Ranetki is a variety of apples, they are small in weight, but very juicy and tasty. Such apple trees usually give a large harvest, which caring housewives quickly try to put into business, that is, use for winter harvesting. For this case, our recipe for homemade wine from the ranetki is suitable. Its preparation is markedly different from the recipes of traditional grape wine. The process is a little simplified. But the finished product is not inferior in taste and a bouquet of wine from grapes. Let's get acquainted with all the stages of self-production of wine from amazing apples.
How to choose raw materials
For the preparation of wine, autumn and winter apple varieties are chosen - ranetki are the best suited. Other good tastes for winemaking varieties are Antonovka, Anise, Slav.
It is interesting that even from the frosted apples of the indicated varieties one can make wine. However, it will not be stored for long. It is recommended to use it young, that is, not older than six months from the day of clarification.
Small apples ranetki choose only ripe, without damage by worms or other pests. You can take carrion, but not the fruits that begin to rot. They can spoil the taste of wine and its consistency. Then the fermentation process will turn into a spoilage of raw materials.
What else is needed
Traditionally, special wooden barrels were used to make homemade wine from the ranetki. The recipes were simple, but for a large volume of containers, you need a lot of raw materials.
In home living conditions or in the country it is more convenient to take glass bottles for wine with a capacity of 10 or 20 liters. Many winemakers take large glass jars (5 liters can be), they are easy to carry and wash. The advantage of cans is a wide neck, it is convenient to pull apple pulp from it.
A small amount of water will be required. Take soft filtered water. The presence of chloride compounds in it is unacceptable.
Wine from apples at home is prepared without yeast.
Sugar is poured into apple pulp to activate the fermentation process of raw materials. Make sure that it is of good quality and meets the following requirements:
- loose consistency;
- white color with crystalline sheen;
- without smell.
Preparation
The recipe for wine from ranetki at home begins with the preparation of the main raw material - apples. They need to be washed in a basin with water.
Cut the pulp from each and chop it. You can take a blender or a meat grinder for this, an ordinary household processor is also suitable. Further, a simple recipe for wine from the ranetki involves straining the apple pulp.
Sieve straining
For such an operation, there is a special apparatus made of wood. It resembles a wooden machine with a barrel. In fact, inside this barrel is pulp and juice for wine. The device is equipped with a valve that is able to increase the pressure inside the barrel. If you open the flap below and tighten the valve, pure fruit juice squeezed from the pulp will pour from the lower guide. It remains only to substitute containers with sterile gauze - it is needed for re-filtering the juice. Particles of applesauce may remain in it.
The first step: mixing the components
Calculate the full amount of the obtained pulp (the basis for wine from ranetki). Pour filtered water at half the weight. It is also necessary to introduce granulated sugar into the mixture. Its ratio: for every kilogram of apple pulp - 2 tablespoons of sand. Place all this in a glass container - a bottle or a jar.
Fermentation onset
Leave the resulting mixture in a warm place to activate the fermentation process. There should not be any sharp odors in the room; relative air temperature should not be lower than 20 ° . Put a sterile medical rubber glove on each container, fix it on the bottle neck with an elastic band or tape. When fermentation begins, it will inflate like a ball and can fly off. After 3-4 days, the pulp should ferment. Open the bottle and strain the mass through sterile gauze. Better fold it in several layers. At this point, you will get pulp and juice.
Pour juice into a clean and dry bottle. Use a plastic funnel. Place the pulp again in a glass container and fill it with a second portion of filtered water. Ratio: for 1 kg of pulp - 1.5 liters of water.
It is very important not to fill the containers with juice and pulp to the top! The liquid will begin to ferment, a foam forms, which rushes to rise up, then the whole fermentation unit will fly off the container.
Stir the pulp and cover again with a sterile rubber glove to prevent air and dust from entering. Otherwise, instead of homemade wine, you will get a lot of apple cider vinegar. Put the container back in a warm place to ferment.
Fermentation - the second stage
When two or three days pass, strain the juice of re-fermentation and mix with the juice from the first run. Next, all this juice must be mixed with granulated sugar. How much wine you get will depend on its quantity:
- semi-dry - it contains 400 g of sugar;
- sweet dessert - 600 g;
- sugary liquor - 800 g.
But you should not immediately enter the entire portion of sugar. Do it in two steps.
First run:
- add half the specified amount of sugar to apple juice;
- mix and install the fermentation unit (shunt).
A fermentation shunt is a special curving tube, sterile inside. There must be water in its bend. Bubbles of gas, rising upward, pass through water and escape into the air. Such a system allows you to prepare homemade wine from ranetki in almost sterile conditions.
If you did not have a fermentation unit, buy a medical tube for a dropper in a pharmacy. It is relatively cheap and easy to use. The tube must be cut off from the side where the syringe is installed: it will not be needed. Insert a part of the dropper with a seal into the rubber glove attached to the bottle. Secure with adhesive tape. Lower the second part of the tube into a small jar of clean water. Place it next to the bottle. Bubbles of gas will rise through the tube and exit into the water.
Another option for sealing the preparation of wine is cambric (tube) and a special lid for a can (bottle) with a hole for the tube.
Keep bottles in a warm room at a temperature of 15-20 ° C for 5 to 10 days. This time depends on the amount of wort. The more it is, the longer it wanders.
Second call:
- when the gas bubbles stop rising, drain part of the wort - 200-300 ml is enough;
- dissolve the second part of sugar in this quantity and drain back, chat a little with liquid;
- put back into heat to complete fermentation - it lasts from 2 to 3 weeks.
The end of wine fermentation
After the specified time, using the same tubular hose, pour the wine into the bottle. To do this, withdraw the end of the tube from the can with water into the bottle and place it just below the container with wine.
The wine will merge, bypassing the rising pulp. Your task now is to prevent sediment from falling from the bottom of the container into the tube.
From the first reading you might think that everything is very complicated. In fact, homemade wine from the ranetki is a simple recipe and does not require much effort, only time.
A bottle of the resulting wine needs to be put again for fermentation with a shunt or a new clean drip set. As soon as the carbon dioxide emission ends, the young wine from the ranetki is ready - you can already drink it. It will be a bit unclear, but taste good. Its aroma alone causes appetite and the desire to try it as an aperitif before dinner.
Wine from ranetki at home is original if you add a little cinnamon or any other spice you like to a bottle of the finished drink. But introduce an additional component immediately before use or a few hours before it.
Lightening
In order for a young wine to acquire the best taste and aromatic qualities, it must be clarified. Keep the bottles in a dark, non-hot place for 2-3 weeks. During this time, a stable sediment forms at the bottom. Drain the wine into clean and dry bottles. Cork plugs.
If you want to drink wine young, corks can be plastic - they do not allow the drink to breathe. But this is not necessary if the storage is short-lived. But aged wine is corked only with quality corks from a special tree bark. Such a blockage makes the guilt breathe. At the same time, oxygen does not enter the bottle.
Such a wine will be almost transparent, with a golden amber hue, without sediment.
Wine aging
Excerpt wine depends on many factors, among them - the variety of fruits (raw materials), the correctness of preparation and some others. The best wines are stored on the shelves of the cellars for several years. Young wines are allowed to be stored for six months, then they get older.
At the same time, special wine racks are arranged in the cellars, on which the bottles are laid out lying down. So it matures and insists.
The strength of apple wine usually does not exceed 16-18 ° C. Mainly because of this, such drinks are considered dessert and light liquor.
Wine from ranetki is recommended to withstand at least two years. Only then its best taste and aromatic qualities are released. Experienced sommeliers call it a bouquet.
Over the course of several years of aging, a little sediment forms at the bottom of the bottle. This is absolutely normal. Just gently pour the wine into the glass, trying not to touch the sediment dregs.
Wine is consumed, as it is stored, in a cool form.