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Every year, housewives prepare a bunch of supplies for the winter – they canned, salted and fermented vegetables, cooked jams and jams. Often even a large family does not have time to eat them during the season, and large and small jars stand for years in basements, cellars or pantries. But there comes a time when the container runs out, there is little space, or the sight of a battery of supplies that has not been used for years just begins to annoy. Then uneaten cucumbers and salads fly into the trash can. Sweet supplies turn into mash, then to become moonshine or fly to the same garbage dump.
In the meantime, you can make homemade wine from jam. Of course, this drink will not be elite, but if everything is done correctly, it will turn out fragrant and tasty. It is remarkable that not only old jam is suitable for making alcohol, it is made from a candied or even sour product.
Raw materials for wine from jam and containers
To make wine from jam at home, you need to prepare enameled dishes for fermenting the must, glass bottles with a capacity of 3 or 5 liters, a water seal or medical gloves, gauze, and the sweet supplies themselves intended for processing.
Containers for the manufacture of alcohol must first be washed with soda, and glass jars should be further sterilized. Homemade wine from old jam can only be made if it is of good quality, candied or sour. Even the slightest traces of mold on the surface completely exclude the possibility of further processing. No matter how you collect white plaque with a spoon, it will not work to make wine from jam affected by pathogenic microorganisms. It won’t help even if you throw away half the jar.
Sourdough for wine
To make homemade jam wine, you may need wine yeast. It’s not easy to get them, especially if you’re making occasional alcoholic drinks, so it’s easier to use sourdough. Unwashed rice or raisins can be added to sour or sugared jam to enhance fermentation.
Even better, prepare the sourdough using one of the methods given in our article Grape wine at home: a simple recipe.
Baker’s yeast cannot be used in winemaking. Even if you do not get mash instead of a noble drink, then its smell will be clearly noticeable. No amount of aging or filtering will help get rid of the moonshine smell.
Do I need to add sugar to wine from jam
Although the process of making wine from candied jam is very similar to making a drink from fresh fruits or berries, you need to remember that there are still differences. This mainly concerns the fermentation of wort.
When homemade wine is made from fermented jam, the sugar contained there breaks down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The strength of the wine directly depends on its quantity. But if the alcohol level in the wort reaches 20%, fermentation will stop, not because it ended naturally, but because of the death of beneficial microorganisms that ensure fermentation processes.
Therefore, before making homemade wine, you need to think carefully about the recipe for its preparation. If you add little water, you don’t need to add sugar. When the ratio of liquid to jam is 4:1 or 5:1, the wort is still not sweetened in the initial stages if it ferments well. Sugar can be added in parts after you put the wine under a water lock.
jam wine recipes
There are many recipes for making wine, including those made from fermented or candied jam.
Basic recipe
In this example, we will describe in detail the recipe for homemade jam wine, point out possible difficulties and ways to eliminate them.
Ingredients
Required:
- jam – 1 l;
- water – 1,5 l;
- raisins (sourdough) – 100 g.
You may also need some sugar. How much and in what cases it should be added, we will describe below.
Remember, any wine recipe implies that the must contains no more than 20% sugar. Otherwise, it simply will not roam. For wine made from fermented jam, at home the above amount of water may be sufficient. Candied is diluted with a large volume of liquid.
Method of preparation
Transfer the jam to a clean container, pour in warm boiled water. Add unwashed raisins and mix well. The fermentation container should be about 3/4 full.
Cover the dishes with clean gauze, put in a warm place (18-25 degrees). After 15-20 hours, the pulp from sour or candied jam will begin to ferment and float up. Stir it several times a day with a wooden spoon or spatula.
You may find that the wort hasn’t fermented well and the room temperature hasn’t dropped below 18 degrees. Try Liquid:
- if it has become sour, add 50 g of sugar for every liter;
- if the must, on the contrary, is excessively sweet, add a glass of water to the same volume.
After 5-6 days, strain the wort through cheesecloth folded in layers, pour into clean glass bottles, filling them 3/4, install a water seal or put on a rubber glove with one pierced finger.
Remove the bottles in a warm place to continue fermentation. The process usually takes 30 to 60 days.
When the water seal stops releasing bubbles or the glove falls off, try the wine. If it seems to you that it is not fertile or too sour, you can add sugar at the rate of 50 g per liter.
If the fermentation has stopped, and the taste of the drink suits you, bottle it so as not to disturb the sediment and cork.
Keep the wine in a cool room with a temperature of 10-12 degrees for 2-3 months. Every 20 days, gently re-experience it. Then once again pour into bottles, hermetically close and send for storage.
Raspberry or blueberry
From fermented raspberry jam, you can make a wonderful fragrant wine. It will be a great addition to sweet dishes, and in itself will decorate any table.
Ingredients
You will need:
- raspberry jam – 1 l;
- water – 2,5 l;
- raisins – 120
Method of preparation
Dilute raspberry jam with warm water, add raisins.
Put in a dark warm place for pre-fermentation for 5 days. Don’t forget to stir.
If at a temperature of at least 18 degrees in a day fermentation is weak or does not occur at all, try the liquid. If necessary, add sugar or water, as indicated in the basic recipe.
Strain the wine through a folded cheesecloth and pour into clean glass jars, filling them 3/4 full. Install a water seal.
When the fermentation stops, remove the wine from the sediment, then bottle it and take it to a cool place for a quiet fermentation.
After 2 months, the drink can be drunk. It will be light and fragrant.
Similarly, you can make wine from blueberry jam.
From currant
If you want to quickly make wine, make it from currant jam.
Ingredients
You will need:
- currant jam – 1 l;
- water – 2 l;
- wine yeast – 20 g;
- rice – 200 g.
Method of preparation
Dilute the yeast with warm water and let stand for as long as it is written on the package.
Pour unwashed rice and jam into a five-liter container, add liquid, stir well. Add yeast, cover with gauze, put in a warm dark place for 5 days.
Wine from jam with yeast and rice should ferment very well, if this does not happen, add water. Remember to stir the wort with a wooden spatula.
Strain the wine, pour into glass bottles, filling no more than 3/4 of the volume. Install a water seal or put on a medical glove, piercing one finger. Let wander in a dark warm place for 20 days.
When the glove falls off, drain the homemade wine from currant jam from the sediment, bottle it.
This is a quick and easy recipe. You can let the wine brew for 2-3 months, or you can drink it right away.
Cherry
Cherry jam wine is perhaps the most delicious and beautiful. It contains natural sourness, and is colored in ruby color.
Ingredients
You will need:
- cherry jam – 1 l;
- water – 1,5 l;
- raisins – 170
Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients in a three-liter jar. Cover with cheesecloth and leave in a warm place to ferment. Stir several times a day with a wooden spatula.
If cherry jam wine is not fermenting well, taste the liquid and add water or sugar.
After 5 days, strain the wort into a clean jar, put on a pierced glove. Leave to mature for 40 days.
When the glove falls off, remove the wine from the sediment, pour, cork the bottles, put horizontally in a cool place to ripen for 2 months.
Conclusion
As you can see, the missing jam can be used not only for making mash. And even though it is impossible to make elite wine out of it, the drink will turn out tasty and fragrant.
