The best ways to fix homemade wine if it turns out sour

Wine is considered a noble, refined drink, with a refined taste and sweet and sour notes. To obtain a high-quality product, you must 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 turns out sour.

Why is wine sour after fermentation?

Wine contains the following types of acids:

• apple;
• vinegar;
• amber;
• lemon;
• wine;
• dairy;
• galacturonic;
• glycolic;
• pyruvic;
• dioxyfumaric;
• sorrel

The low calorie content of sour grape wine allows you to maintain your figure, restore water-salt balance, and increase cholesterol levels.

During fermentation, fruit flies multiply in the grapes; 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 increases in wine due to:

• unripe raw materials;
• sour grape varieties;
• insufficient amount of granulated sugar;
• poor sterilization and sealing of 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 healthier than other types of drink - it does not contain a high concentration of sucrose and glucose.

How to check the acidity of a drink

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

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

Determination of acidity of wine must:

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

The number 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

Unsuitable drink indicators are corrected before fermentation begins. During cold, rainy summers, berries do not acquire sufficient amounts of sucrose. In this case, this is compensated by adding more sugar.

Dilution with water

The acid can be removed by diluting it with water, but this leads to a decrease in extract content and partial loss of taste. Water reduces the acid level of grape raw materials by 2 times, while it is necessary to monitor the amount of added sugar.

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

Pasteurization

A sour drink can be corrected by pasteurization. Heating the drink causes the death of yeast in the grapes, which increases the acidity. After this, the liquid is sweetened; when granulated sugar is added, fermentation processes do not occur again.

The pasteurization process occurs in stages:

• Bottles of wine are placed in a wide basin on a stand - they should not touch the bottom.
• Cold water is poured into a basin and placed on the stove.
• Over low heat, heat the water to 65-75 ^OWITH.
• Remove the basin from the heat and leave to cool.
• The bottles are taken out, corked tightly, and stored.

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

Cryostabilization or cooling

The acid can be reduced by cryostabilization. The drink is cooled for 14-21 days at +4-0 ^OC. If the wine remains sour, it is kept in the cold for another 20 days.

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

Addition of sulfides

You can reduce the acid level of a drink at home using sulfitation. Experienced winemakers who prepare alcoholic grape drinks in large quantities resort to sulfur treatment.

Sulfur dioxide has a pronounced antiseptic and 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:

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

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

Wine mount

Increase the degree of wine to 20-22 ^OWith the help of fastening. This result is not achieved by the fermentation process alone.

When fixing drinks, you must follow the rules:

1. When the alcohol reaches 13-14 ^OC, the drink stops fermenting. To fortify the wine, you need to add sugar, alcohol, and vodka. The drink can be fortified at any stage. The alcohol is mixed with berry juice and fermented young wine at the end of cooking.
2. Fermented grape pulp does not require squeezing during alcoholization. The berries must be mashed and mixed with sugar syrup. Wine in bottles 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 this, the pulp is squeezed out, the juice is mixed with 9% alcohol.
3. The wine is infused for a week and 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% wine. For example, to fortify 10 liters of a 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 processes.

Blending

The essence of blending is to mix sour juice with sweet juice in equal proportions to balance the taste and acidity. It is important to consider the following nuances:

• For mixing, it is recommended to use the juice of the same fruit/berry, but of a different variety. The fruits should be the same color - blue grapes with blue, green apples with green.
• When using different fruits, the taste of the product worsens.
• Reducing acidity with juice is the best option. This preserves the bright flavor palette and rich 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 preparing wine by following these rules:

• Granulated sugar must be added according to the recipe. An insufficient amount of granulated sugar can lead to taste disturbances, especially when using sour/low-sweet berries.
• The bottle of wine is covered with a water seal or a rubber glove. This will help determine the end of the fermentation process. It is important to seal the container hermetically - if oxygen enters, the drink will spoil.
• When choosing berries, it is recommended to give preference to sweet, aromatic specimens.
• It is necessary to monitor the fermentation of the product - when this process is delayed, the wine begins to oxidize.

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

What to do with wine if the taste cannot be corrected

You should not get rid of sour spoiled wine. You can find other uses for it:

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

If the problem is detected early, 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, and an additive to other alcoholic drinks.