Cleaning wine with egg whites. The process of clarifying homemade wine. How to clarify cloudy homemade wine with bentonite

After fermentation is completed, in any case, particles of must, cream of tartar and yeast remain in the wine, which make the drink not very beautiful, cloudy. This problem can also be solved by treating it with special substances that act as absorbents and cause everything unnecessary to precipitate. Experienced winemakers call this action “finishing”. We invite you to consider the most interesting ways to purify homemade wines from berries and fruits.

The best and natural method of clarifying any wine is long-term aging. But this process takes a long time (sometimes it takes years, up to six years) and therefore it is only suitable for the production of expensive wines of famous brands.

Most often, wines are aged for 3–5 months, after which the finished drink is removed from the sediment and checked for color. If the wine remains cloudy, and you are not satisfied with this, you will have to start cleaning it.

The process of clarification and purification of homemade wine makes it transparent, beautiful, and may even slightly increase its shelf life, but it does not affect its taste in any way. Whether or not to clean the wine is up to you; this is an optional step in making wine.

To choose the most optimal clarification method for yourself, it is best to experiment and try different methods on a small amount of wine.

Methods for cleaning wine

Gelatin

This simple and quite effective method is used by most winemakers when clarifying any wines. Clarification with gelatin occurs according to the following scheme:

1. You need to take 10-15 g of gelatin per hundred liters of wine. Soak the gelatin well in cold water for 24 hours, making sure to change the water every eight hours.
2. Dissolve the swollen gelatin in warm (not hot) water, add to the wine, mix everything well.
3. After two or three weeks, everything unnecessary will precipitate, all that remains is to carefully remove the wine from the sediment.

Egg white

Many winemakers also claim that this method is quite effective, especially when it is necessary to clarify red (plum, grape, cherry) wines. For 100 liters of wine, we will need to separate 3 chicken proteins, add a little water and beat into a strong foam. Then mix the whipped whites with a small amount of drained wine, and then pour into the container where all the wine is stored. You will be able to see a positive effect within 25 days.

Bentonite (white clay)

This clay itself has good absorbent properties, making it excellent for fining grape wines. White clay is easy to purchase in stores and is sold in the form of a fine-grained powder. 3 g of bentonite is needed to purify one liter of wine.

1. Dry clay must be filled with cold water (ten parts of water per one part of clay) and left for approximately 12 hours. It’s easy to calculate: to purify 20 liters of wine, you need to take 60 g of white clay and, accordingly, 600 ml of water.
2. After the specified time, the clay will turn into lime. Before the clarification process, be sure to pour water into the bentonite so that the resulting mixture is liquid, then pour it in a thin stream into the container with the wine.
3. After a week, carefully drain the wine from the sediment.

Milk

An interesting universal method. For it you need to add 1 teaspoon of skim milk to 1 liter of wine, mix everything and leave for 3-4 days at room temperature.

Heat treatment

The bottles in which the wine is poured are tightly sealed so that the alcohol does not evaporate during the heating process. Next, the bottles are placed in containers and filled with cold water up to the neck, the water is heated slowly to 50°C, after which the container is removed from the heat, but the bottle is not removed from it until the water has completely cooled. This procedure can be repeated two to three times. Then the wine is allowed to sit for up to six days and removed from the sediment. This method is suitable for cleaning any wines made at home.

Clarifying wine with cold

The wine is placed in a cool place (outside or in the refrigerator), where the air temperature is allowed for table wines down to -2°C, for fortified wines - up to -5°C. Due to low temperatures, particles of wort and yeast residues sink down. The wine is drained from the sediment and filtered.

Activated carbon

This method is best used only in the most exceptional cases, when you need to remove an unpleasant odor from wine caused by fusel oils.

Activated carbon purchased at a pharmacy is ineffective, you need charcoal. It is crushed to a powdery state and poured into the container where the wine is located, in a ratio of 3 - 4 g of coal per ten liters of wine, stirred thoroughly. In this composition, the wine sits for 4 days, the bottle is shaken daily. After the specified period, filter the wine.

Tannin (oak heartwood powder)

To clarify, 10 g of tannin is diluted in 2 liters of distilled water, the solution is allowed to settle, filtered through filter paper, then 6 tsp. the solution is added to one liter of wine. Leave it in this form for 7-10 days, then remove the wine from the sediment.

Whatever cleaning method you use, it is recommended to give the wine the opportunity to settle for about 25–40 days, and then remove it from the sediment again, and then bottle it to remove even the smallest (invisible to the eye) particles.

Clarification and purification of homemade wine is a process that will allow you to enjoy not only the taste of your wine, but will also give you aesthetic pleasure due to its excellent transparency.

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Good quality wine is judged by its pleasant taste and clarity with rich color. Slight cloudiness is a sign that the drink is unsuitable for consumption or the composition is unnatural. Wine is a living substance in which biochemical processes occur even during storage. Therefore, an alcoholic product is not capable of being crystal clear indefinitely. But it can be improved by periodically carrying out fining at home, i.e. clarification of the wine.

Concept of wine clarification

Clarification, also known as fining and gluing, is a winemaking stage that cloudy wine must undergo. When gluing, various products are introduced into the drink that can cause sedimentation of dense particles. Interacting with wine, protein and tannin compounds seem to glue the dregs together and form flakes from the particles. Within a few days they sink to the bottom of the dish along with the smallest grains. As a result, the alcohol is clarified.

Is it possible to clarify homemade wine yourself? Yes, and to begin with, the bottle is sealed and taken to a warm room. The appearance of bubbles indicates insufficient maturity of the product and the need for repeated fermentation. To do this, it is kept in warm conditions, bottled and stored. The drink will become clear during ripening.

If the matured wine remains cloudy, it means that not all suspended particles have precipitated. For this reason, pasting is carried out forcibly using gelatin, eggs, bentonite or casein. It is important not to overdo it here, because an excess of clarifier spoils the wine even more, and a small amount of the auxiliary substance does not have any effect.

Gluing wine in different ways

There are many fining methods in winemaking, and we will not describe each option in detail. Let's look at the simplest methods of clarifying wine that can be done at home. Experts recommend cleaning red wines with egg white, and white varieties with tannin or gelatin.

Recipe with bentonite

Bentonite is a white clay. It is used in wine garnishing due to the absorbent properties of the substance. It looks like a fine-grained powder. To purify wine, bentonite is used in a proportion of 3 g per 1 liter of alcohol.

How to glue wine with bentonite:

1. Bentonite is soaked in water for 10 – 12 hours. The ratio of components is 1 part clay to 10 parts cold water.
2. During infusion, bentonite turns into lime. It is diluted with water to a liquid, cream-like consistency and introduced into the wine in a thin stream.
3. The updated product is removed from the grounds after 5 - 7 days.

Quick coating with milk

If clarifying grape wine with bentonite seems difficult, the procedure can be carried out using milk. The winemaker should take the low-fat cow product and add it to the cloudy drink at the rate of 1 tsp. milk for 1 liter of wine. The intoxicating liquor can be drained from the sediment after 3–4 days.

Clarifying wine with tannin

It is good to clean fruit wines with tannin, especially apple or pear ones. Tannin will add the missing astringency to drinks and make them crystal clear. The substance is sold in a pharmacy.

To improve alcohol, tannin is diluted with water (5 g per 1 l) and infused. Then the solution is filtered and added to cloudy wine, maintaining a proportion of 3 tbsp. l. infusion for every liter of intoxicating infusion. The improved wine is removed from the sediment after a week.

Gelatin wine cleaning

Gelatin is used to clarify plum and apple wines. The product is first soaked for 24 hours in water (1.5 g per 10 l). The solution is poured into a bottle of wine and waited until the cloudiness falls in flakes to the bottom. This happens in 2 weeks.

Similar to gelatin cleaning, clarification of any wine is carried out using fish glue. Only the substance is taken in a different dosage - 0.2 - 0.5 g of fish glue is added to 10 liters of intoxicating alcohol.

Option with egg

High-quality clarification of red wines with a chicken egg occurs due to the interaction of protein with tannins, which abound in the composition of drinks. Let's look at how you can clarify wine at home using an egg.

For 50 liters of hop products you will need either 1 large or 2 medium-sized eggs. The white is carefully separated from the yolk and beaten with a fork into a foam, gradually adding boiled water (half a glass). The resulting mass is first combined with a small amount of wine. Then slowly pour the protein into the bottle. The contents of the jar are thoroughly mixed and allowed to stand for 2 weeks. The clear drink is drained from the sediment.

External wine clarification

You can clarify wine without the help of products and substances, since there are three more options for improving the drink:

1. Filtration through a thin cloth or special paper. The procedure is not ideal because it does not eliminate small particles. Fabric and paper trap only large particles.
2. Heat treatment of cloudy wine suppresses fermentation processes, causing microorganisms to die and settle with the grounds to the bottom. The intoxicating thing becomes light.
3. Cryostabilization. In order for the particles that create turbidity to sink to the bottom, the wine is cooled to -2 or -5°C (table or unfortified varieties). The drink is drained from the sediment and filtered cold.

Regardless of the chosen clarification option, the wine is infused for an additional 20–40 days. A long exposure is needed so that all the microscopic particles that are invisible to the naked eye fall to the bottom.

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Making delicious homemade wine is only half the battle. In order for a drink served in steamed glasses to be perfectly transparent and attractive not only with its aroma, but also with a pure color, without cloudy impurities, some effort must be made.

Sometimes wine clarification occurs on its own, but the winemaker will have to be patient: the process takes up to six months or more. Therefore, masters have invented ways to clarify the drink that do not require such a long wait.

Why clarify wine?

People who do not yet have experience in making homemade alcohol may think: “But is clarification really necessary? If the taste of my alcohol suits me and my guests, maybe it’s not so important to pursue the aesthetic component?”

On the one hand, there is some truth in this: clarification does not greatly affect the taste and aroma of alcohol. On the other hand, after the procedure the drink will not only look tempting. Its shelf life will increase significantly, and this is beneficial: you uncork the bottle, treat it to your friends and leave the rest until the next holiday. And you don’t have to worry that the wine will lose its properties.

Clarifying homemade alcohol is really worth it: there are many “advantages”. The only downside is the need to spend a little extra time and buy lightening products (which cost pennies).

Cleaning methods

Homemade wines are purified with natural products, no chemicals are used. Choose any method from those suggested below, but keep the following in mind:

• for tart foods, chicken protein (eggs) is a good clarifier;
• You can use tannin and fish glue for this;
• White wine is purified with gelatin.

Winemakers have a special term that describes the clarification process - pasting. The name was born due to the effect exerted by the substances used for clarification: various impurities bind, stick together and settle to the bottom. After draining the sediment, a clean, transparent liquid remains in the bottle.

We use gelatin

You have produced 10 liters. light wine? You will need 1.5 g of gelatin to make the drink attractive in appearance.

Soak the gelatin in water for a day, then pour it into alcohol. You need to keep the alcohol for 2 weeks. After this, carefully pour the liquid into a clean bottle, trying to ensure that all the sediment remains at the bottom.

Egg white

In order to paste, you need to make a puncture in a raw egg and carefully separate the yolk from the white. To turn 10 liters of alcohol into wine as clear as a jewel, the whites of one or two eggs are enough.

Combine the white with warm water and beat thoroughly until foam forms. Then pour a little wine into our mixture and mix everything. After this, pour the mixture into a bottle with the main part of the alcohol. We wait 3 weeks for the result.

After the specified time, drain the alcohol from the sediment. You can put it in the refrigerator for several days so that it brews well.

Bentonite

Not every novice winemaker knows what is bentonite. Experienced specialists often use a method using this substance and consider it quite effective.

Bentonite is a natural substance. Its basis is white clay, which is an adsorbent. Clay collects the remains of the must, particles of wine yeast (that is, everything that makes the drink cloudy) and forms a sediment that falls to the bottom. After removing the sediment, the drink becomes clear.

For every liter of alcohol, 3 g of bentonite is required. You need to prepare it like this: in the evening, pour 3 g of bentonite with thirty ml of water. Leave for 12 hours. In the morning, add water to make a liquid substance and pour it into the wine. After waiting a week, drain the wine from the sediment and, placing it in a clean container, put it in the refrigerator.

Isinglass

Red wine, especially sweet ones, can be cleaned well with fish glue. If you have prepared a large batch - 100 liters - then all this wine will require only 1.5 g of glue. After soaking the glue in cool water, wait until the glue granules swell.

Stir the solution from time to time. Then pour a little wine into the mixture, stir and pour all the liquid into the alcohol tanks. All that remains is to let the wine brew for a few days, and then you can drain it from the sediment.

Tannin

Tannin can be bought at the pharmacy. This substance is also found in familiar products:

• grape berries (more precisely, in the seeds);
• nuts;
• beans

But, of course, we will not extract tannins from there. Let's do it simpler: buy a yellowish powder at the pharmacy and use it to garnish wine.

Tannins are tannins that have astringent properties. It is this “quality” of tannins that is useful for cleansing wine from particles that deprive it of transparency.

Take one gram of tannin and dissolve it in a liter of water. After the solution has infused a little, strain it using special paper and pour it into a container with wine. About 6 teaspoons of tannin will be enough for a liter of alcohol.

It takes 7 days to infuse alcohol “enriched” with tannin.

Milk

Take skim milk per liter of alcohol - a teaspoon of milk. Mix milk with wine. Place in a room at normal room temperature.

After some time, you will see that white flakes have appeared - this is the sediment, which gradually settles to the bottom. Carefully pour the drink into a clean bottle. Insist for another month.

Activated carbon

Grind 4 g of activated carbon into powder. This amount is enough for 10 liters of alcohol. The resulting solution will have to infuse for 4 days. After this, pour the wine into another container and filter.

A little warmth

This method is perhaps one of the simplest. There is no need to dilute, chop or pour anything. Take a large container, place bottles of wine in it and pour cold water until the water reaches the necks of the bottles.

Now you need to place the basin or tank on the fire and heat it to a temperature of 50C. Then turn off the fire. Wait until the water cools down. Repeat the procedure. Then you can do it a third time.

Then the wine is infused for another week and drained from the sediment.

"Treatment" with cold

Good results can be obtained if you apply cold exposure. The temperature of the environment in which the bottle of wine is placed must not be lower than:

• for table wine - minus 20C;
• for fortified wine - minus 50C.

The alcohol should be kept at this temperature for several days, periodically checking to see if white flakes have appeared. Their appearance will indicate that the purification process has begun. You should remove the bottles of alcohol, pour the clarified wine into another container and filter.

Ideally, after clarification, you should let the wine sit for about a month. Then the result will please you: you can serve a magnificent drink on the table, pleasing both the eye and the soul.

What lightening techniques do you know? Or would you rather just wait for the drink to clear naturally after sitting for months? Have you noticed a difference in results if you used different methods? Tell us about your experience, it might be very helpful!

There are many recipes for making delicious homemade wine. But to get a great product, it's not enough to just combine the ingredients. It is important to follow the technology and follow all the necessary steps. A drink aged for the required time often turns out to be cloudy due to the remains of wort and yeast. To make it transparent, it is necessary to clarify the wine. There are several proven methods for this.

Why is lightening necessary?

Usually, wine prepared at home should be carefully poured into containers so that the sediment remains at the bottom. But residues of yeast, cream of tartar and other impurities can make it so cloudy that the use of special substances is necessary. They will act as an adsorbent and remove all excess, making the liquid transparent. Professionals call this process “pasting”.

During industrial production, conditions are observed that prevent turbidity of the product and sedimentation. Therefore, clarification of wine is not required there. But if you make wine yourself, it is unlikely that you will be able to avoid filtration or clarification. Both of these processes “steal” the taste and aroma of the drink, but fining is the most gentle.

If your homemade wines need purification, then you need to choose the right active ingredient. It is preferable to lighten white ones with gelatin, red ones with egg white, and sweet ones with tannin. It is important to strictly adhere to the proportions, otherwise the sediment will only increase and the liquid will become even more cloudy. Therefore, before doing large quantities, test on a small quantity.

Lightening methods

Betonite

A universal means of clarifying homemade wine is bentonite. This substance is a grayish powder made from purified white clay. Concrete attracts unnecessary particles and settles to the bottom with them. In addition to the fact that mechanical cleaning occurs, the drink receives protection from the development of harmful bacteria and increases its shelf life. In order to make wine transparent, you need:

• Calculate the amount of the required substance (3 g of bentonite per 1 liter of product);
• Thoroughly stir the required amount of clay powder in water (1:10) and leave for 10 hours. Then you need to dilute this mass with the same volume of liquid to obtain a creamy liquid mass;
• Carefully and gradually introduce this slurry into the wine, stirring it well. Leave for a week;
• In seven days, the sediment containing bentonite will completely fall to the bottom of the container, and the clear drink can be drained.

Gelatin

Cleaning with gelatin is also effective. With its help, the wine becomes transparent and does not change its taste in any way. Pasting is carried out in the following way:

• For a 10 liter bottle you need 2 grams. natural gelatin;
• Fill the required amount with water (1:10) and leave for a day. Then pour in the same volume of boiling water and move the mixture so that there are no lumps;
• Slowly pour the mixture into the wine without ceasing to stir;
• Close the container and leave it in a cool room for 21 days. After the expiration date, simply drain the wine from the sediment.

Egg white

For cleaning red wine from grapes, plums, and cherries at home, egg whites work well. For a volume of 20-35 liters, it will be enough to separate the white from the yolk of just one chicken egg. Beat it well until foamy and dilute a little with water. Pour the resulting mixture into the wine, remembering to stir it well. After 2.5-3 weeks, the clear drink can be drained from the sediment.

Tannin

For sweet red wines, the use of tannin is effective. You can buy this powder at a pharmacy. Dissolve 10 grams of the substance in 1.5-2 liters of distilled water, let the mixture settle and filter it. For every liter of homemade alcohol you will need an average of 6-7 tsp. solution. After mixing, you need to wait a week and drain the clear drink.

Milk

Some use milk bleaching. To do this, take 1 teaspoon of low-fat cow's milk for each liter of drink. Pour in the required amount, move carefully and leave for 3-4 days until a sediment appears in the form of flakes.

After you have completed the glazing procedure, you need to leave the wine to age for another month. Purification using these methods does not provide an absolute guarantee that the drink will become crystal clear. If you are not satisfied with one recipe, try using another, testing it in advance and selecting the proportions on a small amount of the product.

Before bottling wine after long aging, it is advisable to clarify it. For this, various substances are used: tannin, chicken egg white, gelatin, bentonite, fish glue. This process is called "fining" the wine.