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If you do not take action in time, a bitter aftertaste can ruin a whole batch of homemade wine. Usually, this problem is faced by novice winemakers and those who consciously or unknowingly violated the technology of preparation. Next, I will tell you how to save wine and not repeat the same mistakes in the future.
Attention! It is impossible to remove strong bitterness from wine. The proposed methods work in the early stages, when it first appeared.
Causes, prevention and methods of dealing with bitter taste:
1. Improper juicing
The most common situation, causing a problem in 50-65% of cases, is typical for grape, cherry, apple wines, but can also appear in others. Too strong crushing of fruits (berries) with their subsequent squeezing through a press leads to damage to the bones, which contain an excess of tannins and tannins. As a result, these substances enter the juice, and after fermentation, homemade wine begins to taste bitter.
Prevention: if it is possible to crush raw materials without stones and (or) sparing methods that do not damage the seeds.
Elimination: “binding” of tannins with egg white. You need to break the eggs, separate the protein from the yolk, beat the whites with a whisk, then add them to the wine at the rate of 100 milligrams per 1 liter of drink. Gently mix and leave for 2-3 weeks until the sediment completely falls out. Then drain the wine from the sediment through a siphon (thin tube) into another clean container.
2. Rotten raw materials and overexposure of the must on the pulp
Getting into processing even a few rotten fruits and untimely separation of the juice from the pulp leads to decay of the entire pulp.
Prevention: use only fresh berries and fruits, strictly follow the recipes in time, removing the pulp.
Elimination: clarification of wine with bentonite at the rate of 3 grams of white clay per 1 liter of wine. Pour bentonite with ten times the amount of cold water, mix and leave for 10-12 hours, the clay will turn into lime. Add water to make the mixture runny. Pour the diluted bentonite into the wine in a thin stream, leave for 5-7 days, then remove the drink from the sediment.
3. Long infusion on the lees
Untimely filtering of wine during aging is also a common cause of bitterness; during decomposition, the waste products of the yeast worsen the taste.
Prevention: timely removal of sediment.
Treatment: fining the wine with egg white or bentonite (you can use both methods in turn) according to the methods described in the previous paragraphs.
4. Contamination of wine
Pathogenic microorganisms that cause vinegar souring, mold and some other diseases of wine, in the early stages, make themselves felt with the appearance of a slight bitterness.
Prevention: sterility and strict adherence to the preparation technology.
Treatment: pasteurization of wine with bitterness, during which microbes will die during heat treatment. Close bottles with a drink hermetically, put in a saucepan, fill up to the neck with water, heat up to 60 ° C. Maintain the temperature for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat. Remove the bottles when the water has cooled to room temperature. After 5-6 days, drain the wine from the sediment.
5. Overaging in barrels
With too long exposure in barrels (on oak wood or wood chips), the wine is oversaturated with tannins, which are very difficult to remove.
Prevention: during barrel aging, check the taste every 5-7 days in order to catch the moment of bitterness in time.
Treatment: in the early stages, clarification with bentonite helps. In advanced cases, the taste is stabilized by adding sugar and alcohol to the wine (up to 10-15% by volume).
If none of the proposed methods worked, there is only one option left – to overtake bitter wine for moonshine. Get a fruit brandy.