If your homemade wine turns out too sweet, what should you do? Obesity, or the disease of viscous wines - malolactic fermentation and diseases Why grape wine is made thick.

Any winemaker knows that this matter cannot be avoided without mistakes and accidents. Usually, mistakes lead to undesirable changes, after which the wine must be immediately corrected. It may turn out too sweet or too sour.

It is necessary to be able to distinguish between serious diseases and small mistakes made by the winemaker. After all, fixing the latter is not so difficult, but diseases will have to be fought hard. So, if an alcoholic drink does not turn out the way you would like it to be, due to an incorrect recipe or work, its shortcomings are easy to correct. If the liquid has been attacked by fungi and bacteria, then it will need serious treatment.

Too sour drink

It turns out similar in two cases. Either you did not add enough sugar to the wort, or you did not close the bottle properly after the fermentation process was completed. The first way out of this situation is to make wine vinegar. To do this, add 1-2% granulated sugar to the liquid and leave it in an open container for several weeks. Stir the mass regularly, and after three weeks you will get.

The second solution to this issue would be to leave the liquid until next season. When you are ready to prepare a new batch of alcoholic beverage, add the sour liquid to the new wort in a ratio of 1:10. In this case, you will get a dry drink.

How to fix wine that is too sweet?

A homemade drink may turn out this way because too much sugar was added to the wort. Of course, there may be another option. Sometimes the raw materials themselves are too sweet, and sand is added strictly according to the recipe. Then the berries or fruits add too much sugar to the juice, making the liquid not what it should be. Therefore, you need to remember that all recipes are relative. Try the raw material, if it is sour, add a little more sugar. And if the fruits are very sweet, reduce the amount of added sand.

The wine can be corrected when it overplays and ferments. Do not forget that the drink should not come into contact with air during fermentation. To do this, put a glove on the container, or attach a gas outlet tube. Winemakers suggest getting rid of excess sugar by diluting it with water.

Sour wine

The drink becomes sour under the influence of bacteria, that is, it is no longer a vice, but a disease. It is impossible to cure peroxidized wine. Very often, grape wine undergoes this process. There is milk sourness and vinegar sourness. The first occurs due to the fact that lactic acid bacteria convert granulated sugar into acid. This disease can be prevented by the pasteurization process. You can correct the wine if the process has just begun, then you can try to smoke alcohol from it. Acetic souring occurs when special bacteria multiply and destroy alcohol. It is very easy to recognize this process. Firstly, the wine loses its degree, and secondly, a white film forms on it. It is impossible to correct wine with vinegar souring.

The same raw materials are used to make homemade wine, but each drink has its own characteristics and flavor. Often, young and not fully ripened wine appears cloudy. But it's not clearWhy is homemade wine cloudy? ? During its preparation, you can make some mistakes, including high or low temperatures for fermentation. As a result, the wine raw materials do not fully ripen and not all suspended components settle out.

The reasons for this phenomenon

The main reason for the cloudiness of a wine drink is not very thorough cleaning after primary fermentation with incorrectly selected filter material. Also, the drink may become cloudy if, instead of several filters, only one was performed. Temperature conditions for storing containers must be observed. Due to exceeding the required climatic parameters, rapid ripening may occur with the appearance of flocculent formations that will be suspended in the drink.

Oxygen is considered another unpleasant prerequisite for this phenomenon, so for further storage and infusion, the wine should be sealed very tightly. After all, during fermentation, anaerobic reactions occur without oxygen participation. It is important to prevent air from entering, since instead of water and alcohol, the final product will be vinegar with lactic acid, forming cloudiness.

As a result, the wine may turn sour. To eliminate this phenomenon, microbiological technologies are used in industrial winemaking, eliminating the entry of specific bacteria into drinks.

Elimination of opacities

Before removing turbidity from wine and clarifying it, you should understand the reason for its cloudiness and decrease in organoleptic characteristics. If there were violations in its ripening and storage, or raw materials with pectins were used, then the wine should be clarified. If a drink is infected with lactic acid or acetic acid bacteria, efforts may be in vain, as the wine turns sour.

How to clarify wine

To improve the appearance of the drink, you can use one of the following methods:

1. Gelatin and chicken protein as flocculants. The flocculant is capable of absorbing microscopic particles, increasing in size over time and settling. To do this, gelatin is mixed with cool water for several hours, heated, combined with a small amount of alcohol, mixed and poured into a common container. After 2 weeks, a flaky sediment will appear on the bottom of the container, and the drink will become lighter and more transparent.

Using a similar technology, chicken protein is used, which is separated from the yolk, whipped into a dense foam and mixed with a small amount of wine and then added to the rest of the liquid. The drink should be kept with this flocculant for at least 3 weeks;

1. Application of white bentonite clay in the form of fine-grained powder. Clarification of a liter of wine is carried out by adding 3 grams of powder. First, bentonite is poured with cool water and left for 12 hours. To process 10 liters of alcohol, you need to prepare 300 ml of water and 30 grams of clay. To prevent the clay from hardening, it is diluted in water and gradually poured into a container;
2. Chitosan (obtained from crustacean chitin). The substance is almost undiluted with water, but dilutes well in some acids. When dissolved, chitosan absorbs fats, fat-soluble elements and carbohydrates well, but after it the wine is usually treated with Kieselzol;
3. Activated carbon. Charcoal is used because the one purchased at the pharmacy will not be effective enough. As a rule, this cleaning method is applicable when there is an increased accumulation of unwanted odors and fusel oils. To process 10 liters of wine, use 3-4 grams of crushed powder, mix and leave for 4 days, shaking occasionally;
4. Lightening with cold. Under low temperature exposure, small particles sink. In this case, 3 liters of alcohol are placed in the refrigerator or outside, kept in the cold for 24 hours, after which they are quickly drained;
5. Application of milk. To perform the procedure, add a teaspoon of skim milk to a liter of drink and skim off the sediment after 4 days;
6. Lightening through heat. The bottle must be tightly closed. For such clarification, use a container of water, the temperature of which gradually increases to 50 degrees. Then the drink is slowly cooled and settled for 7 days;
7. Tannin. It is a powder made from oak core and is effective in purifying alcoholic beverages from pear and apple juice. The advantage of the technology is that it imparts a special astringency to alcohol. First, the substance is mixed with water at the rate of 1 g/200 ml, infused and filtered through cheesecloth. You need to add about 6 teaspoons of tannin per liter of wine. After 7 days, sediment can be removed from the wine.

Pasteurization conditions

A productive procedure for eliminating the microbial pathogen that causes turbidity in a drink is pasteurization or heating to 60-70 degrees and holding for half an hour. For this process, the container with alcohol is tightly covered with a lid to prevent the evaporation of alcohol.

Heating is carried out in a water bath so that the composition does not overheat. Otherwise, you can change the taste characteristics and spoil the bouquet of aromas. The procedure can be repeated up to 3 times, and then the container can be kept at temperatures up to 15 degrees for 30-60 days.

It turns out that preparing wine correctly is not so difficult. You need to take high-quality materials, water and fermentation activators, and also carefully control the temperature conditions, the humidity of the working room and the tightness of the lid.

All clarification methods are best used first on small volumes of wine.

To ensure that homemade wine does not lose its taste, color and smell, it must be properly stored and protected from disease. The main causes of drink spoilage are bacteria and microorganisms. It is noteworthy that dessert wines are preserved better. In dry and semi-sweet varieties, wine diseases are observed more often.

Wine diseases: causes and types

The owner may encounter wine diseases in several cases:

You can prevent the problem by bottling the finished drink. Keeping liquid in a bottle and periodically opening it to remove any portion is not recommended.

Wine diseases are divided into 2 groups:

1. Aerobic, associated with the supply of oxygen to the drink and the activity of microorganisms (flower, acetic acid souring).
2. Anaerobic, occurring without the participation of air and caused by lactic acid bacteria (bitterness, mouse taste, obesity, lactic acid souring).

Symptoms and treatment of major wine diseases

Tswel (mold)

How to treat mycoderm? The film is carefully removed and the wine is poured into a clean container treated with sulfite. The drink is improved by fining and filtration. In advanced cases, after removing the film, the intoxicating liquor is pasteurized at a temperature of 55 – 60°C.

Processed wine is used to make blends.

Vinegar souring

A disease called “vinegar souring” develops in wine at high storage temperatures. You can recognize it by the slight smell of vinegar. Subsequently, the liquid is covered with a translucent white film (sometimes gray-blue). Over the course of several days, it moves downwards and forms a thin white precipitate (vinegar nest).

Treatment of wine from acetic souring is carried out in the form of film removal and pasteurization. The tightly sealed container is wrapped in rags and placed in a saucepan on a wooden stand. Water is poured flush with the plugs and, after heating it over medium heat to 60°C, boil for 10 minutes.

Damaged wine cannot be completely restored. To prevent souring, it should be protected from contact with air and stored at a temperature of 10 – 12°C.

Tourn – lactic acid souring of wine

A symptom of Thurn disease is long threads floating in the wine. They are formed by colonies of lactic acid bacteria, which also give the intoxicating liquid the taste and smell of sauerkraut. A black sediment accumulates at the bottom of the bottle, making the contaminated drink tasteless.

The quality of the drink is first improved by sulfitation, then pasteurization, fining and filtration are performed. Prevention of lactic acid souring involves using sterile containers and kitchen utensils.

Propionic fermentation

If the wine becomes cloudy and changes color, it means that the propionic fermentation process has spoiled it. It is caused by bacteria that can break down tartaric acid into acetic and propionic acid. Sick white wines acquire a bluish color, red wines become yellow-brown.

Propionic fermentation is treated by two methods - pasteurization and clarification.

Bitterness

Wines that were made from rotten raw materials usually become rancid (a few defective berries may well cause bitterness). The owner also encounters rancidity if, after fermentation, the drink sits unstrained for a long time and the sediment rots.

Treatment of bitterness involves diluting wine with sugar or wine alcohol. The content of the auxiliary product is determined based on the volume of spoiled liquid (10 - 15%). In mild cases this is quite enough. The taste of a too bitter drink cannot be corrected.

Mouse taste

Any type of wine can acquire an unpleasant mouse taste - dessert, red, table, fortified, etc. Intoxicated wine emits a pungent odor of mouse excrement and leaves a metallic aftertaste when tasting. The liquid gradually becomes cloudy and deteriorates.

Why does wine have a mousey taste? Alcohol spoils either due to biochemical processes with an excess of iron in the wort, or under the influence of yeast bacteria.

What to do if homemade wine has a mousey taste? Experts recommend three methods:

1. Lightening;
2. Acidification;
3. Sulfur treatment.

Obesity

Young sweet wines with low acidity and low amounts of tannins suffer from obesity. The cause of the unusual disease lies in the activity of the bacterium Bacillus viscosus vini, which secretes mucus into the drink. Due to the content of the waste product of this bacterium, the wine turns into a viscous mucous mass. From a liquid state, its consistency turns into an oily one, and then takes on the appearance of egg white.

The essence of treating wine for obesity is aeration (the drink is poured from container to container in the air), pasteurization and sulfitation. Preventive measures include adjusting the acidity and sweetness of the hop liquor and moderate dilution of the wort with water.

How to prevent homemade wine diseases?

General measures to prevent wine diseases include several simple conditions, the observance of which guarantees excellent product quality.

• At all stages of winemaking, use only sterile, dry and non-metallic utensils.
• Diligently sort through the raw materials, without missing a single questionable grape.
• Monitor the quality of water and sugar used.
• Make sure the water seal is tight and do not allow the wine to come into contact with oxygen again.
• Use moderation when diluting the wort with water, as excess moisture reduces acidity and increases the wine's susceptibility to bacterial damage.

Found a mistake? Select it and click Shift + Enter or

Despite the fact that the same raw materials are used as a basis, each person produces homemade wine with its own characteristics and flavors. It often happens that wine, especially young wine that is not fully matured, turns out cloudy. Why is this happening? It is clear that during the cooking process some mistakes often occur. Perhaps the temperature at which fermentation took place was too high, or perhaps, on the contrary, too low and the process progressed slowly. The wine material is not fully ripened, and not all suspended particles have precipitated.

Causes of cloudiness

Often the cause is insufficiently thorough filtration after fermentation reactions. The operation is performed after primary fermentation, the young wine is drained from the sediment and filtered. Why can cloudiness occur in wine even after filtration? The reason is usually quite simple. This could be an incorrectly selected filter material or simple laziness, that is, instead of two or three filters, only one was carried out.
It is also important to adhere to the temperature conditions at which the wine is stored. Exceeding the required microclimate parameters can lead to an overly violent ripening reaction and the formation of flocculent particles suspended in the liquid.
One of the most, one might say, unpleasant reasons is oxygen. Wine intended for storage and ripening must be corked extremely tightly. It is known that the fermentation process is a combination of anaerobic reactions that occur without the participation and access of oxygen. Why is it important to prevent the presence of oxygen in this process?

If fermentation occurs under aerobic (presence of O2) conditions, then the end products of the reaction will not be alcohol and water, but vinegar and lactic acid, leading to turbidity.

What could this lead to? The correct answer is that our wonderful homemade wine runs the risk of spoiling and turning into vinegar. To avoid this, wineries use special microbiological research methods to prevent bacteria from entering the wine, leading to acetic acid and lactic acid fermentation.
It should be noted that such processes are highly specific and have a number of external signs. These include: a specific smell, a characteristic uniform cloudiness of the wine, the formation of a fairly dense sediment, which, when shaken, slowly rises from the bottom of the bottle.

How to get rid of cloudiness

Before you start removing turbidity from wine and clarifying the drink, you need to correctly establish the cause of the cloudiness of the wine, the deterioration of its taste and other organoleptic qualities.
If there are any violations during the ripening and storage process, or if raw materials with a high content of pectins were taken, then in this case, of course, it is necessary to carry out clarification. If, during storage or ripening, the drink is contaminated with pathogens of acetic acid or lactic acid fermentation, all efforts may be in vain. Simply put, the wine sours and turns into vinegar. Nothing can be done here.

Lighten up

Let's not despair, let's try to improve the appearance of the wine as much as possible with the help of several fairly simple ones.
One of the most popular is the use of gelatin and chicken egg whites as so-called flocculants.
Flocculant is a substance that absorbs small particles, gradually enlarging, and precipitates. In this case, gelatin is soaked in cold water for several hours, then heated, mixed with a small amount of wine, dissolved well and poured into a container with wine. After ten to fourteen days, a sediment of large flakes will form at the bottom of the bottle, the wine will lighten and acquire attractive transparency.

Chicken protein is also roughly used. It is carefully separated from the yolk, whipped into a strong foam, then mixed with a small amount of wine and added to the rest of the liquid. Aging with a flocculant from chicken egg whites should be at least three weeks. The result should also please you - a clear, aromatic wine with a minimal amount of dense sediment that does not spoil the taste and aroma of the drink.

Pasteurize

A very effective way to combat the microbial component of wine cloudiness is pasteurization or heating to a temperature of 60–70 ° C and holding at this temperature for 30 minutes. To pasteurize wine, the container is closed very tightly to avoid evaporation of the alcohol component.

You need to heat it in a water bath, being careful not to overheat the drink. This can harm the taste and disrupt the bouquet of aromas.

You can repeat up to three times, no more. After final pasteurization, continuously keep the containers at a temperature not exceeding 150C for approximately one to two months.

Conclusion

As it turns out, it is important not only to prepare the wine correctly, to take high-quality raw materials, good water and fermentation enhancers, but also to carefully monitor the temperature, room humidity and cork density during storage. The reward for a hardworking winemaker will be delicious, aromatic, clear wines that retain the warmth of his hands and soul for a long time.

Any winemaker can confirm that, although rare, everyone encounters wine diseases. The reason is most often trivial errors in technological processes, incorrect storage conditions or low-quality raw materials. Of course, if the problem is detected at the very beginning, then you can try to save the wine and prescribe a kind of “treatment” for it.

But be that as it may, it is better to prevent a disease than to treat it later. Saving wine is a labor-intensive process that will require a lot of time and nerves, so most winemakers adhere to the necessary preventive measures:

• All containers to be used must be sterile and sufficiently dry. This rule must be observed throughout the entire period of wine preparation.
• When selecting raw materials, even slightly rotten or moldy fruits must be thrown away.
• The technological process must be strictly followed; rash actions must not be introduced into it.
• Both sugar and water should also be of high quality.
• The wine must be protected from air, so constantly check the water seal for leaks.
• The wort should not be over-diluted with water, as this will reduce the acidity and make the wine vulnerable to bacteria.
• Maintain temperature conditions both during fermentation and storage.

Experienced winemakers have encountered a number of dangerous wine diseases in their practice, which can lead to complete loss of the drink. At the first signs of illness, you need to start acting quickly, because sometimes every minute, every hour is important.

Wine diseases can occur due to microorganisms that have entered the must due to poor sterility. And access to air or an increase in temperature can increase the risk of disease.

Vinegar souring

If air gets into a natural wine that has a low strength (up to 14°), the oxidation process begins. Acetic bacteria convert alcohol into acid. Initially, you can hear a faint smell of vinegar, after which a thin white film will appear, which will subsequently sink to the bottom of the container, forming a nest of vinegar.

To avoid such a nuisance, you should limit air access and store wine at a temperature of 10 to 12 degrees.

But if you still notice the initial signs of this problem, then you can try to treat the wine. Namely, it will help with this - removing the formed film and pasteurization. Place a cloth on the bottom of the pan, on top of which place a container with wine (bottle), pour water up to the neck of the bottle and heat to 60°C and cook for 10 minutes. If the wine goes completely sour, nothing and no one can help.

Bloom (wine mold)

Mold loves wines that have an alcohol content of less than 12% alcohol. Filmy yeast, when exposed to air and increased temperature, converts alcohol into water and carbon dioxide.

The first sign of the action of filmy yeast is the appearance of a white or slightly yellowish film, which after a few days increases in size, becomes thick, dense and uneven. If no action is taken, this film sinks down and a nasty smell appears.

Preventive actions are similar to the previous ones: limiting air access and keeping the wine at a temperature of 10 to 12 degrees.

But the treatment is somewhat different. Pump the wine through a sterile tube into a clean container without touching the mold layer. You can try treating the wine with sulfur (a lit sulfur wick is lowered into the wine for a couple of minutes) or pasteurization, which we already told you about earlier.

Lactic fermentation

At high temperatures, lactic bacteria can actively develop in wines with a high sugar content. You can notice them in good lighting; they seem to form long threads inside the wine. As a result, the wine begins to become cloudy, the taste deteriorates, and an unpleasant odor appears.

To prevent such a nuisance, you should avoid containers that previously contained dairy products.

Such wine can be “cured” by pasteurization, clarification and filtration.

Mannitol fermentation

Winemakers sometimes heat the pulp when preparing red wine in order to better extract the coloring matter. And if this wine has a strength of up to 14%, then with this approach, mannitol bacteria begin to break down the organic acid of the wine and fructose into mannitol alcohol, lactic and acetic acids. The wine becomes cloudy, color is lost, and a very unpleasant aftertaste appears.

Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment for this disease.

Propionic fermentation

This fermentation is caused by bacteria that convert tartaric acid into harmful and dangerous (propionic and acetic) acids. Contaminated wine may change color:

• White wines may develop a bluish tint;
• Reds have a yellow-brown color.

Thorough sterilization of containers will help prevent infection, and pasteurization and clarification can help at the first signs.

Obesity

In young wine with low acidity and a small amount of tannins, the bacterium Bacillus viscosus vini can become active. This wine begins to thicken before our eyes, hence the name “obesity.” It is somewhat reminiscent of egg white.

You should carefully regulate the acidity in the wine, the amount of sugar, and also maintain the required proportions of water.

At the first signs, you can pour the contents, ventilate the room well, treat it with sulfur or carry out pasteurization.

Mouse taste

Absolutely any type of wine is affected. An extremely unpleasant taste of mouse excrement immediately appears.

It is impossible to fully name the nature of this wine disease; there is only a version that this disease is caused by two reasons. Yeast bacteria and biochemical complex processes that occur with large amounts of iron.

We are already familiar with the methods of combating this disease: lightening, sulfur treatment or acidification.

Bitterness (Rancidity)

Bitterness in the taste of wine can occur if the raw materials were of poor quality, or the wine was removed from the lees carelessly or late.

If you carefully follow the rules of the technological process, it will be absolutely easy to avoid such a problem.

It is impossible to completely get rid of the bitterness that has already appeared; you can only soften it somewhat by adding sugar or wine alcohol.

Cork disease

Like any container where wine will be stored, the cork with which it will be sealed must be sterile. If you use low-quality cork, this cork disease may develop, since pathogenic bacteria also live in the micropores of the cork. The smell of such wine will resemble the smell of rotten wood.

To avoid such a nuisance, it is necessary to sterilize the cork plugs or use plastic (silicone) analogues.

So we are convinced that wine, like people, is susceptible to various diseases. It’s good that experienced winemakers know the reasons that cause these problems and know how to deal with them.

It is worth drawing your attention to the shortcomings (flaws, defects) that can also appear in wine.

What defects can wines have?

Most often, such shortcomings appear in inexperienced winemakers, as a result of their erroneous actions or inactions.

It’s good that, if desired, all these shortcomings can be easily eliminated if you are armed with the necessary information.

Cloudiness

Wine that contains low amounts of tannins or unfermented wine that has been moved to a warmer environment may show signs of cloudiness. This is due to the fact that yeast fungi are activated, causing repeated fermentation.

If the cause is yeast, then the wine is removed from the sediment again and the temperature is monitored. If the reason is the raw materials from which the wine was produced (pears, plums and other fruits with a small amount of tannins), then in this case you will have to clarify the wine using gelatin, egg white or other methods.

Browning

When selecting raw materials, due to carelessness, rotten fruit may be ingested, which can cause the wine to turn brown. This defect may go away on its own after a few months, precipitating. You can speed up this process by filtering or adding a small amount of sugar to cause re-fermentation.

Blackening

Such a disaster can occur if wine is stored in metal containers; blackening is especially noticeable in white wines. Over time, it disappears on its own, and you can speed up the process by clarifying the wine with gelatin.

Smell and taste of rotten eggs

When infected with wild yeast, when barrels are excessively fumigated with sulfur, or when the wine is not removed from the lees in a timely manner, another “wine problem” arises, which has a very unpleasant odor. Over time, the taste is restored even without outside intervention. It is still recommended to ventilate the room where the wine is located.

Most likely, you will also be interested in this