7 simple step-by-step recipes for making chokeberry wine at home

Homemade wines are often superior to store-bought wines in terms of taste and health benefits. After all, for their preparation, fruit and berry raw materials are carefully selected, and the entire process is carried out under our own control. There are many successful ways to make chokeberry wine with the addition of additional ingredients.

We bring to your attention the best options.

The benefits and harms of the drink

Wine made with your own hands at home is recommended for consumption if you have a number of problems:

• excessive body weight;
• accumulation of toxins and waste in the body;
• rheumatism;
• increased pressure in the arteries;
• nervous excitability;
• radiation sickness.

Wine improves appetite, eliminates stomach cramps, protects the body from infections, and also reduces the risk of developing cancer.

The drink has all the healing properties inherent in chokeberry fruits. As a result of its use, radionuclides, toxic substances and heavy metal salts are removed from the body.

With all the beneficial properties, it is important to keep in mind the possible harm.

The drink contains pollen, yeast and other histamines, so it should not be abused by people who are prone to allergic reactions.

Chokeberry wine can also aggravate migraine symptoms.

It is highly undesirable to drink chokeberry wine under the following conditions:

• pregnancy and lactation;
• tendency to constipation;
• severe hypotension;
• increased blood clotting, varicose veins and thrombophlebitis;
• gastritis with high acidity;
• stomach ulcer, duodenal ulcer.

Subtleties of making chokeberry wine

To make chokeberry wine for the winter truly tasty, healthy and of high quality, you need to take a responsible approach to the collection and preparation of raw materials. You will also need to select suitable glass containers and reliably sterilize them.

A prerequisite for making wine from chokeberry is the addition of a large amount of sugar, which will reduce the increased astringency of the berry.

Several winemaking technologies can be used:

• classic juice squeezing;
• Cahor method;
• juice separation due to fermentation of the pulp.

The second and third methods are most preferable, since they allow you to obtain the highest concentration of useful substances.

How to choose the right raw materials

Berries for making wine are harvested at the end of September. During collection, the umbrellas are cut off entirely. The separation of the berries from the stalks is carried out immediately before preparing the wine. The collected berries will not lose their properties if they are stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of up to six degrees.

Fruits for winemaking should not show signs of spoilage, mold or rotting. If such specimens are present, they should be immediately separated and discarded. It must be taken into account that just one bad berry can spoil the taste and quality of the product.

When starting the winemaking process, there is no need to wash the chokeberry fruits. On their surface there are active yeast microorganisms, on which proper fermentation depends.

You will need glass bottles, the approximate volume of which is 15-20 liters. They must first be washed with soda and dried.

How to make chokeberry wine at home

Let's look at proven and easy-to-use options. There is one for every housewife.

Classic recipe without vodka

To prepare an intoxicating drink according to a traditional recipe, you need the following ingredients:

• 10 kg of ripe chokeberry berries (chokeberry);
• granulated sugar - to taste, but at least five full glasses.

The step-by-step winemaking process is simple:

1. Place the sorted but not washed chokeberry berries into a capacious container - glass, enamel or steel.
2. Grind them by hand, add granulated sugar and mix evenly.
3. Cover with a lid and leave for 12 days to ferment.
4. Stir the berry-sugar mixture from time to time.
5. When foam forms on the surface of the container and the berries float to the surface, squeeze out the juice.
6. Transfer the pulp into a separate bowl, add one liter of bottled water and a glass of sugar to it - in this state, send it for re-fermentation within a week.
7. All this time, make sure that mold does not form.
8. Strain the juice and pour it into bottles equipped with water seals.
9. Place in a dark place with a temperature not exceeding +18 degrees.
10. After 7-12 days, strain off the pulp and discard the pulp.
11. Uncork the juice from the first portion, skim off the foam on the surface. Combine with fresh juice and seal again with a water seal.
12. Over the next month, periodically remove the foam and filter the liquid.
13. To maintain the fermentation process after active fermentation is complete, add ammonia every two weeks (one drop for each liter of wine).
14. After the liquid becomes clear and acquires a sour taste, add a tablespoon of sugar to it for each liter of wine.
15. Pour the finished wine into sterile bottles and close with corks.

With cherry leaves in a jar

Adding cherry leaves will give the wine a subtle aroma. For this recipe you need:

• 2 cups chokeberry;
• 1.5 liters of bottled still water;
• 1 liter of vodka or 500 ml of alcohol;
• a large handful of cherry leaves;
• 200 g granulated sugar;
• 0.5 small spoon of citric acid.

Making the drink is easy. Required:

1. Wash and dry the berries, mash them in a convenient way and place them in an enamel pan.
2. Send cherry leaves there and fill with water.
3. Bring to a boil and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and strain the liquid into a separate clean bowl.
5. Add sugar and citric acid to the prepared broth.
6. Stir and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir constantly.
7. Cool the resulting broth, add vodka and stir until the liquid becomes homogeneous.
8. Pour into a sterilized glass jar and close with a tight lid.
9. Infuse for three weeks in a cool, dark place.

With grapes

For the following recipe you will need:

• a kilogram of black rowan and grapes;
• 150 g fresh raspberries;
• 250 ml distillate;
• 1 cinnamon stick;
• 5 clove buds;
• 1 cardamom bud.

You need to prepare wine as follows:

1. Pour the distillate into an enamel container, add spices - cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes.
2. Carefully separate the grape berries from the branches and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Knead by hand.
3. Twist the chokeberry through a meat grinder.
4. Alternately send grapes along with juice, grated rowan and raspberries into a large glass bottle.
5. Place a water seal on top of the bottle and place it in a warm place for three days to begin the fermentation process.
6. Using gauze folded in several layers, filter the contents of the bottle.
7. Pour the resulting wort into an enamel pan and add sugar.
8. Place on the stove, bring to a light boil and turn off the heat.
9. Wait for natural cooling and add distillate.
10. Mix thoroughly and cover with a lid.
11. Keep in a warm place for 5 days, and then bottle the wine.

From chokeberry with cinnamon

This wine recipe contains the following ingredients:

• 5 kg chokeberry;
• 10 g ground cinnamon;
• 4 kg sugar;
• 500 ml vodka.

Sequential process:

1. Grind the rowan with a wooden mortar.
2. Sprinkle with cinnamon and granulated sugar.
3. Mix and transfer to a bucket or basin.
4. Cover with a piece of clean natural cloth and put in a warm place.
5. Before the fermentation process begins, stir the rowan mass as often as possible.
6. After 8 days, squeeze out the juice, filter it and pour it into a large glass bottle.
7. After the fermentation process is complete, filter the wine and add vodka to it.
8. Pour the wine into bottles and seal tightly.

Recipe with raisins

To make homemade wine according to the following recipe, you need the following components:

• a kilogram of sugar and chokeberry fruits;
• 100 g raisins.

Preparation is simple:

1. Mash the rowan berries in a bowl with your hands.
2. Add raisins and 300 g granulated sugar.
3. Fill approximately two-thirds of the jar with warm water, cover loosely and place in a dark place.
4. Without opening the lid, roll the jar throughout the week to ensure the fermentation process.
5. Add 300 g of sugar to it, and then, after a week, again the same amount. If the wine does not ferment, add more raisins.
6. After a month, look at the condition of the chokeberry. If it settles to the bottom, strain and leave to settle for several days.
7. Strain again and bottle.

With apples without yeast

You can diversify the flavors of rowan wine by adding apples. Required:

• 3 kg of chokeberry (chokeberry);
• 2 kg apples;
• 1.5 kg sugar;
• 2 liters of water.

What should be done:

1. Wipe the apples with a soft natural cloth, cut them in half, and remove the cores and grains.
2. Cut into small thin slices.
3. Mash the rowan fruits with a wooden mortar and cover with sugar (use 500 g).
4. Add chopped apples and stir.
5. Place the container, covered with multi-layer gauze, in a dark place.
6. Stir the mixture every day.
7. A week later, pour out another 500 g of sand, stir and cover with gauze.
8. Continue stirring daily.
9. Next week add another 500g of sugar. Continue the fermentation process for another two weeks. Stir every other day.
10. After this period of time, leave the wort in a calm state, without stirring, for another month.
11. When sediment appears at the bottom of the container and the pulp rises to the top, insert a clean hose into the container and pour the wine into bottles.

The finished wine can be aged for a month if desired, or served immediately.

From juice

To create this blank you need:

• 6 liters of squeezed chokeberry juice;
• 3.5 liters of water;
• 1.5 kg granulated sugar.

Make wine in the following order:

1. Dissolve 750 g of sugar in rowan juice and leave to infuse for three days.
2. Pour out the second half of the sugar after the end of the three-day period.
3. Stir thoroughly.
4. Close the bottle with a cotton wool stopper.
5. Keep the container with wine in a warm place for twelve days.
6. When fermentation is not so intense, stand for another twenty days.
7. Pour the wine into another container, leaving the resulting sediment in the previous one.
8. Add sugar - 150 grams for each liter of wine.
9. Stir until dissolved.

After aging for a month, you can serve the homemade intoxicated drink to the table.

Possible problems

Problems can happen during the winemaking process. It is important to know how to solve them effectively:

1. The brownish color of the wine indicates the presence of rotten berries. After a few months of aging, this defect will be eliminated naturally.However, you can speed up this process - by filtering or adding sugar to start secondary fermentation.
2. Cloudiness in wine is usually caused by temperature changes. For example, if sweet wine did not ferment, but was transferred from the basement to a room with warm air. To solve the problem, you need to wait until the end of the fermentation process, let the drink sit and drain it from the sediment.

To prevent problems with homemade wine, you must:

• Use dry, sterilized containers.
• Carefully sort out the raw materials for winemaking.
• Do not use unripe berries that have a too tart taste.
• Make sure the water seal is tight.
• Add sugar and good quality water.
• Do not dilute the wort too much with water, as this reduces the acidity and increases the risk of exposure to bacteria.
• Observe the recommended temperature for wine.

Further storage of the finished product

For storage homemade chokeberry wine dark glass bottles are used. They should be placed on the shelves of the wine cabinet in a horizontal position. The optimal level of humidity in the room is 70-80%, and the temperature is 12 °C. Under such conditions, wine can be stored for 5-7 years.