What is the correct way to make red wine?

Although red wine has a very high nutritional value and tastes very good, it is not as good as the red wine made at home. This way it will taste better. However, making your own red wine is not that simple. It still requires many methods to allow the nutrients to be fully absorbed. The most important thing is the choice of grapes. Fresh food must be used to make it.

Washing grapes

Since there is a high probability of pesticide residues on the grape skin, washing grapes is very important. Generally speaking, it is best not to wash purchased grapes, because homemade wine fermentation relies on the wild yeast microorganisms attached to the surface of the grapes. If you want to wash them, it is best to rinse the whole bunch.

Do not scrub with your hands, let alone use a brush, and do not disinfect the grapes to ensure the survival of wild yeast. Grapes are not washed in industry. Many large wineries have their own plantations, where the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers is strictly prohibited. If there are pesticides on the grapes on the market, there will be spots on the skin.

Drying grapes

After washing the grapes, place them in a basket to dry thoroughly, or hang them up in a bunch to dry.

Select container

The wine jar can be a ceramic jar, a glass bottle, or a plastic bottle. Plastic bottles will not react chemically with alcohol and will not harm human health. You can also choose a large-capacity medical wide-mouth bottle, which can hold 15-20 kilograms of grapes. Because it is a glass bottle, you can clearly see the fermentation conditions inside.

Bottling

First fermentation: The crushing method is very simple, just crush the grapes, just separate the skin and flesh, put them into the container with the skin and seeds, and fill it to two-thirds of the container (the remaining space is left for the grape skin to rise during fermentation)

Fermentation

Fermentation is the process of converting the sugar in the grape skin juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide through the action of yeast. The skin and juice are mixed together during the pre-fermentation of red wine. The yeast is introduced into the juice when the grapes are crushed. Because yeast exists in the white frost on the grape skin, homemade wine does not need to add yeast during fermentation. The fermentation temperature is best between 15 and 25°C and should not exceed 35°C. However, when fermented in a small container, heat dissipation is easier and can generally reach no more than 32°C. After the skin juice is loaded into the container, fermentation can generally begin after one day. The liquid surface is calm at first, and weak carbon dioxide bubbles are produced, indicating that the yeast has begun to multiply. After 2 to 3 days, a large amount of carbon dioxide is released, and the skin residue floats to form a cap. When you taste the juice, the sweetness gradually decreases and the wine flavor gradually increases. During fermentation, the floating grape skins should be pressed into the juice twice a day with sterilized chopsticks. This can prevent the grape skins from becoming moldy and sour, and at the same time, the pigment on the skin can be absorbed into the juice. Yeast is facultative anaerobic and produces alcohol when there is insufficient oxygen, so it is necessary to keep it sealed to allow for more vigorous fermentation. After the climax, the fermentation momentum begins to weaken, and sugar can be added at this time. Sugar should be dissolved with grape wine instead of adding it after being dissolved in water. After the white sugar is completely dissolved, continue to ferment in the container. Finally, the carbon dioxide is released until it is weak and almost calm, the alcohol taste is very strong, the sugar content is reduced to less than 1%, and the juice begins to become clear, which means the fermentation is over, and then it is squeezed to separate the skin and juice.

Added sugar

Fermentation is the process by which microorganisms consume the sugar in the grape juice to secrete alcohol. Grapes used for winemaking generally contain 13-15 grams of sugar per 100 grams. According to experience, each gram of sugar can produce about 0.6 degrees of alcohol after fermentation. Therefore, the sugar in the grapes alone can only produce 8-9 degrees of alcohol. If you want to make 12-15 degrees of wine, you obviously need to add sugar.