Secondary wine from pomace (pulp)

In the classic version of making wine, the pulp is usually squeezed out and thrown away as waste. But lovers of low-alcohol wine can re-prepare a drink from pomace. Moreover, you can cook such wine from any fruits and berries. It can be apples, currants, grapes and more. Further, in the article we will see the technology of making secondary wine. It is not much different from the classic recipe, but has some important nuances.

Features of secondary wine

Coloring substances and elements responsible for the taste of wine are found mainly in the juice. For this reason, secondary wine cannot be as bright, rich and aromatic as the first. Some make wine again, and then distill it for moonshine.

After the juice is separated from the pulp, a small amount of sugar will remain in it, about 1 to 5%. Extractive substances also remain in the skin and pulp. This prompted Burgundy Petiot (French winemaker) to think about how the remaining raw materials could be used. He took up the preparation of secondary wine from grapes, but in the same way it is possible to prepare a drink from other fruits.

The method is that the squeezed juice is replaced with sugar syrup. The concentration of sugar in it should be 20%. They take almost equal or equal amounts of pomace and syrup, and then insist the mixture, like regular wine. Thus, you can get a good drink with a strength of 10 or 12 degrees.

Even in France they began to make “picket”. This is the same drink made from pomace with a strength of 1 to 3%. In this case, the cake is not strongly squeezed. Only dark and sweet grape varieties are suitable for its preparation. Such squeezed pulp is poured with ordinary water and left for further fermentation. In our area, this is not always convenient, since most squeeze the juice with a special juicer or press. In addition, most varieties of grapes and apples that are used to make wine have a sour taste.

The choice of raw materials for wine

Most often, for the preparation of secondary wine, cake from dark grapes is used. It is usually grown in warm regions of the country. The popular Isabella variety is not suitable for making petio. It is too sour, especially the skin, from which the future drink is prepared. If you take apple pomace or grape pulp from light varieties for wine production, then the drink will turn out to be almost transparent and will not have a pronounced taste.

In order to leave a small amount of trace elements and tannins in the squeezed pulp, do not squeeze the raw materials too hard. Leave a little juice so that the drink has a beautiful shade. It is necessary to put the cake on fermentation in the first day, and it is better immediately. Otherwise, pulp oxidation or acetic souring may occur. It is also important not to overdo it so as not to crush the bones. Then the drink will be bitter.

Homemade pomace wine

To make wine, you can use not only ordinary sugar, but also fructose with dextrose (another name for glucose). It is important to bear in mind that fructose is 70 percent sweeter than regular beet sugar, and glucose is 30 percent less sweet.

So, we need these ingredients:

• from 6 to 7 liters of freshly squeezed pulp;
• 5 liters of cold water;
• kilogram of granulated sugar.

In the classic French version, the amount of cake should be equal to the amount of sugar syrup. But since in Our Country the grapes are not so sweet and extractive, it is recommended to use 20 or 40% more pomace. It is also very important to thoroughly wash all containers used for cooking. They must be sterilized in boiling water or over steam.

Wine making technology

1. The first step is to dissolve sugar in water, more precisely, not all sugar, but only 800 grams.
2. The cake is transferred to the prepared bottle. Pour everything with the resulting syrup and mix. No need to fill the container to the brim. About 20% of the bottle is left empty.

   

3. Next, you need to make a water seal. An ordinary rubber glove is also used, in which a hole is made. The hole should not be too big. You can pierce one of the fingers with an ordinary thin needle. This method is no less effective than a cap with a tube.
4. Then the container is transferred to a dark place. The air temperature in it should not fall below +18 °C and rise above +28 °C. It is advisable to open the airlock for a few minutes every 12 hours. At this time, you can mix the contents with a clean wooden stick so that the floating pulp sinks to the bottom.

   

5. After 24 hours, foam will appear on the surface of the wine and you can hear a slight hiss. This is the correct reaction, which indicates the successful start of fermentation. If fermentation has not started, it is necessary to add special wine yeast to the mixture.
6. After 2 weeks, the pulp should become colorless. This means that it is time to strain the wine and squeeze the pulp well. The remaining 200 grams of sugar are added to the resulting juice and everything is poured into a clean container.
7. In general, the wine should ferment for up to 50 days. You can understand that the wine is completely ready by external signs. If within 2 days bubbles did not stand out or the glove was blown away, then the drink stopped fermenting. At this time, a layer of sediment should form at the bottom of the wine bottle.
8. Now you can drain the wine from the bottle. Do it with a tube. The bottle is placed on a small hill and a tube is lowered inside, the other end of which should be placed in a clean container of a suitable size. Now you can taste the drink and add sugar or alcohol to it if you wish.

   

9. Further, the secondary wine is poured into clean glass bottles and taken out to a dark, cool room for further storage. You can put young wine in the refrigerator if there is no suitable room. The longer the drink is stored, the more the taste will be revealed. It is recommended to use this wine only after 3 months of aging. And even better if the drink stays in a suitable place for six months.

Conclusion

This is how you can easily make good wine from waste at home. Experienced winemakers do not just throw away anything. The pulp remaining during squeezing can ferment again if everything is done according to the instructions. This process is very similar to the usual preparation of wine, only it does not use juice, but sugar syrup. The taste and aroma of the drink, of course, is not the same as the first wine, but still, it’s better than nothing.