Homemade cucumber wine is remembered for its straw color with greenish hues, herbal aroma and original taste with cucumber notes. Drink for an amateur, goes well with cheeses and salads. I advise you to make a small batch for testing.
To make wine, you need fresh young cucumbers with a characteristic smell. It is advisable to use homemade, because they are not treated with preservatives. The fruits must be free of rot and mold, even one spoiled cucumber can ruin the entire batch of drink.
In order to prevent infection with pathogenic microorganisms, before working with the wort, it is imperative to wash your hands and all tools, and it is advisable to sterilize the containers with boiling water and wipe dry with a clean, dry cloth.
cucumber wine recipe
Ingredients:
- cucumbers – 2 kg;
- water – 4 l;
- sugar – 1,5 kg;
- citric acid – 60 g;
- sourdough or wine yeast – for 7 liters of must.
Citric acid is needed to stabilize the acidity, without it the wort will not ferment normally and may turn sour or become moldy. If possible, it is better to take store-bought wine yeast, if they are not available, then a few days before working with raw materials, you should prepare wine sourdough from raisins or fresh berries.
Technology of preparation
1. Wash cucumbers, cut off the stalks and opposite ends (give bitterness).
2. Cut the fruits together with the peel into thin slices, then chop in a blender or meat grinder.
3. Fold the resulting cucumber pulp into a container with a wide neck. Add citric acid, water and the first portion of sugar – 1 kg. Stir until sugar dissolves.
4. Add yeast or sourdough. Cover with gauze to keep out insects. Transfer to a dark place with a temperature of + 18-25 ° C. Leave for 3 days, stir every 8-12 hours so that there is no sourness. On the first day, signs of fermentation should appear: foam, hiss and a slight sour smell, which means that the process is going well.
5. Strain the wort through several layers of gauze, squeeze the pulp dry (no longer needed).
6. Pour the liquid part into a fermentation tank. Fill to a maximum of 75% of the volume to leave room for foam and carbon dioxide. Add a second portion of sugar – 500 g. Stir until completely dissolved.
7. Install a water seal of any design on the neck of the fermentation tank (you can use a medical glove with a hole in one of the fingers). Move the container to a dark room with a stable temperature of +18-25 °C. Leave until the end of fermentation.
Homemade cucumber wine ferments for 45-60 days. Then the gas from the water seal stops escaping (the glove deflates), the wine becomes lighter, and a layer of loose sediment appears at the bottom.
8. Taste young wine from cucumbers, sweeten with sugar if desired. Pour into a holding container with no sediment at the bottom. It is advisable to fill up to the very neck so that there is no contact with oxygen. Close tightly, keep at least 3-4 months in a refrigerator or cellar at a temperature of +2-16 °C.
If sugar was added at the previous stage, it is better to keep the drink under a water seal for the first 7-10 days of aging in case of repeated fermentation.
9. If sediment appears in a layer above 1 cm, filter the wine by pouring it through a tube into another container (without touching the sediment). Several filters may be needed.
10. The drink is ready when the sediment does not appear for a couple of weeks. Then the wine can be bottled for storage and tightly closed.
When stored in a refrigerator or cellar, the shelf life of cucumber wine is up to 2 years. Fortress – 10-13% vol.
ZrobiÅ‚em wedÅ‚ug tego przepisu i zachwyciÅ‚em wszystkich, których poczÄ™stowaÅ‚em – wyjÄ…tkiem byÅ‚y osoby, które niezbyt lubiÄ… ogórki. Wino jest bardzo orzeźwiajÄ…ce i ciekawe w smaku. Teraz czekam aż siÄ™ uleży, bo próbowaÅ‚em mÅ‚odego, nie mogÄ…c siÄ™ doczekać efektu 🙂