Plum wine is a specific alcoholic drink with an unusual aromatic bouquet. On the fan, but many like it. The semi-dry version goes well with meat dishes, and sweet wine sounds good with desserts. How to cook it at home? It’s not very difficult, in fact, this will be discussed now.
Subtleties
First of all, you need to make a reservation that for the preparation of plum wine, fruits of any sort are suitable, but it is better to choose dark ones. And, of course, they must be ripe. If a person himself decided to collect the fruits, then only those that have matured so much that they themselves begin to tear themselves away from the branch need to be picked.
Before starting cooking, it is recommended to put the fruit for several hours in the sun. But you do not need to wash them, unless there is adhering dirt.
Many are afraid to choose the wrong grade because of the sweetness. Indeed, there are very sugary plums. But do not worry - the sugar content is easily regulated during cooking.
The main difficulty is getting juice. Indeed, the plums contain a high content of pectin, which makes their pulp jelly-like. That is why there is no pure juice of these fruits on sale - only nectar.
But plums have a very high glucose content. So make less white sugar. Yes, and fermentation is more intense.
Ingredients
To make plum wine at home you will need:
- Plum fruit - 10 kilograms.
- Water. One liter per kilogram of plum pulp.
- Sugar. The amount depends on how sweet the person wants to get in the end. The minimum proportion is 100 grams per liter of juice, and the maximum is 350 g.
As already mentioned, the “requirements” for fruit are low. The only thing you need to immediately throw away moldy, rotten and spoiled fruits. Even the flesh from one bad plum can spoil all the wine. Therefore, it will be necessary to sort out the fruits carefully.
Getting juice
This is the first stage. First, from the unwashed, but towel-wrapped plums, it is necessary to remove the bones. Then carefully crush the pulp to get a homogeneous mixture. In appearance, the mass should resemble mashed potatoes.
Then you need to add water and mix thoroughly. As already mentioned, the proportions are observed in a ratio of 1: 1.
The resulting juice must be sent for two days to some dark place where the temperature varies from 18 ° C to 25 ° C. Be sure to cover the container with gauze folded in several layers. So it will be possible to protect the wort from getting flies into it.
Every 6-8 hours you will need to mix mashed potatoes diluted with water. A wooden clean stick is recommended. Each time you need to immerse the pulp in the liquid - a pop-up layer of pulp and peel. When 48 hours pass, this mass will be separated from the juice.
It will not turn out not to notice this process, since it is accompanied by the appearance of foam and bubbles on the surface. This indicates that fermentation has begun. What to do? Strain the wort! It is necessary to get rid of the pulp. It’s easy - you just need to transfer the contents to another container through gauze or fine mesh.
Juice should fill 3/4 of the vessel, not more. It is important to leave space. After all, fermentation is accompanied by the release of carbon dioxide and foam, and they need a place.
Fermentation
The next step in making homemade plum wine. After the juice is transfused into the fermentation vessel, sugar will need to be added to the liquid. How much? It depends on the initial sweetness of the fruit and the type of wine that you want to get. Here are the approximate proportions (the amount of sugar is indicated per 1 liter of juice):
- Dry wine - 100 g.
- Semi-dry - 250 g.
- Semi-sweet - 200 g.
- Sweet - 350 g.
You can not pour all the sugar at once. First, 50% of the total volume, immediately after transfusion of the juice into the vessel. It will take a long time and thoroughly mix to dissolve. It will take a lot of time, because sugar is difficult to break down in an already sweet liquid.
Then you need to install a water shutter on the tank. The simplest option is a rubber glove with a tiny hole in a finger made by a needle.
And yes, plum wine should roam in a dark room with a temperature of 18-26 ° C.
How to pour in the remaining sugar?
Important question. Writing a recipe for homemade plum wine, you can not help but give an answer.
The remaining sugar must be added to the container four times, in equal amounts every 5 days. You need to do this like this:
- First remove the glove.
- Pour a small amount of juice through a tube into another container. The amount of sugar added should be two times the volume of liquid.
- To stir thoroughly.
- Pour the syrup back into a vessel with fermenting plum wine.
- Return the water seal to its place.
In order not to forget how much more sugar is left to add, it is recommended to make serifs on the container.
The timing
According to this simple recipe, at home, plum wine should ferment for 60 days. But the completeness of the process can be determined by the deflated glove. The fact that it “descended” means one thing - gas has ceased to be released. By the way, a characteristic precipitate will appear at the bottom.
What should be the next step? Young wine is poured into another clean container. There it will ripen.
By the way, you can try a drink before that. If it doesn’t seem sweet enough, you can add a little more sugar. Some “fix” wine by adding 40-45% alcohol or vodka. But the main thing here is not to overdo it. The permissible maximum of strong alcohol is 15% of the total wine volume. And it is also worth considering that the drink will gain a hard taste.
It is important to note that fermentation sometimes lasts longer than 55 days. Then bitterness may appear. To avoid this, it is necessary to drain the wine from the precipitate into another vessel. Water lock can be used the same.
Maturation
To make the wine from the plums lighten, you need to wait a lot of time. At least 2-3 months. Particles cannot be filtered quickly, so the only sure way out is to wait.
The containers that must be filled to the brim with a young drink are sealed. If sugar was added for greater sweetness, then the first week you need to hold it under a water seal.
Then the closed containers are transferred to where the light does not pass. And the temperature there should be from 6 ° C to 16 ° C. A fridge or basement will do.
Every 15-20 days it will be necessary to filter the drink from sediment. Just slowly pour it into another vessel. Without touching the sediment, of course.
Plum wine made according to this recipe is drunk quickly at home. But it is strongly recommended that at least a couple of bottles withstand 2-3 years, regularly filtering. Every connoisseur of good alcohol is simply obliged to try the brewed wine, made personally from plums.
To do this, you do not need to carry out this procedure every 2-3 weeks. Once every 2 months will be enough. However, complete transparency can still not be achieved. All because of the characteristics of the sink. But this does not affect the magnificent multifaceted taste.