How to start earning income from a small winery? How to open a private winery and succeed? Home winery wine factory mini.
Magazine "Drinks. Technologies and Innovations" has written more than once about one of the first Ukrainian mini-wineries "Kurin", which is located in the village. Stepanovka, Kherson region. They create inimitable wines that are loved not only by Ukrainian connoisseurs of the noble drink. About the farm "Kurin" is well known abroad. After all, people come here from France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria in order to adopt the invaluable experience of the pioneers of Ukrainian microwinemaking. Read about the successes of Kurinya, about the problems you have to face today, and, of course, about your plans for the future in an interview with the chairman of the Kurin Farm, Nikolay Khalupenko.
"The drinks. Technologies and Innovations”: Nikolai, what was the outgoing year like for you?
Nikolay Khalupenko: Very difficult. While most of Ukraine was suffering from drought, we had rain all summer long. This has not happened in the Kherson region, probably for 50 years. As a result, the grapes were very ill with mildew and oidium, but we managed to save it. And the Muscat varieties Muscat Ottonel, Traminer, Irshai Oliver also froze a little, but, fortunately, the buds remained. And these varieties still gave a harvest, although 30-40% less. Varieties of Cabernet, Rkatsiteli, Chardonnay also yielded less than usual. And despite the problem with weather conditions, the sugar content of the berries is quite high - up to 30%.
N.T.I.: What has changed at your winery since our last meeting?
N.H.: We received excise stamps and purchased a semi-automatic wine bottling line, which is already in operation. And recently, a few months later, they opened their own brand store in Kherson, which successfully sells our products. We also bought a refrigeration unit. It was almost a first necessity for us, since all our wines are prone to tartar dropout.
And in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to process the wine with cold, since we do not do pasteurization. We have all the wine alive.
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N.T.I.: You have been on the wine market for the 5th year already, has the culture of wine consumption in Ukraine changed during this time, in your opinion?
N.H.: I recently visited Kyiv and noticed a positive trend for myself: there are noticeably more wine shops and boutiques there. In addition, the latest statistics show that not only in the capital, but also in such large cities as Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, wine sales have increased. This means that people prefer noble drinks over strong ones.
And this is good news. But, unfortunately, I do not see positive changes in the legislation that would be aimed at developing and protecting the wine industry. "Kurin" was the first in Ukraine and for a long time the only one who managed to break through the bureaucratic wall that stood in the way of the development of small winemaking in Ukraine. More recently, in the Odessa region, in Bessarabia, another mini-winery appeared - a vineyard on 50 hectares of vineyards. And that's all. It is difficult to organize such production in Ukraine. And the main reason for this is our legislation. To obtain all the necessary permits, licenses, you need to spend a lot of time and effort.
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N.T.I.: What kind of problems are experienced by small wineries in Ukraine?
N.H.: There are many problems. The problem of counterfeiting remains in Ukraine - and this is one of the reasons that does not allow Ukrainian winemaking to develop and spoils its reputation.
Many authorities are trying to control winemakers, instead of helping, or at least not interfering with their work. The legislation determines that the laboratory at each winery must be accredited. But a small enterprise cannot pay UAH 10,000 for accreditation every 2-3 years. This money still needs to be earned.
Getting permits for a small winery is like going through seven circles of hell. Superhuman efforts are needed to obtain a license for processing grapes. We had to travel to Kyiv more than once just to pick her up. For six months they did not give us our documents. It shouldn't be like that!
Corruption and bureaucracy in the industry is the main reason that does not allow small wineries to develop. Over the past five years, dozens of small wine producers have closed. The reason for this, in my opinion, is the conspiracy of large wineries, which specially united so that we only grow grapes, and they buy it from us for a penny, make wine and get super profits. But we also have the right to life. They are afraid of competition because we make "honest wine".
We do not harvest 20 tons of grapes from one hectare, but we harvest 5 tons each; we grow quality grapes and make quality wine from them. And we are not chasing super profits. Our main goal is quality.
Now I am talking not only about the Kurin winery, but about all small wineries, including Beikush Winery. Why do they want to close this winery now? The reasons are the same: small-scale winemaking is not profitable for someone in our country. I know the owner of Bakush Winery Evgeny Shneideris. This is a man of European thinking. He planted a vineyard, he makes amazing wines. He asked officials to give him the opportunity to work, because we are striving for Europe! And in return, he is punished. But I believe that Evgeny Shneideris will be able to defeat the bureaucracy. And common sense will prevail.
N.T.I.: Does your Kurin restaurant of the same name help promote wines?
N.H.: For the last 2 years we have been experiencing some problems. We are in the frontline zone. Our restaurant is located near the highway that leads to Donetsk. The flow of tourists is practically absent. At the same time columns with tanks pass frequently.
Few people have been going to Crimea from Ukraine lately. This summer, only a small part of the tourists went to local resorts, for example, to Skadovsk. But, in spite of everything, people from all over Ukraine often come to us and buy our wines, because they are loved and appreciated. For example, our clients - metropolitan connoisseurs of noble drinks, Cabernet, Rkatsiteli buy several boxes at once.
They know that the wine from "Kurinya" is alive and of high quality, and also inexpensive.
N.T.I.: Do you plan to increase the scale of production?
N.H.: We do not pursue large volumes of production, we focus on the quality and uniqueness of the product being created. We started with 20 tons of wine per year, every year the volume of production increased by 10 tons. This year we plan to make up to 50 tons of wine. This is about 70 thousand bottles. Our basements are designed for this volume. Right now we don't have enough containers because there are still 2012 wines left. Since many containers are full, we bought 10 new ones per 1000 liters from Enogroup.
Of course, there is a desire to develop. We have even prepared a draft. But while tanks are driving our roads, we are not planning construction. We need to get through the hard times.
N.T.I.: What are the plans for the future of the winery "Kurin", what novelties await connoisseurs of its wines?
N.H.: This year we are going to release a liqueur wine. Last season we made a trial batch of this drink - and our customers liked it very much. Of course, such wines are not made in large volumes. This is a wine to enjoy, so we will produce it in small batches. In addition, there are practically no liqueur wines in Ukraine. This year we also plan to make about a ton of dessert wine from the Irshai Oliver variety. This is our brand, which we have already approved. By the way, last year this wine was recognized as the best product of the year in the Kherson region. From the Chardonnay and Rkatsiteli varieties, which have already begun to bear fruit, we will make wine of our main direction - dry table wine. Volumes will increase due to the planting of young vineyards. Now we have only 30 hectares of vineyards. Every year we will increase the area for planting grapes. But even here we have to rely on our own strength, since the state also does not help us with planting grapes.
For now, we only hope for support and continue to work.
Raw material.
Currant red, white and black.
Although many put gooseberries on the first plan as mate, mapa for berry winemaking gooseberries (as we will see below, not without reason), we prefer red currants, because in domestic use it is used most often and makes excellent wines - both table and liqueur. The reason why red currant is so popular with winemakers is, first of all, that no other berry can compete with it in terms of its roman yield. In addition, red currant is not afraid of frost and in this respect has an undoubted advantage over the red ovary, almost vgr whose cultivars in the north require special care? Finally, red currants produce 1 years, rich in juice, which is easily released when pressed. Of course, cultivated, large-fruited varieties should be preferred.
White currant is a variety of red currant and is chosen by many for winemaking due to the fact that the color of the wine from it turns out to be similar to white grape.
As for the blackcurrant, it is used very rarely for winemaking and if it is used for making strong liquor. the separation of juice from the pulp is much more difficult for blackcurrants than for red ones. Finally, not everyone likes pure blackcurrant wine.
However, black currant is good as a substitute for red currant in a ratio of 1/10.
Gooseberry.
From gooseberries, as well as from currants, stolones and liqueur wines are prepared, it is rightfully considered the second berry for winemaking. Some put it in first place, and especially point out that gooseberry juice is closest in composition to grape juice. it is recommended to give preference to varieties with red and yellow berries over varieties with green or white, good wine can be made from any gooseberry, including a mixture of berries of any color. hernia< вник более подвержен перезреванию, чем смородина, в том случае, если плоды его слишком долго остаются на кустах, а потому для виноделия крыжовник собирают своевременно, так как перезревшие ягоды теряют во вкусе и аромате. По этой причине крыжовник, ее пи собран с растений в срок, обыкновенно не требует дозревания в лежке (что нередко оказывается полезным для смородины). У крыжовника чаще можно встретить гнилые и испорченные ягоды, чем у смородины. При изготовлении вина такие ягоды необходимо удалить.
Raspberry, strawberry and strawberry
Raspberries give excellent, but more expensive wine than currants, and gotomu is relatively less used for winemaking. Both table and liqueur wines are prepared from raspberries. Strawberries and strawberries also make very good wines, but only liqueur ones.
Blueberry
Among the wild berries for wine production, blueberries are the most valuable, giving excellent table and dessert gins. But to cook them is not so easy due to the slow fermentation of blueberry must, which, moreover, is very susceptible to various harmful influences. Because of this, many refuse it as a wine-making material. In addition, blueberry wine more often than other berry wines takes on a special, so-called "mouse" flavor (this is also characteristic of raspberry wine), which cannot but be a very significant drawback.
Blackthorn and rowan.
Blackthorn and ordinary mountain ash are also used as surrogates for berry winemaking. Both blackthorn (or blackthorn) and mountain ash contain a lot of tannins, as indicated by their tart taste. The addition of blackthorn to apple wine is known to impart transparency, brilliance and strength to the drink. The same, of course, applies to adding blackthorn to berry wines. However, one cannot but regret that the blackthorn ripens very late in autumn, when the rest of the berries and early stone fruits - cherries and apricots - have long been harvested and used for making wine. But the blackthorn as a surrogate can be used in the preparation of wines from late plums and cornelian cherry.
stone fruits
Wines made from stone fruits - cherries, plums, apricots and kichil - are also commonly referred to as berry wines. Apricot and plum crops in our south are sometimes monstrous and often die in vain due to the complete absence of any utilization of these fruits. The disadvantage of wine from them is that it turns out to be tasteless due to the low content of: acid, tannins. Therefore, an addition to them of last year's sloe juice can be of great service to the cause in this case. For the same reason, not only apricots and plums, but also cherries and cherries are not as suitable as currants for making light table wines; on the contrary, they are rather suitable for liqueurs - stronger and therefore more durable.
Preparation of berries for pressing.
The pressing process begins with the fact that the harvested berries are sorted and cleaned of debris and spoiled berries, and then placed in a cool, dry place in an even layer so that they ripen. Such ripening is especially important if the pressing is to be carried out in the simplest way - by manually squeezing the juice through the canvas. However, the berries are not subject to ripening at the same time. Most often in need of ripening - red currant, the main raw material in red winemaking.
Further preparation of berries for pressing consists in their crushing, which is accompanied by a break in the shell of the fruit. Due to this, on the one hand, pressing is faster, and on the other hand, the juice is separated from the pulp (crushed berry mass). more perfect and complete. Soft berries, such as strawberries and malitna, do not need such crushing.
Crushing, like all subsequent operations with berries and berry juice, is carried out either in clay or wooden, but not in metal vessels. Metal vessels in this case can only be used when they are enameled. The reason is clear: the juice comes into contact with the metal and receives unwanted and even harmful impurities.
At home, the crushing of berries is carried out in large clay pots (korchags) or, more often, in troughs using a wooden pusher or pestle.
It should be noted once and for all that purity in the manufacture of berry wines is the main condition for success. In the overwhelming majority of cases, failures in berry winemaking and damage to the must, as well as unpleasant aftertastes of already finished and clarified wine, occur due to insufficient care and accuracy. Both the utensils and the hands of the workers must be perfectly clean.
Blackcurrant is worse than other berries, it lends itself to crushing, and it is more difficult for it to separate the juice from the pulp. (Recall, however, that black currants are rarely used, usually as an additive to red ones.) In order to make the juice from black currants easier to separate, the following practical method can be recommended. Peeled and thoroughly washed berries are placed in a clay pot, which is placed overnight in a well-heated, but not too hot oven. From above, the pot is tightly closed - for example, with a frying pan. By morning, the berries, if they have been covered and not baked, will be a more or less liquid mass, squeezing the juice from which is much easier than from raw berries.
The operations of preparing berries for pressing should also include their preliminary (after crushing) mixing with water. This is done in order to more fully extract juice from them. Mixing, however, will be discussed later.
A preparatory operation is also washing the berries with clean water, which precedes their crushing. Washing is never out of place, but especially when the berries are very dusty and dirty even on the bushes.
In preparation for pressing stone fruits, stones should be removed from them in advance. Only for dogwood an exception is made, it can be pressed with bones, as they are very small and hard. Even if they are crushed by the press, this will not noticeably affect the taste of the drink.
Pressing
Pressing the berries by hand through the canvas is the most undesirable, not only because of its difficulty, but also because the pomace retains a lot of wasted juice in vain.
Therefore, if you set a goal to prepare berry wines every year, you need to stock up on at least the simplest and cheapest hand press (see Fig. 1). Not only the bottom, but in general the entire lower part of its tank consists of a metal sieve, which has numerous small holes for the expiration of the squeezed juice. If possible, it is much more practical to get a more solid screw press.
Fig.1 Home lever press for squeezing juice
The pulp is placed inside the tank, usually in pieces of strong, but rare (for freer passage of juice) linen. At the end of each operation, the canvas should be thoroughly washed. Presses and any other utensils used in pressing berries should also be thoroughly washed immediately after completion of work.
Utensils for juice, must and wine
Usually, all winemaking operations, up to bottling wine, are carried out in wooden or glass vessels, less often in earthenware. As for iron ones, as already mentioned, they should be completely withdrawn from circulation in berry winemaking.
To crush the berries, a small barrel, a trough or a large clay pot are used, which, however, can be broken from too energetic actions with a pusher.
At home, when making wine, either small barrels are used, or, as is most often the case, large glass bottles (the so-called "suleys"). Since the suleya is easy to split, it should always be in a protective case - a willow braid or a basket with two ears on opposite sides. A layer of hay, fur or wool is laid between the rods and the glass of the bottle itself. Low and wide suleis are preferred, since some experimenters of berry winemaking have noticed that the fermentation of juice in narrow and tall vessels is worse.
A considerable advantage of these bottles, as well as glass vessels in general, is that they are easy to wash and keep in the required cleanliness. To wash used bottles, they take hydrochloric or crude sulfuric acid, in which they rinse the dishes for the penultimate time. The diluted acid dissolves any sediment present on the walls of the bottles, so that after the acid treatment all that is left is to thoroughly rinse the bottles with clean water.
The same must be said about washing bottles. Their complete cleansing is most quickly achieved with the help of acid.
Regarding wooden utensils - barrels and kegs - it should first of all be mentioned that the best for winemaking are not new, but already used, that is, in which wine was contained or poured.
Where there are no such wine barrels, there you have to take barrels from something else. They are pre-washed and cleaned very carefully. Repeated washing is done with boiling water and soda. The last two times, washing is carried out only with boiling water and water to remove traces of soda from the barrel.
The disadvantage of these barrels is that the wine easily acquires the taste of the liquids they contain. Barrels painted inside are completely unsuitable for berry winemaking. You should especially avoid barrels of kerosene, vinegar and similar products - such dishes are absolutely unsuitable.
So, since there is no barrel at hand that was under wine or a new and completely clean one, it is much more profitable to use glass bottles in household use.
If they prefer to deal with wooden dishes, in which, for example, sour wine was, the following can be advised. The bottom is removed from the barrel, and then the walls from the inside are carefully smeared with dough from freshly dissolved lime, which should be thick enough to adhere well to the surface of the wood. They do the same with the bottom, covering it with the same dough. The barrel thus smeared is left for 24 hours or longer, and then the lime is removed and the inside of the barrel is thoroughly washed. Before filling it with wine, however, it is necessary to make sure that all traces of acidity have disappeared from the cavity of the barrel. To do this, pour a little water there and, having washed the walls with it, let it settle. After that, they take a litmus test and try the water in the barrel. If the blue litmus paper turns red, it means that the barrel was heavily saturated with acid and the plastering with lime dough must be repeated again.
If new barrels are to be used, it must be borne in mind that they must be made of oak, preferably a tree felled in December or January. At this time of the year, oak wood is at its densest. A tree cut down in March has the highest porosity.
The barrel spigot should be neither too large nor too small, and the spigot itself should be cut perfectly smooth and even so that it can plug the hole tightly.
New, unused barrels are prepared for filling with juice or wine in this way. Fill up to half with boiling water, in which they dissolve, not sparing, soda. Then the barrel is tightly plugged to swing so that the walls are well washed from the inside.
Even new barrels properly prepared for winemaking are better to use at first only for fermentation, and only after this has been done twice, they will become quite suitable for storing wine. You should especially avoid pouring white wine into new barrels - in such cases it often takes on an ugly brown color.
It goes without saying that the barrel must be entirely made of the same wood, and no screws or nails should penetrate inside. Otherwise, the contact of berry juice with iron will lead to spoilage of the wine.
A moldy barrel is cleaned and washed in the above manner. If it was already too susceptible to mold, then it is dismantled (riveted), evaporated and cleaned in disassembled form. After that, the barrel is riveted again and treated with rectified alcohol, and then cleaned again.
In fact, the moldiness of the barrels indicates the sloppiness of the manufacturer, which should not be in home production, much less in commercial winemaking.
The size of the barrel affects the fermentation process. The larger the barrel, the more complete and perfect the fermentation. This circumstance must be borne in mind if winemaking is carried out on a more or less extensive scale.
For obvious reasons, dishes are prepared several days before the berries are pressed. It is useful to put the washed barrels and bottles in fresh air in order to expose them to many days of favorable influence of the sun, after which they are already fumigated with sulfur. No matter how clean the dishes are. mold germs can always be preserved in it. In order to destroy it for sure, barrels, kegs and bottles are subjected to sulfur fumigation whenever, after the final washing, the container is again filled with wine or juice.
For fumigation, strips of canvas or linen about 2.5 cm wide are taken, dipped in melted sulfur.
The very process of fumigation is extremely simple. They use a special tool called a fumigator (Fig. 1). A sulfur fitting is put on its hook. It is set on fire and, burning, is introduced into the barrel or bottle through the hole, plugged immediately with the handle of the fumigator. It takes the place of a bushing or plug. To prevent drops of molten sulfur from falling to the bottom of the vessel, a funnel and an iron cylinder are attached to the lower end of the tool. After such processing, the rock is completely ready to be filled with berry juice or wine.
Although it has been said before that glass bottles are used more often in the household than barrels, nevertheless, if possible, prefer wooden barrels. There are a number of reasons for this.
Wine or berry juice poured into barrels spoils much more slowly than in bottles, as frequent temperature fluctuations affect the quality of the finished drink. That is why it is recommended to keep glass vessels in baskets with hay, which in these circumstances play the role of a poor conductor of heat and eliminate or significantly reduce temperature drops in dishes filled with wine or juice.
In addition, the walls of the glass vessel, devoid of pores, prevent the penetration of outside air in and out, which is unusual for wooden dishes. This is by no means an unimportant moment, because the exchange of the external air with the gases in the barrel contributes to better aging, clarification and bouquet of wine due to the access of oxygen inside.
Processing of squeezed berry juice.
The berry juice obtained from the press can in no way be fermented. It must first be diluted with water. This process is called "gallization" (after Dr. Gall, who first proposed it). Then sugar and cream of tartar are added (dense sediment in barrels from grape wine).
In the home production of berry wines, you can successfully use the recipe of R. Goethe. Twice as much water is added to the resulting juice, and for every 3 liters of such a mixture, 1 kg of sugar is placed. By this calculation, approximately 33% sugar content is achieved in the diluted juice. Then, after fermentation and complete clarification of the wine, it will contain at least 14% alcohol.
But the addition of sugar is not enough. Tartaric (or tartaric) acid also has to be added to diluted juice - so much so that the total acid content in wine is 0.6%.
To do this, you must first determine the percentage of acids in berry juice. The easiest way is to use the following data on acidity (%) in various fruits and berries:
Redcurrant - 2.21
- Blackcurrant - 2.40
- Unripe gooseberries - 1.50
- Ripe gooseberries - 1.47
- Forest earth - 1.40
- Garden raspberries - 1.50
- Blueberries - 1.20
- Black mulberry - 0.56
- Cowberry - 2.25
- Cranberries - 3.25
- Cherry - 1.94
- Plum - 0.89
- Mirabelle - 0.76
- Apricot - 1.96
- Dogwood - 0.80
When wine is prepared, for example, from blueberries, then by adding 2 liters of water to 1 liter of its juice, we thereby reduce the acid content in it by a factor of three, that is, only 0.4% remains. This means that diluted blueberry juice must be supplemented with 0. 2% or 2 g of acid for each liter of liquid.
According to R. Goethe's calculations, approximately 1/3 of the berry juice's own acids subsequently disappear. Therefore, when adding tartaric acid, this third must also be kept in mind. To facilitate the calculation of the amount of acid that must be introduced into a mixture of juice with a double amount of water, the formula is:
X = 6 x 20K/9
In it, K denotes the percentage of acid in the undiluted juice of these fruits. Substituting for K the required number from the above "data on acidity, we get the value X, showing how many grams of tartaric acid should be added for each liter of the mixture of juice and water.
Suppose we are dealing with red currants, for which K = 2.21. This number must be multiplied by 20. 44.2 will come out. We divide by 9 to the nearest hundredth and get the quotient equal to 4.91. Subtract it from the figure 6. The result (1.09) shows that for redcurrant wine, 1.09 g of tartaric acid is needed per liter of juice diluted with water.
With the addition of 1 kg of sugar for each liter of juice with water, a stronger and sweeter wine is obtained, the so-called liqueur wine. For the preparation of less sweet and not so strong table wines, only 600-800 g of sugar is taken for every 3 liters of juice with water. Depending on such an increase, the alcohol content in table wines is 11-12%, and in liquor - 16-17%.
Sugar is taken the best, refined, which is preferred to granulated sugar.
Water for diluting berry juice is used soft, river, and only in the absence of such - key. Any water must be boiled, cooled and filtered through a muslin or, even better, filtered.
When making wine from more delicate berries, such as strawberries, water is taken not cold, but in the form of boiling water, since its effect is much stronger. Crushed berries are poured with boiling water in advance, but not earlier than 24 hours before pressing. It goes without saying that the amount of boiling water added must be accurately measured in order to establish how much more water needs to be added after pressing.
The capacity of the container into which the mixture is poured for fermentation must also be determined very precisely, regardless of whether the container is glass or wooden. It is advisable to indicate the volume with a number directly on the vessel.
Diluted juice should not be poured to the very top - a hole or a neck - because the contents of the dishes increase in volume during fermentation.
Fermentation.
The room for juice fermentation should be free from extraneous odors and stale air, if desired, it should always be easily ventilated and have a constant temperature of 15-20 ° C if possible.
The essence of fermentation is that the sugar contained in the berry juice diluted with water, decomposing, turns into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fermentation process is supported by microorganisms - fermentative or yeast fungi, the spores of which are always present in the air in significant quantities and, in addition, are found in abundance on the skin of berries and fruits.
Fermentation, depending on its strength, is divided into stormy (main) and quiet (fermentation). The second of these stages, in turn, is divided into two: the first and final fermentation.
The process takes place in a sealed container in such a way that the carbon dioxide released from the fermenting juice can freely escape. The outside air, which contains fungi that can spoil the wine, should not have access to the inside of the dish to the berry juice, or, as it should now be called, must.
Isolation of the external environment from the wort is achieved with the help of the so-called fermentation piles, of which there are quite a few. All of them contain a liquid - water or glycerin - which protects the wort from contact with air.
Fig.2. A tool for fumigating wine barrels with sulfur.
In household use, narrow glass tubes are used. Warmed up in a flame, they are bent with two knees at a right or almost right angle. The glass should be hot enough to soften. Bend the tube with a smooth movement of both hands, without removing it from the flame. It is preferable that the bent ends point downward rather than upward.
One of the ruts is inserted into the sleeve, and the other into a glass or a bottle of water, which is suspended from the wort dish or attached to it in some other way. The elbow of the glass tube should fit into the sleeve very tightly, and the place of their mating from above should be filled with sealing wax or stearin.
In exactly the same way, they act if the fermentation of the wort occurs in a glass vessel. The tube is also inserted with one knee into the cork, the top of which is filled with stearin or sealing wax.
In practice, one usually has to deal with a glass tube bent in an arc. However, there are also more complex sheet pile designs. The tube can be bent in an S-shape (Nessler system), and then the layer of insulating liquid is inside it. If home berry winemaking is carried out on a more or less extensive scale using wooden barrels or barrels, it is advantageous to use a fermentation funnel. All these systems are shown in Fig. 3.
Fig.3 Systems of fermentation spuits.
Violent fermentation will not slow down to begin immediately after the spill of the wort through the fermentation vessels, and at that time such a mass of carbon dioxide is formed and its release occurs with such speed that the wort is incessantly seething. This is accompanied by vigorous gurgling of carbon dioxide bubbles in the fermentation sheet.
In order to promote a fuller and more perfect fermentation, it is very useful to shake the vessel with the wort from time to time. Such shaking is intended to force the yeast settling to the bottom to rise again and quickly release excess carbon dioxide from the wort.
As already mentioned, in order to maintain the correct fermentation regime, it is necessary that it occurs at a constant temperature of 15-20 ° C.
Sometimes violent fermentation does not begin for a long time after the must is poured into the vessels. Such a delay usually occurs at an inappropriate temperature. To establish it, all measures should be taken immediately. We repeat once again that the premises for the fermentation of wine should be well ventilated and devoid of dampness.
Rapid fermentation of berry wines continues for 3-4 weeks. After 5 6 weeks it, as a rule, comes to an end with a poliostomy. There comes a period of quiet fermentation, or fermentation.
The end of violent fermentation is easily recognized by the cessation of the frequent release of gas bubbles. Oio does not stop for good, but it calms down so much that the bubbles gurgle only occasionally.
When violent fermentation is over, barrels or bottles are topped up with wort from spare dishes to the very top. To do this, you have to remove the sleeve and then fix it tightly again.
The dishes filled with wort are placed for quiet fermentation already in a cool room - for example, in a cellar or basement. As the process continues, albeit less vigorously, the fermentation sheet is still on its own.
In general, you should be more careful with the blockage and uncorking of the vessel with the wort. Until the must is completely converted into wine, you should never rush to remove the fermentation tongue - in all cases it isolates the contents of the vessel from outside air, and therefore prevents vinegar fungus from entering the must or wine, which helps the future drink turn into vinegar.
Quiet fermentation takes an average of 2 to 5 months. Sometimes it happens faster, sometimes it takes longer. The end of it can only be judged by the absolutely complete cessation of the release of bubbles from the fermentation tongue.
During all the time of fermentation - not only rapid, io and quiet - the wort is cloudy. As the quiet fermentation draws to a close, the wort gradually clears up, and the yeast particles that float to the surface gradually settle to the bottom.
Usually by January (and sometimes a month or two earlier), the berry must becomes completely transparent. From this point on, oo can already be called wine.
Pouring and filtering wine.
After the quiet fermentation is completed and the wine becomes completely transparent, they begin to transfuse it, that is, separate it from the sediment accumulated at the bottom.
For this purpose, when preparing berry wii at home, a flexible rubber tube one and a half meters long is excellent. When pouring wine, it acts like a siphon. A vessel with wine is placed on a stool or other elevation, and the vessel to be filled is placed on the floor. It is good if the siphon is equipped with a simple tap or clamp (Fig. 4).
Fig.4. Flexible tube with a tap for pouring wine.
Pouring wine from glass vessels is convenient because through its steak you can see to what depth the flexible tube has sunk and at what distance from the bottom it should be maintained so that turbidity does not rise from below.
The cloudy part of the content has to be filtered. For filtration, flannel bags with the pile turned inside are used. Such a flannel bag is fixed on a metal tripod (Fig. 5), under which a vessel for filtered wine is placed.
Rice. 5. A device for filtering wine.
The transfusion aims to completely separate the wine from the sediment, and if this goal is not achieved at once, then a second transfusion is necessary.
The situation is quite different when, two or more months after the end of fermentation, the wine does not clear. If it is found that there is no hope for natural enlightenment, we are forced to turn to artificial enlightenment, also called “pasting” of wia.
artificial lighting.
Most often, the turbidity of the must, which does not disappear by itself, is the result of improper preparation of wine, namely, an excessive addition of sugar to the juice diluted with water. So that the wort does not turn out too sweet, we can advise you to strictly adhere to R. Goethe's formula and not put more than a kilogram of sugar into three liters of liquid (1 liter of juice and 2 liters of water).
To clarify the wine, the following agents are used: gelatin, egg white and tannin.
The very method of “finishing”, as will be clear from what follows, is that the fining material is simply poured into the wine. The glue dissolved in the mass of wine, settling, drags suspended particles to the bottom, as a result of which the wine is clarified.
Gelatin for this purpose is taken in the ratio of 10-15 g per 100 liters of wine. The measured amount of gelatin is soaked for 12-14 hours in cold water, which is changed 2-3 times during this time. Then, draining the last "water, dissolve the swollen gelatin in fresh water at a temperature of about 50 ° C.
The solution should not contain more than 1% gelatin.
For fining wine, you can use both natural egg white and dried (albumin). The first one in the household is, of course, more affordable. The protein of a chicken egg, weighing about 40 g, contains an average of 4 g of albumin. For 100 liters of wine, 2-3 completely fresh proteins are required. They are beaten with a small amount of water until foamy, mixed with wine, poured several times from one vessel to another, and, finally, the resulting foamy mass is introduced into the wine.
Gelatin and protein are mainly used for “okleykn” tart, that is, containing a lot of tannins, wines, especially blueberries. For softer and sweeter wines, it is better to use fish glue.
Prior to fining, determine the amount of protein (if necessary, tannin), which must be added to the wine for complete clarification. For testing, they take 6-7 glasses and pour cloudy wine to be “pasted” into them. Then, in each of the glasses put a certain amount of a one-percent solution (in 20-degree alcohol) of the protein substance with which they intend to produce "pasting". For example, 0.5 cm3 of the indicated solution is poured into the first glass, 1 cm3 into the second, 2 cm3 into the third, etc. After that, the mixture in all glasses is thoroughly mixed and left until the next day. The next day, they check which of the glasses clearly clarified in the best way. Knowing how much protein substance is added to it, the required amount of material is calculated for “gluing” the entire mass of wine.
If no clarification has occurred in any glass, it means that the wine lacks tannins and this shortage should be filled with tannin. A 2% solution (in 20% alcohol) of tannin is introduced into each of the glasses in an amount of from half to two thirds of the volume of the solution of the protein substance previously used to “fine” the wine in this glass. After that, again wait a day and examine the results. According to the contents of the glass, in which it is clearly clarified, the required amount of protein and tannin is calculated.
The process of “gluing” comes down to the fact that an accurately calculated amount of gluing material is poured into a barrel of wine, so it can be better stirred with a stirrer and left for a week or a little longer. During this time, the turbidity settles tightly to the bottom. The most suitable temperature for gluing is 7-12 ° C.
Following this, the drink can be bottled.
Pouring wine into bottles and capping them.
Fermented and completely cleared, it is poured from a barrel or a large bottle into bottles, usually even before the onset of the znma.
It is most convenient to fill the bottles with a flexible rubber tube. But before that, they should be thoroughly washed first in warm, and then in cold water and dried.
It is most convenient to clean bottles with a brush with a long handle, rotating it. In household use, it is also desirable to have a simple tool for capping bottles with corks. The mentioned equipment is shown in fig. 6.
Fig.6. Bottle stoppers.
Softening corks are kept in boiling water for some time and stopper each bottle immediately after it has been filled.
Closing a cork alone should not be content with cork alone. It must be covered with resin. Before use, the resin is heated and, after allowing it to cool slightly if it is too hot, the top of the bottle neck is dipped into it. After that, the bottle is kept upside down for some time, and the excess resin flows off the cork. So that the neck does not burst at the same time, it should also be heated, lowering first into warm, and then into hot water.
Resin can be prepared independently. Its composition is approximately as follows: ka nfol - 800 g, fat - 100 g, wax - 25 g, cinnabar - 40 g.
Wine recipes.
Raspberry wine.
Successfully made raspberry wine has a wonderful aroma and can stand among the dessert wines of the highest dignity.
Berries must be perfectly ripe. Wild raspberries are also suitable, but they must be carefully checked so that worms do not get into the must. Every 10 kg of berries are crushed with clean hands and 4 liters of water are poured. All this mass is stirred and pressed the next day. The pomace is poured again with 4 liters of water, thoroughly exchanged and after 2 days they are also pressed.
In this way, 13 liters of juice are obtained, to which 0.25 liters of juice, blackcurrant and 4 kg of sugar are added. Then all the juice is poured into the striker and subjected to further processing.
Wine according to Greger.
To obtain an “eye”, completely ripe berries are taken, which are ground with a wooden pestle into porridge in a wooden trough or wooden bucket. To separate the juice from the grains, the entire resulting mass is rubbed through a thin sieve of metal wire, always protected from oxidation. However, if the wine ferments along with the grains, it will not harm it, because it acquires the taste of tannin, which is even desirable in other cases.
Then you need to examine the acidity of the wort, since the acid content in raspberries varies from year to year. For this purpose, a small part of the resulting mass is pressed separately.
They do not pay attention to the sweetness of the berries - it decreases after dilution of the juice. 25% sugar is added to the extracted juice and the wort is allowed to ferment in a barrel plugged with a sleeve.
Wine by Vintu.
24 liters of raspberries are crushed, pressed, and 4 liters of currant juice are added to the extracted juice. 32 liters of water are poured into the pomace remaining after pressing and the mixture is left to stand for 12 hours, and it must be stirred frequently. Then it is pressed again, and the juice obtained in this case is added to the previously obtained one. 24 liters of apple juice are also poured here.
8 kg of sugar and 75 g of cream of tartar in powder are diluted in the mixture. As soon as fermentation begins, thinly cut off the colored part of the peel from two lemons and two oranges and throw them into the must; add there also the juice squeezed from these four fruits. When the fermentation process is completed, remove the crusts from the surface and pour in 2 liters of cognac. Further care is the same as for other berry wines.
Strawberry wine.
Wine made from wild strawberries (strawberries) tastes very nice. It is prepared in the following way. The berries are carefully sorted, removing all spoiled. Then they are crushed and pressed.
For each liter of juice, 1 liter of water is added and for each liter of the mixture, 300 g of sugar. Everything else is known to readers.
According to another recipe, the wort is allowed to ferment, the composition of which is as follows: 40 liters of strawberries (strawberries), 20 liters of water, 12.5 kg of sugar, 100 g of tartar and 4 liters of vodka. Everything else is done according to the usual rules.
Elder wine.
To extract the juice, elderberry berries are torn off from the stems and put into a cleaned cauldron, poured with water at the rate of 1-2 liters per 10 liters of berries. The cauldron is put on fire, and the contents are stirred with a wooden spoon until it boils. Then the boiler is removed from the fire, the mass is allowed to cool and pressed. Can be pressed through a thin cloth or strained through a fine hair sieve.
The juice is poured into a wooden bucket or barrel, and the pomace is poured with hot water so that it is only covered. All this mass is left until the next day, and then pressed again.
In the final composition of the must for this wine, the following proportions are observed: 1 liter of elderberry juice already diluted with water, 1 liter of currant juice, 800 g of sugar, 2.5 liters of water, 3 g of tartaric acid, 0.1 g of tannin. Tartaric acid and tannin are pre-dissolved in hot water.
Blueberry wine.
The method of making this wine is as follows. After the berries have been sorted out, they are washed in cold water, crushed with a pestle in an earthen vessel and pressed. For each liter of juice obtained, 1.2 liters of water and 250 g of sugar are taken. Cinnamon and elder flowers, added in small quantities to the must during fermentation, will give the wine a particularly pleasant taste.
The diluted juice is poured into a barrel and on the third day it is plugged with a sleeve. The barrel should calmly stand still at a temperature of 18-25 ° C. After a month or a month and a half, bubbles rising to the surface will no longer be visible. This means that, firstly, the rapid fermentation has passed and, secondly, the moment has come for the first merging of wine with yeast. The sleeve is opened and the wine is drained in the usual way, using a flexible tube. The barrel, which is then filled, should, if possible, have the same capacity as the previous one, be completely clean and not previously used for anything, especially for vinegar or beer. It should be topped up and kept full. After the first transfusion, the wine is transferred to a cooler cellar. The term of the second transfusion occurs after 3 months.
The wort is prepared in another way. Mix 40 liters of juice squeezed in the same way as in the manufacture of other berry wines, 50 liters of water, 20 kg of sugar, 75 g of powdered tartar and 10 g of tannin. Sugar, cream of tartar and tannin are diluted in hot water and injected into the juice while warm.
Wine according to Leman.
Fully ripe berries are used, processed as soon as possible after picking.
To obtain 100 liters of wine, you will need 50 kg of blueberries, 50 liters of water, 10-25 kg of sugar (depending on how strong it is desirable to have a drink), 10 g of tannin and 75 g of powdered tartar.
If you press the berries cold, they will release little juice; if you first heat them in a closed vessel and then press them, much more juice will come out. After the berries are pressed and the right amount of water is added to the juice, sugar, tannin and cream of tartar are diluted in this mixture. The mixture is then poured into a slightly smoked gray barrel. Fermentation soon begins.
Further care for wine is the same as for others.
Cherry wine.
The berries are washed, allowed to dry for some time and crushed (it doesn't matter if they are pitted or not). After pressing, 0.25 l of water, 125 g of sugar, 1 g of crushed cream of tartar and 0.1 g of tannin are added per 1 liter of juice. This is how they do it with sweet cherries. When they are acidic, the composition of the mixture is chosen differently: for 1 liter of juice you need 0.5 liters of water, 400 g of sugar, 1 g of tartar, 0.1 g of tannin. The must is put on fermentation.
Wine according to Werner.
Whole ripe sour cherries are crushed. The resulting mass is covered and kept at rest for 24 hours. Then they are pressed and injected for each liter of cherry juice 1 liter of currant juice, 1 liter of water and 0.5 kg of sugar. All this mixture is poured into a small barrel, the first few days they are sometimes stirred, then they are allowed to ferment, the barrel is topped up to the top and a little later it is bottled.
Wine according to Zemler.
The pits are removed from the cherries and the pulp is crushed into a gruel, which is allowed to ferment for 12 hours in clay pots, and then pressed. The juice is again poured into pots and wait for the start of fermentation. Then 0.5 kg of sugar is added for every 3 liters of juice, poured into a barrel and allowed to ferment for 8 days, after which it is bottled, which must be stored in a cool place.
Wine according to Grimm.
Timm believes that bottling wine after 8 days is too early and that the wine should be in the barrel for 8 months. In addition, he recommends mixing cherry juice with raspberry juice - in this case, a wine similar to port is obtained.
Proceed as follows. Freshly picked, preferably soft, cherries are pressed without crushing the pits. To the resulting juice is added "/ in part of raspberry and blackcurrant juices. The mixture is sweetened with refined sugar in the proportion of 0.5 kg for every 2.5 liters. The must is poured into a barrel and allowed to ferment. As soon as the fermentation is over, the barrel is tightly corked and left for 3 months.Then the wine is cleaned and bottled.After 6 weeks it is ready to drink.
Given the abundance of cherries in Southern Russia, this recipe deserves attention.
Plum wine.
Bones are removed from the berries, the pulp is crushed, and for every 4 kg of pulp, 3 liters of hot water are added. After 2 days, this mass is pressed and injected for every 2 liters of juice 0.5 kg of sugar. From the fifth part of the used plums, they take the stones, crush them and put them in a barrel. The process of fermentation and natural clarification of this wine often requires 12 months.
Blackberry wine.
Blackberries can make a very pleasant wine with a beautiful color. As it gets old, it starts to resemble port wine.
Since this berry in some areas is found in abundance in the wild, one cannot ignore its merits as a wine-making material. Blackberry juice ferments easily, despite the fact that it is not squeezed out in early summer, as from other berries, but in autumn. Fermentation occurs at the time of the year when the temperature is already quite low.
Of course, only ripe berries are used for wine. Shade-grown berries produce a watery juice and an unflavored wine.
An excellent table wine is obtained by fermenting 20 liters of blackberry juice, 20 liters of water and 10 kg of sugar.
Dessert wine according to Golzapfel.
Dry blackberries are taken whenever possible. Wash it carefully. After adding a small amount of sugar, grind to a mushy state and leave for 2 days at a temperature of about 15 ° C, stirring occasionally. The blackberries are then pressed.
Approximately 35 liters of blackberry juice, 35 liters of water, 12.5 (according to other sources 16 - 18) kg of sugar and 75 g of powdered tartar are consumed for approximately 75 liters of dessert wine. Sugar and cream of tartar are dissolved in hot water and poured into the juice while warm.
Further preparation is carried out as usual. When the wine is ready and completely clear, add a little more sugar or cognac.
Wine according to Zemler.
Berries should be picked in dry weather. They are crushed with hands and poured with hot water so that the berries are only covered with it. Water should be almost as much as berries by weight. Then a handful of raisins and a handful of strawberry leaves are added and this mass is allowed to stand quietly for 4 days. After this period, a layer of yeast forms on the surface.
Then comes the time of pressing and adding sugar in the amount of 250 g for every 4 liters of juice. For several weeks, the juice ferments, then the barrel is tightly corked and after 6 months the finished wine is drained.
Port according to Semeler.
After pressing the berries, the juice is allowed to stand for 36 hours. During this period, everything extraneous that appears on the surface of the wort should be removed. Then water is added in an amount equal to 1/4 of the juice volume, sugar (better burnt than white) at the rate of 1.2 kg per 4 liters of liquid and filtered after 12 hours. After a fermentation lasting several months, the barrel is corked, and after another 6 months it is drained.
This wine improves over time.
Wine by Creutz.
The drink also tastes like port wine. If possible, dry berries are collected and crushed in some suitable vessel to a mushy state. The vessel is sealed and the mass is allowed to stand for 3-4 days, after which it is pressed and injected into 1 liter of juice 1 liter of water, from 300 to 400 g of sugar and 2.5 g of crushed cream of tartar. In addition, 0.5 liters of good cognac are added for every 30 liters of liquid. The mixture composed in this way is poured into a carefully washed barrel, which during the fermentation period is kept in rooms with as constant a temperature as possible - best of all 12-15 ° C.
Cognac should be introduced after fermentation, says Timm. He also advises, in the absence of high-quality cognac, to add a large amount of sugar that produces the same alcohol. Bad cognac is very often made from wine spirit and essence, which give the finished drink a bad taste.
Rhubarb wine.
For wine, petioles of rhubarb leaves are taken only from the first, June harvest. August stems become too rough and also contain a lot of tannin, so the wine from them turns out to be too tart.
To extract the juice, the rhubarb stalks are first cut into pieces. Then it is best to pass them through a fruit mill for grinding, but in the household, most often you have to limit yourself to a press.
When making wine, 34 liters of pure juice, 25 kg of sugar and 47 liters of water are taken per 100 liters of must.
Wine by Bomb.
Rhubarb stalks cut into pieces are crushed into a homogeneous mass, boiled water is added to it in double quantity and the mixture is allowed to brew for 5-6 days, not forgetting to stir. During this time, the rhubarb is sufficiently leached. For each liter of liquid obtained, 250 g of sugar is required. Before putting sugar, they rub the yellow part of the lemon peel with it, and then, after removing the grains from the lemon and cutting it into pieces, they also put it in the juice.
The juice is allowed to ferment in a stone pot placed in a warm room. Approximately 14 days later, vigorous fermentation will end. Then the yeast that has floated to the surface is removed, and the wine is bottled, but they are not tightly sealed immediately, but only a few weeks later.
If the wine is allowed to ferment in a pot, then the drink acquires a special unpleasant aftertaste.
In the event that for some reason it is impossible to put lemon in the wine, the bottles are tightly corked immediately after pouring. The carbon dioxide formed inside from fermentation will make it possible to obtain a drink similar to champagne.
Preparation of moonshine and alcohol for personal use
absolutely legal!
After the demise of the USSR, the new government stopped the fight against moonshine. Criminal liability and fines were abolished, and the article on the prohibition of the production of alcohol-containing products at home was removed from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. To this day, there is not a single law that prohibits you and me from engaging in our favorite hobby - making alcohol at home. This is evidenced by the Federal Law of July 8, 1999 No. 143-FZ "On the administrative responsibility of legal entities (organizations) and individual entrepreneurs for offenses in the field of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products" (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1999, No. 28 , item 3476).
Excerpt from the Federal Law of the Russian Federation:
"The effect of this Federal Law does not apply to the activities of citizens (individuals) who do not produce products containing ethyl alcohol for the purpose of marketing."
Moonshine in other countries:
In Kazakhstan in accordance with the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Administrative Offenses dated January 30, 2001 N 155, the following liability is provided. Thus, according to article 335 “Manufacture and sale of home-made alcoholic beverages”, illegal production for the purpose of selling moonshine, chacha, mulberry vodka, mash and other alcoholic beverages, as well as the sale of these alcoholic beverages, entails a fine in the amount of thirty monthly calculation indices with confiscation of alcoholic beverages , apparatus, raw materials and equipment for their manufacture, as well as money and other valuables received from their sale. However, the law does not prohibit the preparation of alcohol for personal purposes.
In Ukraine and Belarus things are different. Articles No. 176 and No. 177 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine provide for the imposition of fines in the amount of three to ten tax-free minimum wages for the manufacture and storage of moonshine without the purpose of sale, for the storage without the purpose of sale of apparatus * for its production.
Article 12.43 repeats this information practically word for word. “Production or purchase of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), storage of devices for their production” in the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. Paragraph No. 1 states: “Manufacturing by individuals of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their manufacture (mash), as well as storage of devices * used for their manufacture - entails a warning or a fine in the amount of up to five basic units with confiscation of the indicated drinks, semi-finished products and devices.
* It is still possible to purchase moonshine stills for home use, since their second purpose is to distill water and obtain components for natural cosmetics and perfumes.
The process of creating wine begins in the vineyard and ends at the winery. I will tell you about the holy of holies of every winemaker: the place where grapes turn into wine. From the very beginning. From construction.
As it turned out during the almost six months of studying various sources, there is not so much real information on the construction of cellars. There are no reprints of three articles with the same pictures, well, unless you can collect bits and pieces of advice on the forums.
And when it comes to a specific incarnation, again there are questions to which the non-specialist (non-builder), to which I belong, has no answers. On the forums, too, they are not very willing to suggest on cellars-sheds, probably not interesting ...
Project.
So the task.
Room for . Dacha-kitchen is good, but when the amount exceeds 300 liters, it’s not very good ... At the dacha there is not enough clean water, many little things, but in the apartment there is space.
Therefore, on the plot intended for the construction of a house, after a temporary hut, I decided to start not a house, but a winery. But, in fact, this is a barn with a cellar under it. Well, or a cellar with an operated cellar, as you like.
The dimensions of the future building are determined by the free space on the site. Defined as 3x5m. After clarifying the material - 3.2x4.8m.
Due to the fact that the ceiling of the cellar is the floor of the barn, a large deepening is not allowed. Well, how much land can be poured onto a reasonable floor? Well, 30, well, 40 cm, I think, no more. There’s also a screed, there’s also all sorts of equipment, walking ...
In short, the level of the cellar floor is taken to be -250 cm at a height of 2.05 ... 2.1 m. After the construction, he nevertheless regretted: the overlap was powerful, it was possible to deepen it even more. Centimeters at 60 ... 80 ...
It is imperative to provide for small-scale mechanization: the volumes are considerable for one person, the work is still the same! And movers on call will save the day! 🙂
Groundwater is not a problem, 10m before them, the ground is clay. Nearby, less than a meter away, is an old well, through which all the geology is visible. Unfortunately, I had to fill it up - it's cheaper to dig a new one than to restore this one. Yes, the water is too hard.
Material.
A separate issue is the material of the walls of the cellar and superstructure. Options were considered: boards, concrete, bricks.
Boards are rotten. Concrete - not really wanted. Brick... Ideally, but for this size of wall you need a brick thickness - and this is crazy money. In the end, on the advice of comrades (not even one!) A cinder block was chosen. More precisely, a concrete block of granite screenings and cement.
We have it - "local building material". And entire areas of the city are built of slag and cinder blocks - from the foundation to the walls. Sheds, houses, greenhouses, even drain holes (!). Nothing, they stand for many years. The oldest ones are already more than a hundred ... And after I saw cellars-socles made of shell rock everywhere near Odessa, I stopped bothering at all: cinder block is already stronger, and less hygroscopic, etc. Building plans:
Here is the floor plan:
There are two rooms in the cellar: a cold one, in which the temperature in winter should be 2…6 degrees, in summer it is not critical, and a warm one, the actual wine cellar, in which the temperature in winter/summer should be within 10…16 degrees.
