Lesson 6. Diseases of wines

I have known this proverb since childhood, but I could never understand why vinegar? What are there no other products? Salt, pepper... What didn't you like about vinegar?

And only after getting into winemaking, over time, I understood the meaning of this expression. At least, as it seems to me.

The whole point is that under certain conditions, or more precisely if the preparation technology or storage conditions are violated, the wine can become sick and turn into vinegar. It is no longer possible to fix such a wine; it has no value and can only be sold cheaply or given away “for free.”

The microorganisms that spoiled our wine by turning it into vinegar do not pose a danger to humans, and you can drink such wine, but preferably “for free.” And, as you know, sweet vinegar is “for free.”

What diseases of wines exist?

There are quite a lot of them, but since I am not a professional winemaker, I will limit myself to only listing the main ones:

• Vinegar souring;
• Lactic acid souring;
• Wine flower;
• Obesity wine;

By the way, I remembered a legend that I once heard: that supposedly somewhere at a wedding(obviously in the Caucasus)they opened a barrel of wine, and there... (for God’s sake, don’t be scared)the wine is not liquid, but frozen, like jellied meat. And they didn’t drink this jelly, but ate it from the plates with spoons, and this wine was supposedly unusually tasty and drunken.

So, it turns out everything is banally simple, this wine was affected by a disease called wine obesity. As for its taste, I don’t know, I haven’t tried it. Although I doubt it was tasty. But, as they say - for free and jelly...

Let's continue listing the diseases:

• Wine rancidity
• Cloudiness of wine;
• Blackening of wine;
• Hydrogen sulfide smell;
• Mouldy taste of wine;
• Yeasty taste of wine;
• Earthy taste of wine;
• Rotten taste, etc.

Diseases and defects of wines, as a rule, are not treated, and if they are treated, it is with great difficulty at an early stage of preparation and with a loss of wine quality.

Therefore, prevention and compliance with preparation technology and storage conditions are the most effective measures to combat wine diseases.

What I would recommend paying attention to first:

1. To prepare wine, use only high-quality products. Do not use overripe or rotten fruits. The best, not the worst, fruits should be used for wine.

Do not pick berries and fruits from the ground. If you need to shake berries from a bush, use bedding materials.

Do not leave the collected fruits unprocessed for more than 3-5 hours.

Water and sugar should be of good quality.

2. Keep equipment clean, especially wine containers.

I’ll give an example from personal experience:

Having almost finished clear white wine from gumi, I decided to drain it from the sediment again (although there was practically none). There was something I didn’t like: either the taste of wine, or the smell - I don’t remember anymore.

The bottle into which the wine was poured was obviously poorly washed, and perhaps the overflow hose was not washed properly. In any case, after pouring the wine became cloudy and soon the smell of vinegar appeared.

So instead of 20 liters of quality wine, which I was waiting for, I received 20 liters of quality vinegar, which I gave away “for free.”

3. Water seal tightness.

At the first stage of fermentation, as long as the yeast is active, there is little risk of contamination of the wine. A lot of carbon dioxide and heat are released from the wort, which prevent pathogenic bacteria from entering the container. But as the process fades and yeast activity decreases, the likelihood of wine contamination increases.

If your wine suddenly stops “gurgling”, be sure to determine the reason.

There may be two reasons:

Reason 1. The fermentation process has ended and the wine can be bottled. The end of fermentation is indicated by the absence of rising carbon dioxide bubbles. By this time the wine should “lighten up”, i.e. become transparent.

Cause 2. The water seal is broken. This is confirmed by rising bubbles of carbon dioxide. That is, fermentation continues, but the wine does not “gurgle.” The cause must be eliminated immediately.

In order to check the tightness of the water seal, it is necessary to create excess pressure in the bottle. In simple words, you need to blow into the tube (or hole in the plug), which serves to remove carbon dioxide.

If there is a leak, you will immediately feel or hear it.

I would like to emphasize that the design of the water seal must reliably provide its functionality for a long time. The design must use high-quality materials. Materials such as cork, plasticine, cambric do not pass. You'll waste time, spoil the food, and won't get the wine. Verified.

4. Preparation of wort under a water seal.

Some amateur winemakers practice fermenting berries in an open container(boiling). Like when making moonshine. Although the essence is the same, but different yeast. Natural wine yeast is less active than bread yeast. This needs to be taken into account.

When the active phase of fermentation occurs, it may not be so dangerous.

At the same time, the upper part of the “cap”, which comes into contact with air, always tends to sour and needs to be constantly dipped into the wort liquid. There is always a chance to miss the moment.

Therefore, I personally carry out the process of fermenting berries in 10-liter bottles with a wide neck and stoppers with a water seal. Which is what I recommend to you.