Semi-sweet grape wine at home: how to make, 3 best recipes

Getting a quality alcoholic drink at home is not easy, you need to learn this. If you follow the technology, it is possible for a beginner winemaker to make semi-sweet grape wine at home. If you follow the recipe for making a drink, it can turn out better than in a store. Semi-sweet is one of the most popular wines in home production. The drink goes well with almost all dishes.

Features of creation

Semi-sweet wine has a mild taste and delicate aroma. It can be made from any grape variety. Winemakers with experience identify several of the most suitable: Riesling, Rkatseteli, Sapevari, Feteaska, Arevik, Lydia, Muscat, Cabernet Sauvignon, Isabella.

Semi-sweet drink contains a small amount of sugar - up to 12%, it is served not only with fish, meat, but also with desserts and fruits.

For making you will need grapes, sugar, water is also added. Several cooking features:

1. To prevent the product from turning into vinegar, pasteurization is needed. It will exclude the reproduction of microorganisms, protect the drink from souring.
2. The fruits are kept until fully ripe so that enough glucose accumulates in them.
3. A yeast film forms on top, thanks to which the fermentation of the product will be correct.

Containers for the future drink use clean and dry. They can be smoked with sulfur to prevent the ingress of microorganisms.

Cooking Methods

There are two ways to get homemade alcoholic drink.

From juice and dry wine

First, wine is prepared, corked into bottles. The juice is squeezed separately, poured and pasteurized at 85%, left for storage. For a semi-sweet drink, two products are mixed in proportions of 7: 3.

For example - 700 ml of wine and 300 ml of juice. Sugar there is about 6%, alcohol - 8.5%. For a sweeter taste, instead of juice, optionally add 100 g of honey per liter of wine. Consume a drink prepared in this way immediately.

Pasteurization method

It will require grapes with a sugar content of at least 23%. Actions:

1. Squeeze juice from grapes, pour into a clean container, stand for 12 hours in a cool place.
2. Then it is poured into a new container through a siphon so that the sediment remains in the old container, and set for fermentation. At the same time, the air temperature is set to no more than 15 ^С.
3. After seven days, you need to taste the wine and not miss the moment when there will be an optimal amount of sugar to make the drink pleasant.
4. Then stop the fermentation by heating at 80 ^C.
5. Before the procedure, drain the wine from the sediment, pour, cork.
6. Bottles with a capacity of 10 liters stand for 50 minutes, then remove from the water and leave for 24 hours. Then take it to the cellar for 2 months.

When the drink brightens, it is poured, corked with clean steamed corks, they are tied with parchment. Then it is pasteurized again at a temperature of +72 С, 0.5 l containers are kept for 25 minutes. After cooling, you are allowed to taste the wine. Store at +10 ^{С, no more.}

Rules for choosing the main ingredients

Before preparing a drink, you should know the basic rules. Clusters taken from the vine are not washed, even if they are dusty. After all, they have live yeast on their surface. No need to pick grapes immediately after rain, you need to wait a few days.

To obtain a quality alcoholic beverage, the grapes must be dry, without drops of moisture. The berries are separated from the branches, dry, moldy and thrown away. The berries are carefully kneaded, do it in portions. Each is poured into prepared dishes.

Experts advise - if the grapes are harvested in cold weather, you need to let them stand at room temperature for several hours.

How to make semi-sweet grape wine

There are a lot of recipes for making an alcoholic drink, some of the most popular ones stand out.

Easy recipe

To make an alcoholic drink at home, it is better to take artesian water or defend tap water. The technology is almost the same as for a dry drink. Ingredients:

• berries - 10 kg;
• water - 600 ml;
• granulated sugar - 1 kg.

Clean the collected bunches of debris. Then separate the grapes from the brushes, crush, preferably with your hands, you can use a wooden pusher. Berries should not be allowed to come into contact with metal utensils. Place the resulting mass in a bulk dish, ideally in an oak barrel, cover with a clean cloth, put in a room where the temperature is + 25 ^{С. Leave for 5 days, stir regularly with a wooden stick 1-2 times a day.}

After a while, drain the juice into a separate container. Pour crushed berries without juice with peel into water, put sugar and leave for 3 days. Then mix both liquids in one bowl and install a water valve to remove carbon dioxide. For this, they use factory-made, ready-made hydraulic seals or their own home-made design

After three weeks, when fermentation is complete, drain from the sediment. Pour the liquid into bottles, then pasteurize. Heat the water in the pan to +60 С, put a grate on the bottom and put the bottles. Keep them for 20 minutes. Remove and cool afterwards.

The wine still needs to mature for a month or two.

From Rkatsiteli grapes

The production of wine from this variety is characterized by a large amount of sugar. Rkatsiteli differs with a harsh taste, there is little glucose, but the product is stored longer. You will need:

• Rkaticeli - 40 kg;
• water - 8 l;
• sugar - 7.5 kg.

Crush the berries, pour into a clean container, leave for 4-5 days. During this time, stir several times. Then drain the juice into a separate bowl. Dissolve sugar in water, pour over the pulp. Let it sit for another 5 days. Then pour juice and pulp into one container. Leave for the fermentation procedure for at least a month by installing a wine water seal. Then bottled.

From Isabella variety

Isabella fruits reach maturity at the end of October. To form a sufficient amount of sugar, the grapes are harvested after another week. Semi-sweet drink ingredients:

• grapes - 20 kg;
• sugar - 2-4 kg;
• water - 0.5-0.7 l.

Place crushed berries and squeezed juice in a sterile container with a wide mouth. After 4 days, when fermentation has just begun, strain the juice and squeeze the pulp through a two-layer cheesecloth.

Pour half the sugar into the juice and pour into a fermentation bowl. Install the water seal tightly. Put the future wine in a dark place with a temperature of +18 … +28 ^{С. After 5 days, add the rest of the sugar. When the fermentation is over, taste and, if necessary, add more sugar. Pour into another container without affecting the sediment, you can use a special filter tube. Put in the basement for aging for 3 months. Then bottled.}

How and how much can be stored

It is better to store wine in glass bottles, you can use plastic bottles. They must be from under food and thoroughly washed, without foreign odors. Then the containers are disinfected with a solution of iodine and water in a ratio of 1:2500. The lids are also soaked in the solution for an hour.

The disinfectant is drained and the bottles are filled with wine, not reaching the neck 1-2 cm. The closed container is lowered into the cellar and kept upright. A drink is tasted every 2 weeks.

Room temperature is desirable +14… +16 С for dessert wines, +10… +12 С for canteen wines, humidity - 80-85%. There should be no mold and products prone to decay.

Grape wine is stored for 4 years, plum, cherry - 3 years. It is allowed to keep the drink in plastic containers for no more than 7 months.

Wine is also aged in oak barrels for 1-2 years.

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