Citrus wines cannot be found on sale; in order to try such a drink, you need to make it yourself. It is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. Next, we will consider a proven recipe and technology for making tangerine wine. Although the cost is relatively high, the result will be a unique wine with an interesting taste.
We need ripe tangerines of any variety without rot and spoilage. It is desirable that the fruits are as sweet and juicy as possible. To avoid contamination of the wort by third-party microorganisms, all containers used must be sterile washed and wiped dry. You can work with wine material only with clean hands.
Ingredients:
- tangerines – 10-11 kg;
- sugar – 150 grams / liter of juice;
- water – 35 ml / liter of juice.
First you need to make a sourdough or purchase wine yeast. The fact is that there are no wild yeasts on the surface of tangerines; without their introduction from other sources, the juice may not ferment.
Mandarin wine recipe
1. Wash tangerines well in warm water, peel, then squeeze the juice in any way possible. You will get about 6 liters.
2. In a container with a wide neck, add fresh juice, pulp (without peel), water, sourdough (wine yeast) and the first portion of sugar – 50 grams per liter of juice. Stir the wort, bandage the neck with gauze, then transfer to a dark place at room temperature. Stir once a day, knocking off the “cap” of pulp from the surface.
After 3-4 days, foam, hissing and a slight sour smell will appear on the surface. This means that fermentation has begun and you can proceed to the next stage.
3. Strain the wort through 3 layers of gauze, squeeze the pulp (pulp) well. Squeezes are no longer needed.
4. Add a second portion of sugar – 25 grams per liter of juice, mix, then pour the future tangerine wine into a fermentation tank, fill up to a maximum of 75% of the volume so that there is room for foam. Install a water seal, check the sealing, and then transfer the container to a dark room with a temperature of 18-25°C.
5. After 3 days, open the water lock, drain half a liter of wort through a thin tube, dissolve the third portion of sugar in it – 25 grams / liter. Pour the resulting syrup back into the fermentation tank and install the shutter.
6. After another 4 days, add the remaining sugar – 50 grams / liter according to the technology described in the previous step.
7. After 30-50 days, active fermentation will stop: the wine will brighten, a precipitate will fall out, the shutter will not release gas for a couple of days. It’s time to carefully drain the young mandarin wine through a straw into another clean container, without touching the sediment at the bottom.
If fermentation lasts longer than 50 days, so that bitterness does not appear, the wine must be drained from the sediment and put under a water lock to ferment at the same temperature.
8. Fill the storage container to the top (it is desirable that there is no contact with oxygen), tightly close the lid or install a water seal (if the wine has been sweetened), then transfer the drink to a dark room with a temperature of 5-16 ° C.
9. During exposure, sediment will accumulate at the bottom – yellow turbidity and flakes. It is advisable to get rid of this sediment as a layer of 2-5 cm appears, pouring the wine into another container through a thin tube, for example, from a dropper.
10. Aged homemade tangerine wine for 4-6 months. Try, if the sweetness does not suit you, add sugar to taste and mix, then pour into bottles for storage, seal tightly with corks. It can also be fixed with alcohol or vodka in an amount of 2-15%.
Store in the basement or refrigerator. Shelf life – 2-3 years. The output is about 4 liters of finished wine.
PS Thank you for the development, verification of the recipe and photo of the user Alexander M., who previously pleased us with delicious orange wine.