Fruit wines have a low alcohol content, rich fruit flavor, many amino acids, vitamins and health benefits. Many people like to make their own fruit wines and share them with their friends and family.
As early as 7,000 years ago, people learned to make wine from fruit. At that time, people collected wild fruits and put them in caves. They found that the fruit turned into a juice with a stronger aroma. After drinking it, they became particularly excited and even exhilarated. Therefore, the ancients called this juice as the wine that can make people live forever. In order to live forever, they tried their best to turn the fruit into wine.
Fruit wine plays an important role in people’s lives. Some people use it for gifts, promotion and wealth, while others use it to entertain VIPs. During the Han Dynasty, Meng Tuo, a native of Shaanxi, sent a bottle of homemade wine to the palace eunuch Zhang Zhan in exchange for the official position of governor of Liangzhou. In the Jin dynasty, people used Yangmei wine to entertain distinguished guests, which was not available to ordinary people.
Science was not advanced in ancient times. They did not know the principle of brewing, nor did they have a microscope, nor did they know that brewing required the help of yeast. In the brewing process, there is a spherical microorganism called yeast. Yeast feeds on sugar. They take sugar into their bodies and produce two main substances. One is alcohol, which is what we usually drink in wine, and the other is carbon dioxide, which creates the foam in beer that makes the fluffy buns and bread we eat!
Almost any fruit can be brewed, the most common being wine, followed by cider. Cider is the second most popular fruit wine after wine. Apples are produced in huge quantities and are used all year round. In addition to being a fresh food, apples are also used to make concentrated juice. In fact, cider is delicious. In foreign countries, cider is called apple wine and is translated as cider. It has a low alcohol content of about 2% to 8.5%. It is mainly divided into dry cider, sparkling cider and sweet cider.
Today we will discuss how to make cider.
Cider is the nickname for apple cider. Cider with low alcohol content and low storage capacity requires high brewing hygiene, so we can increase the alcohol content and make our own style of cider. By adjusting the sugar content of the apple juice, the alcohol content of the cider can be increased appropriately, which helps to improve the quality and stability of the cider.
Preparation before brewing
Clean and sanitize the installation and brewery site to prevent contamination by harmful microorganisms. Strict hygiene control is essential to ensure the quality of the cider. All equipment, containers and piping should be cleaned and disinfected prior to use. Crushers, presses, their piping, and the site must be cleaned after use.
Selection of raw materials
Apple resources are abundant, including red Fuji, yellow Marshal, red Star, green apple, Guoguang, red banana and Gala. The apple production in the world is the first.
Apples should be high in sugar, ripe, clean, free from disease and rot. High-sugar ingredients can be made without sugar. If low sugar ingredients are desired for fermenting higher alcohol cider, some sugar should be added to the fermentation process.
Red Fuji makes a high quality cider. Do not choose astringent apples or unripe fruit. Sour fruit affects the flavor of the finished wine.
If the sugar content of ripe ingredients is relatively high, the alcohol produced will be higher. Generally speaking, the sugar content of apples varies greatly, from 8% to 15%, requiring approximately 6% to 13% additional sugar. Apples with low sugar content should have more sugar added, while apples with high sugar content should have less or no sugar added.
Early Raw Material Processing
Cider fermentation can be divided into juice fermentation and direct yeast fermentation after crushing. Juice fermentation requires a higher level of equipment. If conditions allow, it can be squeezed into the apple juice or fermented with concentrated apple juice. Cider fermented in juice is separated directly after fermentation without pressing.
After crushing, fermentation is carried out directly with additional yeast, and the apples are washed and dried. Direct fermentation after crushing is done by crushing the apples and crushing them, where the apples around the soybeans should not be too big. Be careful not to make the pulp because apples contain a lot of pectin and once the pulp is made, it is not conducive to the production of cider later on. After fermentation, the cider needs to be pressed and separated.
Some crushing and pressing equipment can be used on large farms to increase the efficiency of the cider making process. Smaller home brewed ciders can be made manually.
Canning
Choose fermentation jars, glass jars, stainless steel jars, or plastic jars. Fermentation should not be done in iron containers, which can easily cause cider disease.
The volume of fermentation into the jar should not exceed 80% of the jar to prevent fermentation from overflowing out of the jar.
If you have the conditions, you can add 40-80mg/l of sulfur dioxide. VC also has an antioxidant effect.
If it is necessary to adjust the sugar content of the juice, this will not be sufficient for fermentation. Add sugar without icing sugar, brown sugar and white granulated sugar. The sugar content is about 8%-15%, and it is necessary to add about 6%-13% of additional sugar.
Add yeast to start fermentation.
Yeast consumption: about 200-300g of yeast is needed per ton of raw material. Yeast usually needs to be activated before use.
Why add dry yeast
In the past, people did not know what yeast was, but according to the experience of the old masters, brewing should be done in certain seasons, conditions and temperatures, and also to take chances. If you’re lucky, it can be a good brew. If you are unlucky one day, please seek your own luck!
Why have there been good and bad brews in the past? It’s because there are a variety of yeasts in the brewing environment. Some yeasts have poor performance and low alcohol tolerance, producing chemical flavors like nail polish, and bad flavors like grease and horse manure. If these yeasts become the leaders of the fermentation, they will start doing bad things and the cider will naturally cease to exist.
Dry yeast is artificially selected for its excellent brewing ability. Professional cider yeast has the advantages of fast starting fermentation, resistance to low pH, high sugar, high acid and sulfur dioxide, stable fermentation rate, high alcohol tolerance, complete fermentation, low volatile acid production, and elegant cider aroma. It is the best companion for cider making.
Fermentation Control
The main control of fermentation is temperature control. The temperature can be stirred properly, usually between 15-25 degrees. If the temperature is low, the fermentation time will be longer, some may take more than 2 weeks. If the temperature is high, the fermentation time will be shortened. If the temperature is around 10 degrees, it should not be too high, let alone over 30 degrees, as this can easily lead to fermentation and the production of hash oil, which can be easily consumed.
Although yeast cells are not visible to the naked eye, yeast is a small chemical conversion plant. It transports the sugar from the juice to this plant. After various processes, it changes its appearance and becomes an alcohol with a cider flavor.
You can taste, observe and record the various phenomena and operations during the fermentation process on a daily basis. Taste, record the changes in aroma and flavor, and create your own fermentation profile.
How can I tell when fermentation is over? The sugar content in fruit wine is less than 4g/l, which can be detected if conditions allow. If not, take a sip of cider. If it is sweet, it means that fermentation is not yet complete. Continue.
Separating cider
When the apples are crushed and fermented by the yeast, they need to be squeezed during the separation. For those who are able, the sugar and alcohol content of the cider can be checked after separation. After separation, the cider must be stored in containers to avoid air contact, oxidation and the growth of bacteria.
Post-fermentation processing of cider
After fermentation, the wine is cloudy and contains yeast, pulp and polymeric substances. It has a rough taste and poor stability. It needs to be clarified and aged for a period of time. The appearance is clear and bright, and the wine looks better, more stable and more suitable for drinking.
Clarification
Clarification can be divided into natural clarification, mechanical clarification and clarifier clarification, and can be judged by whether the cider is bright, clear and shiny. Usually, small-scale brewing is naturally clarified, with large particles in the cider settling by gravity. Clarification time is approximately 2-3 weeks.
