Family Cider Brewing Series 02: Basic Concepts, Three Basic Principles of Making Cider
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > said earlier</h1>
First of all, we must clarify the difference between "brewing" and "brewing".
As the name suggests, sake brewing is based on fruit as a raw material, fermented to produce alcoholic beverages; brewing wine is to use wine to soak the fruit, and then brew a drink containing fruit ingredients and taste. The content shared in this article belongs to brewed fruit wine, not bubble fruit wine. It is not the specific brewing method of which kind of melon fruit wine, but the preliminary preparation of brewing, knowing the complete concept of brewing melon fruit wine at home, in order to smoothly brew a variety of melon fruit wine.
Summer is the season of harvest of melons and fruits.
In the long summer, watermelons, melons, peaches, grapes, lychees, apples, all kinds of melons and fruits followed, and no matter how big the belly was, it could not be eaten. However, the season does not stop, the fruit has been listed one after another, the amount is large, and it cannot be eaten and sold cheaply. Just like watermelon, just listed 3 pieces, 5 pieces a pound, a big listing of 1 piece a pound, yesterday has been sold to 5 cents a pound, a week later will continue to drop to 1 piece of 5 pounds, 10 pounds. There are many more you don't see, and the melon farmers can't sell and throw away countless others.
In fact, this phenomenon does not exist now, it has been since ancient times. Therefore, the ancients had the wisdom to eat endlessly and think about the preservation, and to keep it and enjoy it slowly. Nowadays, this wisdom is called the deep processing of agricultural products, and the largest number of pickles is pickled, and the fruit wine that is as old as pickles.
Making cider at home is not complicated and is very successful.
The ancients made wine is not called invention, called discovery, it is discovered from nature and learned. The earliest myth and legend of "ape winemaking" was discovered by the apes, and the fruit was fermented into wine in its natural state. The legend of Du Kang's wine-making is also confirmed by the discovery of this nature, he poured the uneaten food into the tree hole, and after a few days he smelled the wine, so he began to consciously imitate it and became the ancestor of winemaking.
It can be seen that winemaking is not complicated, and nature has long given it to us. Without careful consideration, the apes of thousands of years ago will make wine, and we who have modern scientific knowledge will certainly do. Thus into the main topic, brewing cider at home is not very difficult, even relatively simple, the brewing process to pay attention to do a good job of three points, that is, three basic principles, there is no unsuccessful.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > can't eat (throw away) the fruit is of good quality</h1>
The melons and fruits at the peak of the fruiting period are full of nutrients.
The melon and fruit can not be eaten, which is the characteristic of the full fruit period, the fruit, the ripe, the market, the amount is more, the price is still cheap. During the life cycle of melons and fruits, the quality of the full fruit period reaches its peak, and the nutrient content is the highest. Just like the watermelon mentioned earlier, I am the hometown of watermelon in Henan, and the watermelon in Zhongmu is famous throughout the country. In the case of the value of the currency in recent years, the lowest price is only a dime and a pound, which is equivalent to giving away money for free. Melon farmers get up early to pick the melon land and carry it to the car, run dozens of miles to transport it to the city, even if it is sold out in a day, a car is counted as a ton, only to sell 200 yuan, not enough kung fu money. At this time, if the watermelon is used to make wine, it does not have to work hard to double the value, and even more than 10 times 8 times.
The melon fruit pecked by insects and birds is the most ripe and sweetest.
In the creation of nature, the quality of melons and fruits is identified, and birds and insects are far higher than the level of people. They definitely do not enjoy raw melon crack dates, but specially picked and cooked and sweet to eat, will not be polite. The melons and fruits that they patronize, without exception, are 100% thrown away. That is to say, the best quality in the melon fruit is often eaten by insects and birds, and people cannot eat it. From this point of view, melons and fruits that have been pecked by birds will be thrown away. It is a pity to throw it away, but it can not be sold, in fact, it can be used for deep processing. Unlike watermelons, direct waste utilization produces more value than the melon fruit itself.
It's that simple as making cheap melons appreciate.
The price of melons and fruits on the market is cheap, but there is a lot of room for appreciation. For example, the watermelon bought for 5 yuan has a large glass bottle with a capacity of 30 pounds, which can make a bottle of watermelon wine. Don't underestimate this thing, but the top thing in the drink, than the liquor smooth mouth does not hurt the liver, than the bottle of Coke juice is better than the delicious does not hurt the body, and the flavor is suitable for all ages and salty, moisturizing and nourishing. Then calculate the return on investment ratio, that is, the cost performance, and the market liquor, fruit wine, drinks relative to the comparison, 10 pieces a pound is not much, right? 5 yuan of watermelon, 20 yuan of sugar and 5 yuan of yeast, 30 yuan of investment into 300 yuan, the value increased by 10 times.
This should be a way out of the production of melons and fruits in rural areas in the future. Looking at the present, we know that the production of melons and fruits in rural areas has gone up, the quality has improved, but the price has come down, because it cannot be sold. If you use the strength of planting to engage in deep processing, do not engage in complex, brew fruit wine drinks, families can do, family union is better, still worry about no one wants? When the time comes, they will rush to buy it, and no longer need local leaders to come to live broadcast.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the three basic principles for brewing melon and fruit wine</h1>
The first item: home-brewed melon fruit wine is not afraid of not being able to do it, it is afraid of not doing it.
Brewing melon and fruit wine at home, one has no equipment, two no technology, three no mature formula, and there is no standardized operation process, so there are more failures and fewer successes. As the saying goes, "Brewing and beating tofu, I dare not call myself a master for a lifetime." It is said that the work of brewing wine, seeing that others do it so easily, you can also make it better than a gourd. However, either the taste is not right, or the smell is muddy, so you have to throw it away.
This psychological factor of fear of difficulties is the main reason why people dare not do it. At the beginning of this article, it was said that cider is very good to brew, you think, ancient apes will, modern people can not? impossible. This basic principle is actually to strengthen confidence in victory and to do it boldly with confidence. As for how to make wine at home to succeed and not fail, after reading it, you will know where the problem is and how to prevent it.
The second item: the whole process of "aseptic" operation is the key.
We went to visit the cider distillery and felt that they went from material cleaning to sorting, crushing and fermenting the wine, the smooth sailing was natural and nothing special. However, doing it at home is not the same thing, mainly because there is no production conditions in the winery, and it is difficult to achieve the sterile operation of the whole process. For example, when making wine at home, the more serious it is, the better it may not be done, and the more casual it may be. Serious people, washing grapes began to compete, dish soap, or salt water bubbles, to remove dust, soak off pesticide residues, ah, the result is that the time has not yet seen fermentation and maturity. The reason is that the grapes are fermented, relying on the wild yeast that comes with the epidermis, and you give the whole thing clean.
Another example is making watermelon wine. According to the method provided on the Internet, each step does not dare to deviate, and the resulting finished product is not the taste, perhaps sour and rotten, unsuccessful, poured. The reason here is that it is mixed with weeds, infected by weeds, and there are many links, and a node that is not noticed may cause infection, resulting in failure, and work in vain.
In fact, brewing melon and fruit wine at home can be completely sterile, at least to prevent bacterial infection. Just like pickles, the whole process is pollution-free, no raw water, no decay, there is no problem, do not worry about deterioration.
The third item: good taste depends on the proportion of each material.
The core issue is the recipe. Of course, the home to do this does not require more precise formula, the proportion between the materials is relatively arbitrary. It is also said that watermelon wine can be made into a low-alcohol drink like honey, and can also be made into a fruit wine with a moderate alcohol content. Depending on the taste you require, you can always achieve it by adjusting the proportion of materials.
There are four main materials for melon fruit wine: melon fruit, sugar, yeast, and highly pure grain liquor. Because all melons and fruits must be fermented before they can be brewed into wine. The melon fruit's own sugar is not enough, it is necessary to add sugar, sugar becomes alcohol, and yeast is indispensable. So sugar and yeast are indispensable. If you want to make a medium alcohol cider with an alcohol content of more than 18 alcohol, you must have a high degree of wine blending.
The recipe and operation process of various melon and fruit wines will be shared in the articles on the brewing of melon fruit wine in the following varieties. If you are interested, please pay attention and I will follow the update. There are different views and practices, especially experience suggestions, please feel free to bring up, so that everyone can drink more of their favorite melon and fruit wine drinks in the summer.