A rich harvest of grapes, berries and fruits is an occasion to not only close enough jams and compotes for the winter, but also to try yourself as a winemaker. What many use. That's just not so simple, often newcomers find themselves in a situation where something goes wrong. And then questions arise like: “Wine does not wander, what should I do?” Indeed, the creation of wine is a creative process that requires special attention to detail. Therefore, for a person who recently decided to join the great art of winemaking, to find out why homemade wine does not roam, is not only shameful, but also absolutely necessary. Well, we will try to help with this.
What is fermentation?
As experienced winemakers say: "If the art of making good wine is sometimes on the verge of mysticism, then the magic of obtaining excellent wine is often beyond that." We, of course, will not insist that mysticism has something to do with the fact that wine does not roam. What to do in such cases will become apparent if we consider in detail the fermentation process itself. It is known that fermentation is the process of splitting sugar contained in grape juice into carbon dioxide and alcohol under the influence of enzymes produced by the culture of wine yeast. And yeast is a unicellular mushroom, for their normal functioning certain conditions are necessary. If they are not respected, the wine does not ferment. What should be done in this case? Of course, create a favorable environment for yeast.
Types of fermentation
Note that professionals, as well as experienced winemakers, distinguish two stages of fermentation. Rapid fermentation - before removal from the sediment, and quiet fermentation or "fermentation". In this case, we will be interested in the stage of rapid fermentation. Because before the separation of the pulp of wine, as such, there is still no - there is a must, and after removal from the sediment, the situation is no longer so critical. Thus, we have figured out in which particular period the situation when the wine does not roam is dangerous. What to do in such cases?
Fermentation conditions
In order to clearly imagine what stage of production will be discussed, we briefly outline the part of the technological process that interests us. So, after fermentation of grape must and separation of pulp, a cloudy liquid is obtained, which is a fermented juice and is the prototype of the future wine. This liquid can be transformed into wine of one quality or another only if the necessary conditions are met and if the winemaker acts correctly.
The physical conditions necessary for fermentation are, first of all, the temperature of the medium. The most favorable temperature is 15-20 º. At temperatures above 25 º, there is a high probability of ruining the wine (the process will go too fast and it will be impossible to control it), at 10 º fermentation will stop. Physical conditions should also include the size of the vessel in which fermentation takes place, and the possibility of oxygen access. Important biological conditions are: the purity of the yeast culture, their concentration, as well as the saturation of the nutrient medium. If wild yeast is used, especially at low temperatures, fermentation can slow down significantly. With a low sugar content, it can stop altogether. Too high a sugar content also threatens to stop fermentation.
Your actions that will lead to the resumption of fermentation
If wine does not roam, what to do first? First, make sure that the temperature in the room does not fall below the critical level (sometimes it is enough to increase it by only a few degrees). Check the sugar content using a hydrometer (domestic wine meter) most accurately possible in grape juice. If there is little sugar, you need to take part of the juice, add part of the required amount of sugar to it and dissolve it by heating to 50-60 º. After the juice has cooled to room temperature, pour it into the fermentation tank. Then you should “restart” the wine with the help of a new yeast yeast. It is hardly worth recalling that the result can be more convincing when a pure culture of wine yeast is used. Usually, 2-3% of the yeast is sufficient (depending on the amount of juice), it depends on what kind of wine you want to get in strength.
Conclusion
And now that you know how to make wine wander, we can only wish you good luck in getting a positive experience in preparing a wonderful drink of the gods - grape wine.