Simple recipes for homemade wine from different grape varieties step by step

Grapes are a unique berry, the fruits and leaves of which have long been used to prepare delicious dishes and drinks. Its use for medicinal purposes is used to combat various diseases, including heart diseases.

On this page we will understand how grapes and blood pressure are related, whether the fruit increases or decreases its performance, and discuss the methods of using the berry and existing contraindications.

Selecting grapes

First of all, you should find good raw materials. You can order a batch of expensive grapes from the Mediterranean, but good varieties also grow in the CIS:

1. Isabella . The most common wine variety, growing in almost all regions. It costs almost nothing, is resistant to mold and the harsh winter conditions of central Russia. The berries are large, sweet, and ferment quickly. True, fragrant wines from Isabella are stored for no longer than 3 years. Afterwards, the drink begins to smell rotten and fungus appears.
2. Lydia . Making wine at home from Lydia is often found in the CIS. The variety is very fruitful. From one bush you can collect up to 40 kilograms. Lydia is surviving the transportation well. Although it is not demanding on the climate, it becomes especially sugary (19%) and tasty in the southern regions.
3. Merlot . In the middle zone, the berries become very tart, but in the southern regions they are very sweet (up to 22 percent sugar). Merlot is used to prepare table and dessert varieties.
4. Moldova . The most common variety in the CIS. It gained popularity in the Rostov region and Krasnodar Territory. Resistant to cold, moderately sweet (21% sugar), easy to ferment.

Homemade grape wine can also be made from purchased berries. For beginners, this will be even better, since self-grown material often contains a lack of sugar or certain diseases.

By the way, in vineyards a white coating often forms on the berries. Many people wash it off because they consider it a disease. In fact, these are natural wine fungi that cause the fermentation effect.

We prepare dishes, equipment and tools

To make it easier to prepare wine from grapes at home, you should buy specialized utensils and equipment. Necessary:

1. Fermentation tank . Essentially a plastic bucket with a lid. For homemade alcohol, large containers of 45 liters are sold.
2. Stirrer . A large spatula with a length of half a meter. In principle, you can replace it with a slotted spoon or a plastic spatula with slots.
3. Overflow siphon.
4. Two-chamber type water seal.
5. Wine bottles . They are traditionally used, but other glass containers will also work.

If you need to prepare wine in large quantities, then you cannot do without a special press. But this is expensive equipment that is worth buying just to sell the drink.

Classic recipe

Now let's look at a simple recipe for homemade grape wine. All varieties will do.

We will need:

1. Grape. 7 kilograms, not including branches.
2. Granulated sugar. 90 g/l of juice should be added.

This raw material is enough for 5 liters of the original drink. For 10 l. you will need 14 kilograms of berries, and for 2.5 - 3.5.

Now, to make wine from grapes at home, you just need to follow the instructions.

Preparation

The bunches taken from the vine cannot be washed; there is an abundance of live yeast on the berries (this is a waxy coating). Do not harvest after rains wash away the yeast; wait a few days. The grapes are collected only dry, without drops of moisture - this is a condition for homemade grape wine to be of high quality.

Even if the berries turn out to be dusty, this is not a reason to wash them. The dust will naturally settle, and the juice, having fermented, will cleanse itself.

You need to prepare the grapes. Remove debris, branches, rot. All this will not go into further preparation, so there is no need to regret it. Afterwards, the grapes should be squeezed thoroughly. This is how pulp is obtained (pressed grape mass).

We transfer it to the fermentation tank. Any food-plastic or glass container will do. Construction cans will not work here. Cover the container with a clean cotton or linen cloth and leave for 3 days. A couple of times a day, you should mix the mixture thoroughly with a plastic or glass stirrer.

Important condition : do not fill it more than 2/3 of the volume! The pulp rises and fills with carbon dioxide very quickly, which increases the volume, and we don’t want the future wine to run away.

Do not allow the pulp to come into contact with steel or aluminum. This will lead to instant oxidation of the metal.

The air temperature at the site of initial fermentation is 18-23°C. That is, the pulp should be kept indoors. If the temperature is above 23°C, then this may not justify the hopes and efforts spent and you will not get wine, but vinegar, which is also needed in the household. However, we have a different goal! If it is colder than 18°C, the fermentation process may not begin.

Advice from experienced winemakers! The grapes are often expected to ripen completely. This improves the taste of the future wine, but the weather may already be cool when harvesting. Therefore, after bringing in cold grapes from the street, give them several hours to warm up to room temperature. Then start turning it into pulp!

So, the pulp from which we will make homemade red wine is prepared, now we leave it in relative peace. We touch it only once a day - to mix the pulp. Otherwise it may turn sour. We monitor how intensively the formation of carbon dioxide occurs - this is the work of live yeast that was on the surface of the berries.

The pulp rises, and the juice becomes more and more. This indicates that it is time to proceed to the next stage, the appearance of pulp - only skins remain from the crushed berries, the juice has already drained from them. The process takes from 3 to 5 days.

Sometimes novice winemakers try to use only the juice: it is first squeezed out, and all the pulp (including skins, seeds, remnants of twigs from the bunches) is thrown away. This is the wrong approach. In order for the future wine to gain full aroma and rich color, experienced winemakers under no circumstances give up the pulp.

It is this that gives the velvety soft aftertaste that homemade wines have! Moreover, it will be different for each grape variety; wine made from white grapes has delicate notes characteristic only of it, which are not characteristic of red.

We recommend reading: Wine fermentation, its strength and purification

Fermentation

After 4 days, active fermentation occurs, accompanied by the active release of foam. At this moment, the distiller is only required to remove it in a timely manner. You can do this with your hands. After this, the wort must be strained through cheesecloth. By the way, this is why we did not clean out small debris at the beginning of cooking. Instead of gauze, you can use an overflow siphon with a special fine filter.

The juice from the pulp formed during the process can be squeezed back out.

Pulp is an excellent raw material for making mash and making chacha! Don't neglect this opportunity that comes only once a year!

Infusion

Wine made from grapes at home should finally ripen in a clean container. To do this, the mash needs to be poured into bottles.

They must be sterilized with boiling water so that bacteria do not kill the drink. It is at this step that problems with cooking most often occur.

The temperature must be maintained so that the wine does not spoil:

1. For light grapes – 18-22 degrees;
2. For dark – 20-28.

The container should have a stopper with a tube hermetically built into it, which we lower into a jar filled with water (hydraulic seal).

There are special polyethylene lids of a special design on sale into which water is poured. The caps are designed to fit both wide and narrow neck bottles. Just make sure that such a plug does not dry out, that is, add water as it evaporates!

Water in a jar with a straw or in a lid-lock initially gurgles intensely, releasing carbon dioxide, then the process becomes less intense, and then stops altogether, which indicates that fermentation is over.

It is important to know ! A water seal is necessary to protect the wort from oxygen entering, which will certainly lead to sourness. Without a shutter, it is impossible to obtain high-quality wine.

Some winemakers say that this is a waste of money and that an ordinary glove with pierced fingers will do. In fact, it saturates the drink with carbon dioxide, giving it a specific sour smell, like sparkling water. Making wine from grapes at home will be much easier with a water seal valve, which creates a stable environment inside.

Strength regulation stage

After 3 days you need to take the first sample. Despite the controversy on this issue, even to obtain dry wine, in the climate of the middle zone, making homemade wine from grapes requires the addition of sugar.

The fact is that both the varieties growing in our country and the weather itself contribute to the fact that the sugar content of grapes (fructose content) does not exceed 20%, and even then only in sweet varieties. Without compensating for its deficiency, we will end up with a sour and tasteless wine, which not everyone likes.

Sugar is added in doses, depending on the purpose. Dry grape wine will require 200 g per liter of pulp-free must. For a sweeter recipe, it is recommended to first add 250 g, and at the third stage add more.

Do not add sugar directly to the bottle in the hope that it will disperse due to fermentation. It’s not a fact that it will completely go away!

Therefore, it is better, having decided on the volume of wine in the container and calculating the amount of sugar, pour a little into a pan of sufficient volume, pour all the sugar into it and heat it, stirring constantly until dissolved. Monitor the heating process with a thermometer - the temperature should not exceed 50°C (so that the yeast does not die!).

If you accidentally overheat it, it’s okay, there’s more than enough yeast in the remaining wort. But first cool the wine syrup before pouring. Stir, close with a stopper with a water seal.

Remember about metal oxidation. The dishes should be enameled and the spatula should not be made of metal. As a last resort - wooden.

Throughout the entire fermentation (about 21 days), it is worth taking a sample every 3 days. If there is still sourness left, add granulated sugar. You can tell that grape wine has stopped fermenting at home by looking at the bubbles in the hydraulic valve. If they are not there, then you can pour them into clean containers. Also, if you strictly followed the recipe for homemade grape wine, settled yeast is already clearly visible at the bottom.

Stage of removing wine from sediment

To do this, use a silicone tube, first lowering it to about half the volume of the wort. While pouring, lower the end of the tube, being careful not to catch the cloudy sediment containing wine yeast.

We lower the second end of the tube into any container of suitable volume, standing lower than the wine. We draw the low-alcohol liquid into the tube using our own lips. We do this quite forcefully, preferably the first time, so that the contents of the tubes do not return, thereby stirring up the sediment at the bottom. When the wine flows, quickly lower the tube into the substituted container.

Then the law of connected vessels begins to work, and the process will not stop by itself until the level of liquid in both containers is equal. It is for this purpose that the bottle of wine should be placed on a raised platform: a table, stool, etc., and the receiving utensils should be on the floor.

Checking the sweetness at this stage is mandatory. Taste it. Do you like dry grape wines at home? This means you no longer need to add sugar. Do you prefer sweet ones? Add, as already described, sugar at the rate of up to 250 g per liter (note that after removal from the sediment the wine became slightly less).

After stirring the syrup, pour the wine into the same washed container. We install a water seal and leave until fermentation stops again. And it definitely happens after adding sugar, although it’s not as intense as the first time.

Final stage

For some winemakers, making wine at home is only possible with natural ripening for several months in cool and dark conditions (in a cellar, basement, where the temperature does not rise above 15°C).

As a rule, after the gurgling stops, the bottle is taken to the cellar and left there for 3–4 months. After this, the sediment is once again removed from the sediment, bottled, corked and stored in a supine position.

And even after packaging, the wine is called “green”, or young. It has not yet gained full strength, has not revealed all the flavor nuances and its aroma. This will take at least three more months. Although it is believed that only after a year can you truly evaluate how successful your wine is.

Other wine experts believe that bottles of green wine must be sterilized. For it you will need:

• bottles of packaged wine;
• a tall saucepan so that the water poured into it reaches the bottle hangers; cloth napkins or towels;
• thermometer, preferably a kitchen one with a special rod and a mechanical dial.

Glass bottles are filled with wine, not adding about two fingers to the top. They are not hermetically sealed and each bottle is wrapped in cloth.

Important! Each bottle should be wrapped both on the sides (to prevent it from accidentally hitting the sides of a pan or another bottle) and from the bottom to prevent splitting when heated.

One of the bottles is not closed, but a thermometer is inserted into it. Pour in water and heat it up. As soon as the thermometer shows 60°C, the fire is turned off, the bottles are removed and this time sealed tightly. Allow to cool, then take it to the cellar, where it is stored in a lying or inclined position, which is only possible if you have or have made a wine cabinet.

The main thing is that there is no free space in the bottle between the wine and the cork, otherwise the cork will gradually dry out and microcracks will form in it, through which the wine will lose its smell, strength and taste.

Sterilization in this way is necessary so that the yeast will die and fermentation can no longer take place. This way you can make good homemade wine from grapes, from which you will really enjoy.

Wine material that has undergone sterilization is perfectly clarified, ripens perfectly, acquiring a velvety and soft taste.

No moonshine, vodka or alcohol is added to this wine! This is spoilage of a noble drink!

With some water

How to make homemade wine without unnecessary problems? The previous recipe is based on natural fermentation and without “extra” components. But there is also simplified home winemaking.

A recipe for wine from grapes and water does not require moonshine brewing skills at all, but many people like it even more because of its mild taste. You will need:

1. Grapes - any quantity.
2. Water – 1.3 l/kg of berry mass (only spring or bottled, not tap!).
3. Granulated sugar – 400 g/kg.

And then wine is made from grapes at home according to the instructions:

1. We sift out the bad berries and throw away the garbage. Press the mixture and mix with water and granulated sugar.
2. Close the container with a lid with a water seal. It is necessary to store in a place without open sun.
3. Once every 3 days you need to take a sweetness test. If it is not enough, you need to add 70 g according to the above recipe.
4. After a couple of weeks, we drain the sediment, and the drink must be poured into containers and left to ferment for 40 days at 10-12 degrees Celsius.

Impact on performance

Grapes contain a lot of components that are useful for absolutely every person.
They have a positive effect on heart function, blood composition, and the strength of vascular walls. That is why this berry is not prohibited for both hypertensive and hypotensive patients.

To lower blood pressure, diuretics are used primarily. Grape berries are a natural diuretic, so they do their job perfectly.

For people whose blood pressure levels are low, it is most advisable to eat dried grapes - raisins. It has a beneficial effect on the central nervous system, the condition of which is especially important for people with hypotension.

Periodic consumption of grapes or a small amount of dry red wine stabilizes the functioning of the heart and reduces the likelihood of developing a heart attack.

Recipe without granulated sugar

How to make dry wine at home? Just remove granulated sugar from the recipe. For example, let's take 20 kilograms of berries.

And to make wine from grapes at home, you need to follow the instructions.

Selection

The berries are removed from excess debris. In this case, it is better to pick the grapes yourself on a clear day. This is necessary, since wine fungi live on the skin of grapes, converting fructose into alcohol. And the rain removes them and causes dust to settle on the berries.

Squeeze

Now you need to squeeze the berries thoroughly. It is better to do this with your hands rather than with a press. The reason is the preservation of the seeds, which also take part in fermentation. They should remain intact, but the press bursts them. Therefore, if you are cooking “for yourself” and not for sale, you only need to harvest it with your hands.

Primary exposure

The resulting pulp is transferred to a container: a can, containers for fermentation, a pan with thick enamel. The bookmark should be no more than 3⁄4 volume. Next, the preparation of red and white “dry” is slightly different:

1. The white pulp needs to be left for 24 hours at 19 - 25 degrees. After squeezing through a cotton cloth, pour the liquid without impurities and debris into the prepared container.
2. Red pulp is infused longer: from 3 to 4 days at 19-30 degrees. The very next day, a cap of foam rises, which must be removed 3 times every day. Otherwise, the drink will turn sour and you will no longer be able to cook from it.

Fermentation

When the drink is poured into containers, it’s time for active fermentation. The neck must be plugged with a stopper with a water seal or a pierced latex glove. The liquid is poured into the container no more than 2/3 full. The remaining volume is needed for CO2 released in the process.

The main (active) fermentation lasts 40 days. Its completion will be indicated by missing bubbles in the water seal. The drink itself becomes lighter, and an insoluble sediment remains at the bottom.

Maturation

In fact, we have already created alcohol that you can drink. It is called “young wine,” but it has few lovers. The taste is sharp and difficult to call it pleasant. But this can be solved by “ripening”.

To make wine from Isabella grapes softer and tastier at home, you need to pour it into containers. Here again, a lot depends on the grape variety:

1. White is aged for about a month at a temperature of 6-16 degrees. This is already enough to make it softer and more pleasant.
2. Red is “more vigorous”, so it needs to be aged for at least 2 months at the same temperature.

The best place would be a wine cellar, since contact with sunlight should also be excluded.

Since there is no granulated sugar in the recipe, the drink can be stored for up to 5 years at the correct temperature of 10-16 degrees.

By the way, an insoluble sediment may periodically form at the bottom. It is not advisable to drink it, so if it appears, you should pour the alcohol into another container.

Bursting at the seams

The winegrower admits that he made a huge mistake this year.
Having turned on the watering at 6 am, I only remembered about it in the evening. And 10 tons of water spilled onto 5 acres - 2 buckets per 1 sq. m. m. But, he smiles, I checked the resistance of varieties and hybrid forms to cracking. Having received such a water hammer, many could not stand it. Although most of them still survived. The berry, says Dubovsky, bursts for many reasons. These are diseases, in particular oidium, imbalance in nutrition, disturbed water balance and characteristics of the variety itself.

Improper watering is the most common reason. After all, waterlogging of the soil is directly related to the wateriness of the fruit. On the other hand, drought also has a negative effect on the elasticity of the skin.

In case of rain or heavy watering, the fruits take on as much moisture as possible, causing them to become overfilled and inflated. But the skin cannot stretch so quickly, so it bursts.

Drought and excessively hot weather are the main reason for the rapid spread of a disease such as oidium.

Grafting "black to green".

The elasticity of the skin largely depends on the presence of phosphorus in the diet. With its deficiency, it loses its elasticity. Its strength depends on its thickness: the thicker it is, the stronger it is. And the thickness already depends on the presence of potassium in the diet. Excessive nitrogen intake, on the contrary, leads to an increase in the volume of the pulp without thickening the shell. It stretches, becoming thin and fragile.

To avoid cracking, you must carefully follow all agricultural techniques and harvest within the strictly established time frame for a particular variety.

- In no case,

- Alexander emphasizes, -
you cannot leave bursting berries on the bush.
Firstly, it leads to disease. Rot will appear, which can spread to neighboring clusters, which can lead to complete loss of the harvest. Secondly, it attracts insects. Especially wasps, flies, bees. They not only spread infections, but also, having taken over the territory, they will eat both affected and completely whole berries. Thirdly, cracking reduces yield by 2 times or more. Since the risk of gray rot and other diseases in a vineyard affected by cracking of berries increases, it is very important to carry out preventive treatments in a timely manner. And here we are already relying on biological products. The same "Fitosporin", for example.

Recipe "Isabella"

Homemade wine from Isabella grapes belongs to the semi-sweet group, which means for winemaking you will need:

1. Grapes - for example, let's take 15 kilograms.
2. Granulated sugar – -150 g/l.
3. Water – up to 500 ml/l. The less, the more tart the drink will be.

Until the water seal is installed, preparing wine from Isabella grapes at home does not differ from previous recipes. Further, the technology is slightly different.

The wort must be transferred to a dark room. Isabella is a very resistant variety, so fermentation can occur in the range from 16 to 30 degrees. The container is only half filled. In the process, these grapes release huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which can rupture the container.

Fermentation lasts from 35 to 70 days. This can be determined by the absence of bubbles.

Stabilization

How to make homemade wine from grapes tastier? It needs to be stabilized.

In winemaking, a stabilized drink is one that does not have turbidity and is cleared of residual yeast, yeast-like fungi, various bacteria and other things. The easiest stabilization option is to add vodka. Fans of fortified wines will love this. You need to add 10% of good vodka from the total volume. It will be stored longer, but the taste will become stronger.

Another way: pour the drink into a glass container and seal it. You need to fill to the top to prevent contact with oxygen. Rinse containers with boiling water first. If sugar was added after fermentation, it is better to keep it under a water seal for the first week and then seal it tightly.

When stabilized, the drink should be stored for at least 3 months in the refrigerator at temperatures up to 16 degrees. After this, the taste will become much softer.

If the temperature is maintained and after stabilization, the drink can be stored for up to 5 years.

Beneficial features

Grapes are very tasty and healthy, which is why their berries are very popular. The beneficial components included in its composition strengthen the immune system and improve the performance of vital organs. These include:

• Organic acids.
• Phytosterols.
• Tanning elements.
• Cellulose.
• Vitamins of group B, as well as A, C, K, P, N.
• Microelements: potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, manganese and fluorine.
• Flavonoids.

Their effect on our body:

• reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood fluid;
• strengthen the walls of blood vessels and increase their size;
• restore metabolism;
• increase the amount of nutrients in the body.

In addition to the beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, phytosterols contained in berries prevent the development of cancer.

And also read on our website: List of 15 foods that lower blood pressure in humans

Contraindications

Despite all the benefits of grapes, there are a number of pathological conditions in which it is strictly not recommended and even prohibited to eat them. These include:

• diabetes and obesity;
• allergy;
• ulcers of the duodenum or stomach;
• gastrointestinal cancer;
• chronic diarrhea.
• colitis;
• cirrhosis of the liver.

It is also prohibited for people who have problems with the adrenal glands and genitourinary system, accompanied by impaired removal of fluid from the body, as it can cause an increase in blood pressure.

Recipes for different types of grapes

It is worth considering several recipes from different types of grapes.

From sour varieties

A small, sour variety with a tart taste often grows in dachas. It is quite suitable for winemaking. To do this you need:

1. 5 kilograms of raw materials.
2. 2 kilograms of granulated sugar, since the variety is sour. You can add even more if you can’t beat the acid.

How to make wine from grapes at home? According to the instructions:

1. The berries need to be sorted, squeezed and the tank filled 2/3.
2. A lid with a water seal is placed on top.
3. The pulp goes to the cellar for 90 days

Afterwards you can remove the sediment and get a good table variety. Or you can add another half a kilogram of granulated sugar and send it for stabilization: 7 days with a water seal and 6 with a sealed stopper.

From waste

This drink is also called “petio” because it is made from pomace - grape waste.

Necessary:

1. 7 kilograms of grape waste;
2. 4.5 liters of water;
3. 1 kilogram of sugar.

Following are the instructions:

1. You need to mix granulated sugar with water and pour syrup over the cake.
2. The mixture is poured into a bottle and sealed with a stopper with a water seal for two weeks.
3. Afterwards, the pulp is filtered through cotton cloth, and the juice is poured into a clean container. In a warm, dark place, the petiot should ferment for about 2 months.
4. Now you need to clean the drink from sediment and pour it into a new container. You can add granulated sugar if the petiot is too sour. By the way, this is a light wine drink, so you can add vodka for strength. The bottles are sealed and sent to mature for another 90 days.

After waiting, the drink is ready to drink.

From unripe grapes

How to make homemade wine from grapes if they are not yet ripe? For it you will need:

1. 5 kilograms of berries.
2. Sugar – 100 grams per liter.
3. Water – up to 500 milliliters per liter.
4. Wine yeast.

The preparation looks like this:

1. The crushed berries are heated to 60 degrees and then cooled at room temperature.
2. The pulp needs to be strained and the leaked juice separated.
3. The liquid should be diluted with water to taste, add sugar and yeast. Depending on the type of grape, yeast is added in different quantities. This is usually indicated in the instructions on the bag.
4. The wort is poured into a bottle and closed with a stopper with a water seal. It needs to be left in the cellar for 2 months.
5. Afterwards you need to separate the sediment and pour it into clean containers. The wine will need to steep for another 2 months, after which it can be drunk.

Is it possible to make wine using a juicer?

Oddly enough, there is also a way to make wine from grape juice. Since the juice prepared using a juicer is completely free of natural yeast, it should be charged with it. To the cooled juice obtained using a juicer, poured into a bottle, add fresh, unwashed, crushed bunches of grapes (possibly together with twigs) in an arbitrary quantity.

The main thing is that the container is filled to no more than 2/3 of its volume. The wine is fermented together with the pulp. Additional technique: pour the juice with pulp into a container from the wine that has already been removed from the lees, where it remains.

Practice shows that natural, unfortified homemade wines, when properly stored, only become tastier every year, but it is recommended to store them no longer than 10 years.

Contraindications

Although eating grapes in moderation promotes human health, they should be avoided for certain diseases and conditions. This:

1. Diabetes.
2. Tendency to flatulence, diarrhea, and other types of digestive disorders.
3. Obesity or overweight.
4. Ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.
5. Stomach cancer.
6. Chronic pharyngitis.
7. Severe forms of hypertension, when blood pressure must be controlled with serious medications.

Restrictions also apply to women in late pregnancy. In addition to affecting the digestive processes, grapes can have a negative effect on milk production and its composition.