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I have been making fruit wine at home for the third year in a row. Initially I tried a dozen recipes, in the end only one of them was nothing, but I finalized it.
I want to tell you about the features of the fascinating process, my conclusions. I don’t pretend to be the ultimate truth – I’ll just share my own experience.
This is the story of Artem I., my longtime subscriber, who shared his experience.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
I live in the countryside – a private house and a personal plot. Two pears grow in the garden. I don’t know the name of the variety of my trees, but they bloom at the end of April. For central Russia, this is too early. I bought them in the market from private gardeners, so I didn’t bother to ask for the name.
We harvest from two trees in September – four to five boxes from each trunk. The fruits are not stored for a long time, they begin to deteriorate after two weeks. Temperature does not affect storage time.
It is unrealistic to process so many pears into jam and compotes, and there is nothing to do. Eating is also not possible. I didn’t want to throw away the harvest. So three years ago I decided to put homemade wine – it turned out to be a sparkling pear cider.
Found the recipe on the internet. For three years, he finalized the technology, made changes to the recipe, and – voila – an excellent homemade cider is ready.
What ingredients are required
- pears from the garden (I did not experiment with store-bought fruits);
- drinking water (from my well – without bleach);
- sugar (I will write the amount below).
Nothing else is needed for pear cider – that’s why it’s natural. It is curious that you can get by with just two components.
Sugar is needed as a reliable preservative. It also adds degrees, so if you don’t want to get a strong drink, put sugar to a minimum or do without it.
The cooking process
I will tell you step by step how I prepare a pear drink with a strength of 7-12 degrees.
I wipe the pear fruits with a dry cloth and put them in a warm room for a couple of days. Bacteria (wild yeast) live on the surface of the fruit – they will participate in the fermentation process. That is why I do not recommend washing pears.
After a couple of days, I remove the leaves and stalks. I clean the pears from the stones: I cut them into halves and take out the core.
It is important to remove the bones – they contain hydrocyanic acid. This substance is dangerous in large quantities for the human body. And we, do not forget, prepare a natural drink.
I grind the slices in a Soviet meat grinder until a homogeneous puree is obtained. You can use a juicer – it will be faster. I don’t have it, so I twist the meat grinder.
I tried with a blender, but mine could not cope with such a volume – it broke.
I wash the container with hot water and wipe it dry. I fill the container with pear puree two-thirds of the volume. The rest of the space will eventually fill with foam and carbon dioxide – the fermentation process will begin.
For every kilogram of pears I add 120-150 grams of sugar and mix thoroughly. This amount makes the drink slightly sweet and not very strong. Experiment with sugar – in the process you will understand how it changes the taste.
I bandage the necks of the containers with gauze and put them in a dark cupboard in the kitchen for 5 days. I stir daily with a spoon, remove the foam from above and close it again with gauze. I move on to the next stage when I feel a clear aroma of fermentation.
I squeeze the juice from the fermented pear slurry and pour it into a clean, dry container. Then I install a water seal on the jar. In the first year I used an ordinary rubber glove, and now I came up with a simple device. Look at the photo: lower the edge of the tube into a mug of water next to the jar.
Pear cider will ferment in a dark place at room temperature for approximately 40-65 days. The glove on the neck of the jar will swell and become like a tuft of a rooster.
The preparation time of the drink depends on the volume of the liquid and the amount of sugar in it. Over time, sediment will appear at the bottom, the rubber glove will fall off (the water seal will stop letting bubbles into the mug of water) and the cider will brighten.
Then I filter the drink through several layers of gauze, bottle the cider and cork it.
The most difficult thing is to wait another 3 months for the wine to fully mature.
For the next three months, pear wine will reach its condition in a cool cellar at a temperature of 8-12 degrees. Then the best part – you can take a sample.
What result did I get
Cider does not keep up with the New Year holidays – it’s a pity, of course. But we celebrate the men’s holiday in February and International Women’s Day with pear wine on the festive table.
The drink acquires an amber transparent color and a slight sweetness. The sparkling wine is given by gas bubbles formed during the fermentation process. The fortress is not high – from 7 to 12 degrees.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
I don’t think this is the ideal way to cook. Surely, other producers of homemade wine have their own cooking tricks. Share in the comments – I’ll take note.