How to clarify wine at home

Only experienced winemakers can make the perfect wine. Very often, even if you follow all the rules, you may encounter some difficulties. Most homemade wines are self-cleaning. It is customary to infuse drinks made from all kinds of berries for 3 or 6 months after the end of the fermentation process. During this time, sediment forms at the bottom, and the wine becomes clean and transparent. In some cases, the wine remains cloudy. What to do to make the drink clear? In this article, we will learn how wine clarification is carried out at home.

Reason for cloudy wine

The main cause of turbidity is the presence of must, particles of wine yeast and cream of tartar in the wine. These substances form a precipitate at the bottom of the container. It is usually disposed of by pouring the drink into another container. This is done with a regular tube. This procedure is often enough to completely clear the wine. But it happens that the drink remains cloudy. In such cases, additional clarification is carried out.

To filter wine, you need to use special substances. They are able to absorb the remaining wort particles. As a result, everything superfluous will precipitate. Professional winemakers call this process “gluing”.

If time permits, you can leave the wine for a longer time. During the aging process, the wine will clear itself. True, this can take many months, and sometimes even years. In this way, expensive wines are most often purified.

For those who are not going to wait so long, the best option is to clarify the wine yourself. It is noteworthy that this procedure does not affect the taste and aroma. Of course, it is not necessary to do so. A little sediment doesn’t bother many people. But if you like transparent wines with a beautiful color, then clarification is indispensable.

All about wine clarification

There is a whole science that studies wines, it is called oenology. She studies the phenomenon of clouding of wine and ways to deal with it. It is best to prevent a possible color change in advance, eliminating all factors that affect this. True, this is done only in large industries. At home, everything happens differently and it is almost impossible to completely eliminate all problems. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to different methods of purification.

The cause of cloudy wine is tartar. It is the potassium salt of tartaric acid. During the production of the drink, it can form on the walls of the bottle. This substance consists of potassium tartrate and potassium hydrotartrate. It is used for the production of tartaric acid, and in cooking it serves as a leavening agent.

This phenomenon has a bad effect on the drink itself. When small particles precipitate, they take along with them dyes, yeast and other necessary elements. To eliminate such a precipitate, you can use gluing agents. The main thing, at the same time, is to choose a substance suitable for a particular wine:

• tart red wines are purified with chicken protein;
• sweet drinks contain a small amount of tannins, so they are cleaned with tannin and fish glue;
• white wine can be refined using gelatin.

Much also depends on the amount of the selected substance. A small amount will not give the desired reaction. If you add too much of a suitable substance, then the drink will cloud even more. In order not to be mistaken, you can conduct a test on a small amount of wine. This is the only way to determine the correct proportions and not spoil the wine in the future.

How to clarify house wine

In order for the whole process to go right, some points should be considered:

1. Home-made wines are filtered only with natural substances.
2. The first step is to clarify a small amount of the drink. Experienced winemakers take 200 ml of wine and check the reaction, and then they clean everything else.
3. Often, for the desired result, the procedure has to be repeated several times.
4. If during clarification the wine continues to ferment, then the air temperature must be lowered by 10 degrees.

Wine Filtration Methods

It is worth considering all the popular methods of clarification in order to choose the most suitable one:

1. Bentonite. This substance is a natural material obtained from white clay. Most winemakers prefer it to him. Bentonite is able to stick together the smallest particles that provoke haze. Then the resulting substances precipitate. It is noteworthy that bentonite not only cleans the drink, but also makes it more resistant to various bacteria and yeast. For 1 liter of wine you need only 3 grams of the substance. It must be filled with water, which is taken 10 times more than the bentonite itself. The mixture is then left for 12 hours. During this time, the clay should harden. Then it is diluted with water and poured into cloudy wine. After 7 days, it is necessary to drain the wine from the sediment.

   

2. Gelatin. This method is suitable for clarification of both fruit and berry wines. The method is simple and has good performance. For wine with a volume of 10 liters, you need one and a half grams of the substance. Gelatin should be soaked in water for 1 day and added to a bottle with a drink. After half a month, the wine will be completely cleared.
3. Milk. This method is perfect for beginners in the art of winemaking. In 10 liters of drink, you need to pour 5 tablespoons of milk (skimmed). After 4 days, the wine is drained from the sediment.
4. Cold. In this case, the wine is moved outside or in the refrigerator. The temperature of the drink must not fall below -5 °C. During cooling, the particles will sink to the bottom of the container. After that, the bottle is brought into a warm room and drained from the sediment.
5. Egg white. Used to refine red wines. One protein is enough for 35 liters of drink. Beat the egg white well until foamy, add a little water there. The resulting mass is poured into alcohol and left for 2-3 weeks.

   

6. Tannin. It is used to refine wines from apples and pears. Usually such drinks are quite sweet, and tannin can give them some astringency. The powder is sold in every pharmacy. Substances are diluted with water (1 gram of tannin / 200 ml of water). The solution is insisted and filtered through gauze. The resulting mixture is poured into wine and wait a week. After this time, a precipitate should form. For 10 liters of alcohol you will need 60 tablespoons of the solution.

Conclusion

This is how you can easily and quickly clarify wine at home. After the procedure, you should leave the drink for another 30 or 40 days. During this time, additional clarification will take place, and the wine will become transparent and clean.