Clarifying wine with gelatin at home: proportions, step by step instructions, mistakes

After fermenting homemade wine, the consistency often remains cloudy due to particles of must, cream of tartar and yeast. Before bottling the drink, it is recommended to clarify it. Many different substances are used for this procedure, and a common option is to clarify the wine with gelatin.

The principle of wine clarification with gelatin

The process of wine clarification, also called fining, consists in binding unwanted particles with their subsequent transfer to sediment. This is possible due to the content of tannins and protein compounds in gelatin.When interacting with an alcoholic beverage, the compounds form large flakes from small particles that can settle to the bottom of the container within a couple of days. As a result, the wine becomes more pure and acquires a transparent or translucent consistency.

Cleaning wine at home is considered a laborious procedure, but plays a significant role, since a pure product has a higher quality index. At the same time, there is always a risk of spoiling the quality of the product.

When clarifying an alcoholic beverage, it is important to adhere to the required amount of clarifier, as not enough will lead to a poor result, and exceeding the dosage will spoil the wine and impair its original characteristics.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

The spread of the method of clarification of wine with gelatin is associated with a large number of positive aspects. The list of the main advantages of the procedure includes the following:

Clarifying self-made wine removes unwanted buildup and gives the alcoholic drink a clean structure.
As a result of gluing, the maximum shelf life of the product is extended. However, it is important to provide favorable storage conditions, including suitable temperature, humidity and UV protection.
The procedure helps to comprehensively get rid of all impurities, regardless of the nature of their origin. As a result of clarification, must particles, yeast, remains of tartar and other undesirable components precipitate.

The ability to clarify an alcoholic beverage also has several disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the risk of spoiling the wine and making it worse than it was before the procedure. In addition, to obtain the desired result, it is often necessary to repeatedly paste over, which takes a lot of time and effort.

How to apply bleach

Painting wine at home requires a responsible approach. To avoid mistakes when cleaning a drink, you need to follow the step-by-step instructions. Before proceeding with the procedure, you need to make sure that the drink with a cloudy consistency has matured sufficiently. To do this, the bottle is corked and left in a dark place. If after a couple of days bubbles form inside, then the wine needs ripening. When aging and the presence of turbidity, cleaning is carried out forcibly in the following way:

For 10 liters of wine, take 0.5-2 g of natural gelatin and pre-soak it for a couple of hours in five times the amount of cold water. Soaking for a day helps to improve the effect of the procedure, but during this period you need to change the water 2-3 times.
When the gelatin is infused, boiled water is added to it in a proportion equal to cold water, after which the mixture is thoroughly mixed. The result should be a homogeneous solution without lumps and with a temperature of about 35-40 degrees.
Put a funnel on a container with wine and gradually add a solution with gelatin, pouring in a thin stream and periodically stirring the drink. Then the wine is poured into a tightly closed container and kept in a cool place for a couple of weeks.
They check the consistency of the alcoholic drink and remove it from the sediment, after which they send it for further aging.

The result of the procedure depends on the initial consistency of the drink and the feedstock. As a rule, the purification of apple wine is easier than plum wine. Also, the final result is influenced by the cooking technology and a number of third-party factors.

Precautions

Before clearing the wine with gelatin, it is recommended to make trial attempts. This will help to calculate the exact amount of the substance and predict in advance the result of the procedure.It is important not to experiment on a large volume of an alcoholic drink at once, as this may lead to a deterioration in the quality of the product.

After weighing all the risks and benefits of clarification of homemade wine, you need to consider that the procedure will help make the drink beautiful and transparent, and also extend the shelf life, but will not affect the taste characteristics.

Therefore, deciding whether to clean the wine is solely based on personal wishes for the appearance of the product. In fact, clarification is not a mandatory step in the preparation of the drink.

Possible errors

The main mistake when pasting is to add gelatin too early. First, the wine must be aged for 3-5 months, then remove the drink from the sediment and look at its consistency.

If there is a cloudy structure and you need to achieve transparency, then you can start cleaning.

A significant mistake is also the use of the wrong amount of clarifier. Violation of the recommended dosage leads to damage to the product or lack of results.

After completing the purification of an alcoholic drink, you need to withstand it for at least another month. As a rule, it is possible to immediately notice a change in consistency only partially, since it takes time for unwanted particles to precipitate.