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Saving your alcohol
to fortify your wines
Every now
and then, even the
best home wine-makers produce a dismal failure. We've all done it! But
what do you do if this happens to you? Tip it down the drain?
Or do you waste hours with your poor home-made wine for weeks on end, trying to get it presentable, trying to clear that cloudiness, trying to reduce that tannin or oxidised taste before you give up?
You've spent all that time and money nurturing your wine and it turns out a flop.
Frustrating, isn't it?
And how often have you thought about using the alcohol in it to fortify your own wines, that way making port and sherries from the good wines you have.
But the problem of getting the alcohol out of that ruined wine puts you off. Especially having to boil it out, and there's all the pipe-work you'll need and will it taint it, the still (dare you set one up?), and it's explosive like petrol too.
You find so many reasons to give up, don't you.
So you simply tip it away!
It can be recovered as easy as pie from any rubbish home-made wine
Instead of heating up the wine to evaporate the alcohol out, you simply do the opposite and freeze it out. It's a much easier and safer method by far!
All you need are a few plastic PEP bottles (the sort you get fizzy drinks in). I have used the 2 litre size often as these fit nicely in my freezer.
If you fill a PEP bottle with your rubbish wine, leaving around an inch empty at the top, squeeze most of the air out and screw the lid on tightly, then pop it in the freezer for 24 hours laid on its side.
The fact that it's a plastic bottle, and that the air is squeezed out a little, makes this a very safe process, because water (the bulk of your wine) expands when it freezes. So glass containers of any sort are no use for this process as they can crack.
After this time you will find that the bulk of the bottle's contents are frozen solid, but there is a small amount that remains liquid and looks like water. (Can you guess what the liquid is?)
Generally speaking, you should be able to recover around 10% as alcohol from the volume of the bottle.
The dangerous part comes next --- Arrrgh ----You have to tip the liquid into another PEP bottle and store that with the top screwed on tight in the freezer until you need it (it's the safest place for it and it will keep for virtually ever).
It's not dangerous really. Only kidding you there. The only danger is if you are near any combustion sources, so if you transfer it out in the open, you should be perfectly OK. Another point is that as the temperature is so low (being straight out of the freezer) the alcohol will be nowhere near its evaporation/flash point for ages, so this is giving you a very large safety margin.
Once you have removed the alcohol and saved it for further use, then simply tip the remnants of the rubbish wine away (once it has thawed).
One point here is that what you now have is neat alcohol, and believe me, if you decide to try a little, it burns your mouth and throat like hell (even at such a low temperature, I speak from experience here), so it's not recommended.
By adding this to your other wines, making up the alcoholic content to around the 20% mark, along with some sugar 'to taste', then you will be fortifying your wine. All you need then is to allow it to mature, to blend the alcohol and sugars with the existing wine.
On the other hand, you could just as easily use it to produce your own spirits (sloe gin is a prime example, or alternatively it could be added to fruits to produce a fruit liqueur - diluted, of course).
I am assuming that the wine is for your own consumption, and that the local laws in your area allow you to do this, (having a still is against the law in many places, but doing it this way is more acceptable) but in no way am I responsible for your actions should any legalities be broken.
George
Or do you waste hours with your poor home-made wine for weeks on end, trying to get it presentable, trying to clear that cloudiness, trying to reduce that tannin or oxidised taste before you give up?
You've spent all that time and money nurturing your wine and it turns out a flop.
Frustrating, isn't it?
And how often have you thought about using the alcohol in it to fortify your own wines, that way making port and sherries from the good wines you have.
But the problem of getting the alcohol out of that ruined wine puts you off. Especially having to boil it out, and there's all the pipe-work you'll need and will it taint it, the still (dare you set one up?), and it's explosive like petrol too.
You find so many reasons to give up, don't you.
So you simply tip it away!
Well now you don't need to!
It can be recovered as easy as pie from any rubbish home-made wine
Instead of heating up the wine to evaporate the alcohol out, you simply do the opposite and freeze it out. It's a much easier and safer method by far!
All you need are a few plastic PEP bottles (the sort you get fizzy drinks in). I have used the 2 litre size often as these fit nicely in my freezer.
If you fill a PEP bottle with your rubbish wine, leaving around an inch empty at the top, squeeze most of the air out and screw the lid on tightly, then pop it in the freezer for 24 hours laid on its side.
The fact that it's a plastic bottle, and that the air is squeezed out a little, makes this a very safe process, because water (the bulk of your wine) expands when it freezes. So glass containers of any sort are no use for this process as they can crack.
After this time you will find that the bulk of the bottle's contents are frozen solid, but there is a small amount that remains liquid and looks like water. (Can you guess what the liquid is?)
Generally speaking, you should be able to recover around 10% as alcohol from the volume of the bottle.
The dangerous part comes next --- Arrrgh ----You have to tip the liquid into another PEP bottle and store that with the top screwed on tight in the freezer until you need it (it's the safest place for it and it will keep for virtually ever).
It's not dangerous really. Only kidding you there. The only danger is if you are near any combustion sources, so if you transfer it out in the open, you should be perfectly OK. Another point is that as the temperature is so low (being straight out of the freezer) the alcohol will be nowhere near its evaporation/flash point for ages, so this is giving you a very large safety margin.
Once you have removed the alcohol and saved it for further use, then simply tip the remnants of the rubbish wine away (once it has thawed).
One point here is that what you now have is neat alcohol, and believe me, if you decide to try a little, it burns your mouth and throat like hell (even at such a low temperature, I speak from experience here), so it's not recommended.
By adding this to your other wines, making up the alcoholic content to around the 20% mark, along with some sugar 'to taste', then you will be fortifying your wine. All you need then is to allow it to mature, to blend the alcohol and sugars with the existing wine.
On the other hand, you could just as easily use it to produce your own spirits (sloe gin is a prime example, or alternatively it could be added to fruits to produce a fruit liqueur - diluted, of course).
I am assuming that the wine is for your own consumption, and that the local laws in your area allow you to do this, (having a still is against the law in many places, but doing it this way is more acceptable) but in no way am I responsible for your actions should any legalities be broken.
George
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