Pectic Enzyme is the way to go when making non-grape wines. But is this how country wine was always brewed? Can I hope for a simple Jugaad?
A Homemade Mulberry Wine
Grape season is still a few months away and wine makers all over the country are waiting with their eyes transfixed to the orchard, same affair, as farmers and the sky. Not all of us have the pleasure of gawking at vineyards though. Frankly, wine grapes are nothing short of a luxury for us regular home brewers and a concept, lovely enough to make us sentimental.
Even though good tasty wines can be produced from fruits other than grapes, if you want to earn boasting rights you seem to have a better shot with certain fruits with certain qualities, compared to others with not such certain qualities.
Lets try to understand these qualities or rather components in fruits briefly and keep the pace of our discussion quick.
Acidity(Tartness): Gives your wine freshness and deeper more penetrating mouth feel, helps to lower the pH for yeast health during fermentation and in keeping bad microorganisms at bay. Good amount of acids also makes it possible to age (well made) wines for longer periods and have that cleansing, sweeping effect after tannins run off, which is helpful in pairing wines with foods. While aging a wine, a "Mallolactic fermentation" happens. This results in harsh chalky Mallic acid converting into softer tasting Lactic acid over time, refining wine's taste further in the process.
Sugar & Alcohol: Sugar converts into alcohol (your main goal), alcohol creates warm sensation in mouth and of course gives some a mighty "King in the Castle" feeling (watch Borat for a clue). Leftover/unfermentable sugars help create body (wine biceps) and also let you create CO2 in sparkling wines. We use "Alcohol" as an umbrella term for a wide range of alcohols (mostly ethanol) produced during fermentation. Alcohol is a powerful preservative and keeps wine from going bad over time. It helps trap most of wine's, allow me to use the fancy word - "bouquet" of aromas, and release them when served at a certain temperature. This is why serving temperatures are so important to learn, to earn a black belt in wine making.
Tannins: That thing... that paints your tongue purple and gives you a sudden urge to brush your teeth after gulping a young/cheap wine is called, tannin. They also play a major role in giving you a bad headache the next morning. Tannins are powerful anti-oxidants, and anti-oxidants are great for health. They make drinking wine a healthy habit on paper and provide you with an excuse to get off the wagon. Tannins also bite you back with a vengeance when a wine is young like I just mentioned. Thanks to the aging process though, excess harsh tannins fall out completely and settle to the bottom to form sediment in wine bottles. While some of its micro particles stay suspended and fluff up, giving your wine that velvety smooth texture when aged for a longer period. Tannins are the most decisive factor in aging wine and all high tannic wines can age well almost effortlessly.
Pectin: Unlike the above components, you mostly try and get rid of this gooey mess when making wine. Simply put, pectin is like a glue that binds cell walls of fruits together. It makes your jam and jellies "jell up" and your smoothies thicken. Pectin is a polysaccharide or a long chained sugar in Lehman's term. In it's pure form it absorbs water readily and swells up. While fermenting, this creates a wine fault called "wine haze". It makes your wine look cloudy and dirty. Grape skins naturally have an enzyme called pectinase which waves like Thor's hammer and beats this sugar into pulp (or rather smaller sugar particles) which yeasts can now access and further breakdown into alcohol and CO2, getting rid of the haze in the process. This is one of the many reasons why grapes are preferred over other fruits in making wine.
Tannins give that characteristic colour to Wine
Obviously not all fruits are grape-like and by making wine from these fruits you involuntarily come face to face with the problem. It's a common practice for wine makers all around the world to add pectinase to their country wine must, to solve this problem.
So, Is it "Pectinase way or the Highway?"
Except for a select few vendors in India who sell pectinase enzyme to pharma at close to silver rates by weight (also you need to place bulk orders and invest a fortune) pectinase is nearly inaccessible to a regular low cost home brewing set up.
The Dude: "Now, can I jump out of the window and say goodbye to the cruel world?"
Brew Guy: "Not yet."
The good news is, pectinase is organically produced by several life forms in the good old nature. Oryzae fungi produces several such enzymes to break down plant matter. However we are not looking for a fungal intervention just yet. One of the other sources where you can find abundant amount of pectinase, is the modest papaya fruit. Unripe papaya skin is loaded with pectinase. A medium sized unripe papaya's skin peel has about two tea spoons of pectinase. One teaspoon of pectinase is enough to break down 5 liters of heavily "pectyned" fruit juice so, figure out the math.
Preparation: Peel all the green stuff off of papaya and mash the peel in a blender mixer to make a paste, add a little water to make the task easier. Add this to your fruit mash before adding Campden (Metabisulfite) and mix.
That's it, say hello to your new clearer wine! Well of course, that's not it just yet, you have to run your usual errands to make wine. Choosing a perfect fruit to ferment and designing a wine recipe around it is also an exciting subject to peep into. Fruits are loaded with several goodies and offer many health benefits. Wines also benefit from that. Let's talk about all those cool things in our second part.
(Continue to Part Two: Top 10 Indian Fruits for making great tasting Country Wines)
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