If homemade wine turned out sour: how to fix and prevent, the best ways

Wine is considered a noble, refined drink, with a refined taste, sweet and sour notes. To obtain a high-quality product, it is necessary to have special skills and experience. Beginning winemakers often face the problem of increased acidity of the drink. Winemakers are interested in how to fix homemade wine if it turned out sour.

Why is wine sour after fermentation

Wine contains the following types of acids:

• apple;
• vinegar;
• amber;
• lemon;
• wine;
• dairy;
• galacturonic;
• glycol;
• pyruvic;
• dioxyfumaric;
• oxalic.

The low calorie content of sour grape wine allows you to maintain a figure, restore water-s alt balance, increase cholesterol levels.

During fermentation in grapes, fruit flies reproduce, they are carriers of acetic acid bacteria. Under favorable conditions, bacteria multiply, breaking down the alcohol in the drink, leaving only water and vinegar.

Acidity rises in wine due to:

• unripe raw materials;
• sour grapes;
• not enough granulated sugar;
• poor sterilization, sealing containers.

The quality of wine depends on acidity, sugar level and strength. The acceptable norm is 5-10 g of acid per 1 liter of drink. Increasing the indicators contributes to the oxidation of wine. Sour apple / grape wine is he althier than other types of drink - it does not contain a high concentration of sucrose, glucose.

How to check the acidity of a drink

Winemakers believe that quality grape wine should have a sufficient level of acidity, not exceeding sweetness. To determine the acidity, you need to stock up:

• pipette 5-10 ml;
• burette - a glass tube with a tap;
• mug;
• glass rod;
• titration liquid (sodium solution with distilled water);
• litmus test.

Determining the acidity of wine must:

• The burette is filled with titration liquid, the air is released.
• Distilled water can reduce the bright color of the juice. Juice (8-10 ml) is collected with a pipette, poured into a mug.
• The liquid container is placed under the burette, 1 ml of alkaline liquid is dripped.
• The mixture is stirred with a glass rod, the juice is dripped onto a litmus strip. A red bar indicates insufficient acid neutralization.
• Add 1 ml of alkali to the mug, use litmus paper. The procedure is carried out until the strip turns blue, this will mean mixing acid with alkalis.

The amount of ml of alkaline solution used for 25 ml of juice will be related to the acidity of the juice in g/L.

How to fix sour wine at home

Inappropriate drink indicators are corrected before fermentation. In a cold, rainy summer, the berries do not acquire enough sucrose. In this case, it is compensated by adding more sugar.

Dilution with water

You can remove the acid by diluting it with water, but this contributes to a decrease in extractivity, a partial loss of taste. Water lowers the acid level of grape raw materials by 2 times, while it is necessary to monitor the amount of sugar introduced.

It is necessary to reduce the acidity with water before fermentation. When diluting the finished drink before drinking, discomfort and headache occur.

Pasteurization

Sour drink can be fixed by pasteurization. Heating the drink kills the yeast in the grapes, which amplify the acidity. After that, the liquid is sweetened, when granulated sugar is added, fermentation processes do not occur again.

The pasteurization process takes place in stages:

• Wine bottles are placed in a wide basin on a stand - they should not touch the bottom.
• Cold water is poured into the basin, put on the stove.
• Heat water over low heat to 65-75 ^oS.
• The basin is removed from the fire, left to cool.
• The bottles are taken out, sealed tightly, put into storage.

Using pasteurization, you can neutralize the level of acid, preserve the aroma and taste of grapes.

Cryostabilization, or cooling

You can lower the acid by cryostabilization. The drink is cooled for 14-21 days at +4-0 ^{оС. If the wine remains sour, it is aged for another 20 days in the cold.}

Stabilization at low temperatures helps to deacidify the wine, promotes the formation of a solid sediment. The drink is drained from the sediment, filtered, poured into sterile bottles, hermetically sealed.

Addition of sulphides

You can reduce the acid level of a drink at home with the help of sulfitation. Experienced winemakers resort to sulfur processing, preparing an alcoholic grape drink in large quantities.

Sulfur dioxide has a pronounced antiseptic, antioxidant effect. It acts as a stabilizer and is widely used in winemaking.

Sulfation is carried out at the initial stages of preparing the drink:

• For fumigation of barrels/bottles, sulfur wicks are used, they are burned until the end of burning. After they go out, all the oxygen will evaporate from the tank and destroy the bacteria.
• Modern sulfitation involves adding powdered sulfur to the drink.
• Wine is mixed with pyrosulphite/potassium metabisulphite in proportions of 100 mg/l liquid. The powder is diluted with wine or water, stirred, poured into a common bottle. When wine is mixed with pyrosulfite, sulfur oxide is formed - it reacts to acid, lowers its level.

If the proportions are observed, you can make the wine sweet, without excessive sourness, bitterness. Sulfitation does not impair the taste, aroma of wine. Using chemicals in drinks, they are bred strictly according to the instructions. An overdose gives the drink an unpleasant sulfurous odor, harming the human body.

Fortifying wine

You can increase the degree of wine to 20-22 ^{oC with the help of fasteners. Such a result is not achieved by a single fermentation process.}

When fortifying drinks, follow the rules:

1. When the alcohol reaches 13-14 ^{oC, the drink stops fermenting. To fix the wine, you need to add sugar, alcohol, vodka. You can fix the drink at any stage. Alcohol is mixed with berry juice, fermenting young wine at the end of cooking.}
2. The fermenting grape pulp does not need to be pressed when alcoholized.Berries must be mashed, mixed with sugar syrup. Bottled wine is kept warm to ferment. The duration of the process is 4-5 days, during which time the sugar content is reduced by 8-10%. After that, the pulp is squeezed out, the juice is mixed with 9% alcohol.
3. Wine is infused for a week, poured into containers. It is important not to overdo it with alcohol. You can increase the degree by 1% with alcohol in a ratio of 1% of the amount of wine drink. Vodka is added twice as much - 2% to 1% of wine. For example, to fix 10 liters of drink at 6%, it is mixed with 600 ml of alcohol or 1.2 liters of vodka.

To neutralize acidity, you can sweeten the wine. By adding 20 g of sugar to 1 liter of pulp, you can increase the degree by 1%. Winemakers recommend not to overdo it with sugar - this will stop/slow down the fermentation process.

Blending

The essence of blending is mixing sour juice with sweet in equal proportions to balance the taste, acid. It is important to consider the following nuances:

• For mixing, it is recommended to use the juice of one fruit / berry, but of a different variety. The fruits must be the same color - blue grapes with blue, green apples with green.
• When using different fruits, the taste of the preparation deteriorates.
• Reducing acidity with juice is the best option. This preserves a bright taste palette, richness of aroma.

The disadvantage of blending is the presence of dessert wine with a high concentration of sugar. This method is used by experienced winemakers who have different wine varieties.

How to prevent the problem from occurring

You can avoid problems when making wine by following these rules:

• Sugar must be put in accordance with the recipe. Insufficient amount of granulated sugar is fraught with a violation of taste, especially when using sour / low-sweet berries.
• A bottle of wine is covered with a water seal or a rubber glove. This will help determine the end of the fermentation processes. It is important to hermetically close the container - if oxygen enters, the drink deteriorates.
• When choosing berries, it is recommended to give preference to sweet, fragrant specimens.
• It is necessary to monitor the fermentation of the workpiece - if this process is delayed, the wine begins to oxidize.

Sour wine will become sparkling when sugar is added. It is sealed tightly, placed in long-term storage.

What to do with wine if the taste cannot be corrected

Don't dispose of sour, spoiled wine. There are other uses for it:

• Acidic liquid suitable for wine vinegar. Grape pulp (1 l) is mixed with sugar (20-25 g), left to infuse for 14 days. Fermented vinegar is poured into a bottle, corked, sent to the cellar / refrigerator.
• Sour drink is used for culinary purposes. It is suitable for creating a sauce, marinating fish and meat with it. Acid helps to soften the meat fibers, gives the product tenderness, juiciness.
• Fermented wine is mixed with other alcoholic beverages. A popular option is sangria - it is prepared with sour wine, lemonade, spices, fruits.

If the problem is detected in time, the acid in the wine can be neutralized at the initial stage. To obtain a quality product, winemakers use ripe, juicy, sugary fruits. If the wine remains sour, it is used as a sauce, vinegar, addition to other alcoholic beverages.

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