade alcohol can be put in the basement or in the refrigerator.

Step-by-step recipe for chokeberry wine prepared in a jar

Wine made according to this recipe can be boasted to friends and relatives: it turns out to be fragrant and very delicate. This recipe is especially suitable for those who do not have large glass bottles and a spacious basement.

For cooking you will need:

• 700 g of mountain ash;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• 100 g raisins;
• 0.5 l of purified water.

You need to prepare wine in a jar like this:

1. Sort out the blackberry, knead the berries with your hands and pour into a three-liter jar.
2. Add unwashed raisins, 300 g of sugar and water to the jar. Cover with a lid, in which make a small incision with a knife to release carbon dioxide. Place the jar of wine in a dark and warm place.
3. Shake the jar of black chokeberry every day to mix the wort.
4. After 7 days, remove the lid, add another 300 g of sugar, stir and set for further fermentation.
5. After another 7 days, repeat the same procedure with sugar.
6. A month later, the remaining 100 g of sugar is poured into the wine and the jar is left until the whole blackberry sinks to the bottom, and the drink itself becomes transparent.
7. Now the blackberry drink can be filtered and poured into beautiful bottles.

The wines prepared according to these recipes can not only treat guests, they are good for treating blood vessels, and for strengthening the immune system. To make mountain ash wine tastier and richer, you can combine this berry with raspberries, currants and other wine products.

You can learn more about all the stages of home winemaking from the video:

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