Ranetki are small-fruited varieties of apple trees with a mass of ripe fruits of no more than 15 grams, common in the Urals, Altai and the Far East. In common parlance, another name for these small apples is used – “Chinese”. Due to the high content of solids, homemade wine from ranetki produces a rich fruity taste and beautiful color (the shade depends on the variety), but requires strict adherence to the preparation technology. Sweetness can be adjusted to your liking.
Ingredients:
- ranetki – 25 kg;
- sugar – 100-450 grams per 1 liter of juice;
- water – 10-100 ml (optional);
- wine yeast or raisin sourdough – according to the instructions or 2-3% of the juice volume (optional).
The proportions of sugar depend on the desired sweetness and strength of the drink. The sugar content of ranetki rarely exceeds 10%, which means that in order to obtain dry wine with a strength of 11-12% (the maximum alcohol content during natural fermentation), you need to add 100 grams of sugar per 1 liter of juice, if more (120-450), you get semi-dry, semi-sweet , sweet or dessert wine. The fractional introduction of sugar described in the recipe allows you to adjust the parameters of the drink. Subsequently, the finished wine can be fixed with alcohol or vodka.
Water reduces the concentration of solids in the must, which makes ranetki wine not as tasty and aromatic as in the case of pure juice. It is advisable to add water only to reduce acidity, when the apples are very sour – the juice stings the tongue and reduces the cheekbones. It should be borne in mind that sugar itself also reduces acidity.
Wine yeast (the best option) or a pre-prepared sourdough starter from raisins will start fermentation if there is no wild yeast left on the skin of the ranetki. You cannot add dry or pressed baker’s yeast, otherwise you will get apple mash instead of wine!
To prevent infection with pathogenic microorganisms, sterilize all containers with boiling water before starting cooking, work with raw materials only with clean, well-washed hands.
ranetki wine recipe
1. Peel ripe apples from stalks and leaves. Carefully inspect the fruits, remove rotten, moldy and spoiled parts of the pulp, which can spoil the taste of wine. Cut each ranetku in half, remove the core and bones.
Attention! If there is no sourdough or wine yeast, it is better not to wash the apples so that wild yeast remains on the skin. Dirty fruits can be wiped with a clean, dry cloth. Bones and core give bitterness, so they must be removed.
2. Squeeze juice from prepared apples. The easiest way is to use a juicer. In the case of ranetki, the juice turns out to be cloudy and contains a lot of pulp, this is not scary, even liquid puree will do.
The second option is to chop the apple slices on a fine grater or meat grinder, then squeeze the juice through a couple of layers of gauze or a thick cloth. The process is laborious, and the result is noticeably worse (more pulp) than in the case of a juicer.
3. Pour the resulting juice (liquid puree) into an enameled or plastic container with a wide neck. Taste the juice, if necessary, dilute with water to reduce acidity. Add sourdough or wine yeast (optional). Mix.
4. Bandage the container with gauze to protect against flies and transfer to a dark place at room temperature. Leave for 3 days. After 6-14 hours, a characteristic sour smell, foam on the surface and hiss should appear. This means fermentation has begun.
In order to prevent souring, every 8-10 hours from the moment the apples are processed, you need to mix the must with a clean hand or a wooden stick, drowning the pulp in the juice – the pulp that has floated to the surface.
5. Filter the wort through gauze or a thick cloth, squeeze out the pulp well (no longer needed).
6. Add 50 grams of sugar per 1 liter to the filtered wort. Stir until completely dissolved.
7. Pour the juice into a fermentation tank, fill up to a maximum of 75% of the volume to leave room for foam and carbon dioxide. Close the neck with a water seal of any design. You can use a medical glove with a hole pierced by a needle in one of the fingers.
8. Transfer the filled fermentation container to a dark room at room temperature. Leave until the end of fermentation.
9. After 5 days from the date of installation of the water seal, add a second portion of sugar (25 grams per liter of juice). To do this, open the container, drain separately 0,5 liters of wort for each kilogram of sugar added, dilute the sugar in the juice, pour the resulting syrup into a fermentation container and close it again with a water seal.
10. After another 5 days, add a third portion of sugar (25 grams per liter of juice) according to the technology described in the previous paragraph of the recipe.
Depending on the temperature, yeast and the initial sweetness of the apples, the fermentation of homemade ranetki wine lasts 30-55 days. Then the water seal stops gurgling (the glove deflates), foam disappears from the surface, the wort becomes lighter, and a loose sediment forms at the bottom. This means that the fermentation is over.
Attention! If the fermentation lasts longer than 50 days, you need to drain the juice from the sediment through a straw and leave it to ferment under a water lock at the same temperature, otherwise bitterness may appear.
11. Carefully, trying not to touch the sediment, drain the fermented wine into another container. Add sugar to taste (will give desired sweetness). If desired, fix the drink with vodka or pure alcohol – 2-15% of the volume. Fixing promotes long-term storage, but the taste of the drink becomes tougher.
12. Pour the wine from ranetki into aging containers (preferably fill to the top so that there is no contact with oxygen). Close hermetically, if sugar was added, it is better to install a water seal for the first 7-10 days.
13. Move the containers to a dark, cool place with a temperature of 5-15°C. Leave at least 3-4 months for the wine to mature.
As a precipitate forms in a layer of 2-5 cm (at first every 10-15 days, then less often), filter the drink by pouring it through a tube into another container.
14. Wine from ranetki is considered ready when the sediment no longer appears, then it can be bottled for storage and hermetically sealed.
If stored in a refrigerator or cellar, the shelf life is up to 5 years. Fortress – 10-12%.
