When making home wines, novice winemakers are faced with such problems as: molding of the drink, cloudiness, an increase in strength with the transformation into mash, the release of acetic acid, and loss of taste. All this suggests that mistakes were made during the preparation process: too much (or, conversely, too little) sugar was added, fermentation was not completed, the drink was not sealed correctly, the recipe was changed in terms of the quantity and volume of products used, etc. The main mistake home winemakers are incorrectly selected proportions (how much pulp, sugar, yeast is added to the number of berries, fruits, etc. used), which significantly affects the final result.
In many cases, the main solution to save your “masterpiece” will be dilution with water, which is what most winemakers are currently afraid of. However, you should not be afraid of this, but rather, on the contrary, you need to add as much water as required to improve the taste. When diluting wines, the ratio of excess added ingredients changes, bringing them back to normal, thereby improving the taste and aroma of the resulting drink. The main thing here is not to overdo it.
The strength depends on how long the fermentation stage lasts, and the alcohol produced during the process significantly suppresses the aroma of the berries used in preparation. If it has not fermented and has been bottled and set aside for further storage, “endless fermentation” occurs and the alcohol content constantly increases. Because of this, the bottle in which the wine is stored “explodes” or becomes unfit for consumption. To reduce the amount of alcohol content, you need to dilute the wine with water, then the berry aroma will intensify, giving a refined, pleasant aroma. During the hot season, you can add a few pieces of ice to the glass, which will make the drink cool, and drinking homemade wine much more enjoyable. This recipe does not reduce all the beneficial properties of this drink.
Where did the tradition of diluting with water come from?
Adding water to homemade wine is an old Greek tradition that goes back centuries. Previously, in 
In ancient Greece, only natural yeast was used to make wine, so the alcohol content was minimal. Such varieties were not stored for a long time and quickly deteriorated because they began to release vinegar. To increase the shelf life of wines, large amounts of grape sugar and purified alcohol were added. But before drinking, you still had to dilute the drink with water, due to its excessive strength and cloying taste. The Greeks also used a recipe for preparing a wine drink with the addition of various herbs and spices. Boiled sea water was used to increase the acidity of wines.
Currently, the process of making homemade wines and storing them is not so problematic. In addition, a wide selection of crops allows you to create your own varieties and varieties. Winemakers often use a recipe that is popular today: adding sparkling water to various types of wine, thereby obtaining sparkling wine without any time investment. This drink perfectly quenches thirst on hot summer days.
In what cases can water be added?
Orthodoxy. Since ancient times, it has been customary in Orthodox churches and monasteries to give Cahors to people who come to the rite of Communion. Orthodox believe that by drinking a glass of Cahors, their soul is cleansed of sins and opens to communication with God, and the “sacred drink” itself is mistaken for “God’s blood.” Cahors, which is given in church, must be diluted with water, since it is considered one of the strongest varieties. For this purpose, use the following recipe: Cahors is diluted in proportions 1:3 and well 
mixed. The diluted drink should be left to steep for at least 24 hours.
Ethnoscience. It has long been known that in folk medicine, red wine is used to treat coughs and colds, as well as to increase hemoglobin in the blood. Red varieties have antimicrobial and antiseptic effects, which significantly improves the patient’s condition in many diseases. When drinking wines for medicinal purposes, use an old folk recipe: add 200 ml of water, 5-6 sprigs of cloves and 3-4 tablespoons of honey to 1 liter of wine. You can also add nutmeg or cinnamon for taste and aroma. The drink is heated over low heat, without bringing to a boil. Consume hot, 200-300 ml 2 times a day.
Change in taste and decrease in strength. Often homemade wine contains too much alcohol and excess sugar, as a result of which it turns out strong and its taste is cloying. It is not possible to drink it in its pure form. To reduce excessive sweetness and reduce alcohol content, you can add water. In such cases, the drink must be diluted with water only before consumption, otherwise it may spoil.
Checking the quality of the prepared drink. By diluting with water, winemakers often check the quality of their wines. A beautiful color and a pleasant smell, at first glance, do not mean that this is a high-quality product. To test purchased or independently prepared varieties, use the following recipe: one part of the volume of wine is diluted with two parts of the volume of water and mixed well. After this, the drink should be allowed to brew for about 30 minutes. High-quality wine retains its color and taste, but an unpleasant odor and cloudiness after such a procedure indicate that the product is not suitable for further storage.
Basic rules for diluting homemade wines
In order not to spoil the wine when diluted with water, you should consider a few simple rules:
- When diluting wines, use a ratio of 1:3
- red varieties need to be diluted with hot water
- white varieties need to be diluted with cold water
- for dilution, use only distilled or boiled water
- water should be poured directly into wine, and not vice versa
- the volume of water must be greater than the volume of wine being diluted
- fortified varieties cannot be diluted with water, otherwise they lose their taste
By following all the rules, you will receive an excellent drink that more than one gourmet will appreciate. When choosing a recipe, prepare all the ingredients in advance. Correctly selected proportions, which depend on how much wine material you have, will give an exquisite and sophisticated taste to your wine!
The water we use for cooking is of utmost importance. Tap water is fine, but many people do not like its characteristic metallic taste, which is transferred to dishes. Mineral water is also not suitable for cooking. Solution? Use filtered or spring water in the kitchen.
Most of our compatriots use ordinary tap water for cooking. And this is correct, because you can drink it even without any heat treatment. Tap water does not contain dirt and bacteria, is free from organic and chemical impurities, so it is convenient and safe to drink.
High temperature kills microorganisms; In addition, boiling water leads to precipitation of some minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. This softens the water, but at the same time leads to a deterioration in the mineral composition.
Tap water, as already noted, can be consumed directly from the tap, however, we do not always fully trust its quality or we simply do not really like it. Chlorine present in the water, which is added to prevent biological contamination and the development of bacteria, may be responsible for the unpleasant taste. In addition, outdated equipment in residential buildings themselves is also responsible for the quality and taste of water. Therefore, many are looking for more “reliable” water for drinking and cooking.
Does filtering improve taste?
Tap water can be safely used for cooking. But many people believe that dishes will taste better if they are cooked with filtered water. Filtration has become a common practice and is carried out using special filters placed directly on the tap or using filter vessels. These procedures are aimed at improving the quality and taste of water.Chefs all over the world very often use filtered water for cooking. In Europe, recognized restaurateurs cook with it. Many places around the world not only provide filtered water to their customers for free, but use it in the operation of professional kitchen equipment, such as convection ovens, because this water is more delicate and soft. A simple example: when we cook with unfiltered tap water, a characteristic sediment remains on the dishes. If we use filtered liquid, this will not happen.
Filtered water is the choice of gourmets and restaurateurs.
Filtration results in the removal of components from water that adversely affect its taste and smell, and this has a beneficial effect on the quality of dishes. Vegetables cooked in this water become soft faster and soups become more tasty. This water is ideal for making ice cubes, ice cream, good tea or coffee.
Mineral water - only cold
Some people do not trust tap water, even filtered water, and use mineral water for cooking. This is not the best idea.
Mineral water is not suitable for cooking!
Mineral water is not suitable for cooking, because during heat treatment mineral salts precipitate, which are not absorbed by the body in this form. Experts add that when mineral water boils, its properties that are important for health change. This is especially true for highly mineralized or medicinal water. Both highly and moderately mineralized waters are intended for direct consumption, and in this form they are safe. After opening a bottle of mineral water, it should be drunk within 24 hours, as bacteria can then develop in it.
Bottled spring water is an excellent choice
It is worth knowing that spring water, which is characterized by a low mineral content, is suitable for cooking from bottled water. Its composition should not change after heat treatment. Spring water is often used to prepare food for children, such as soups and stews. It's tasty because it's neutral. Neutrality is the essence and advantage of water. Through the cooking process, it helps to extract flavor and aroma from other foods, but it itself should remain invisible.
The main advantage of spring water is its neutral mineral composition and taste.
So, let's summarize the above. It is quite possible to use ordinary tap water for cooking, filtering it if desired. But if the taste and quality do not suit you, you can use bottled water, the quality of which will not depend on the condition of the water supply in our apartment, the chlorine content or the hardness of the water.
The coming winter with its frosts and snow is not a reason to neglect your drinking regime. The body needs water every day, regardless of the weather outside. And one of the best ways to quench your thirst profitably is delicious water at home.
Forever with water
In autumn and especially in winter, you should never reduce your water consumption. Just because we don't feel thirsty doesn't mean we don't need water. A deficiency causes skin to peel, nails to break, and hair to fall out. Add to this the harmful effects of heating, low humidity in the house, sudden changes in temperature, and it becomes obvious that drinking a lot of water every day is necessary for health. Of course, this amount depends on individual characteristics, but on average the daily norm is 6-8 glasses. Moreover, we are talking specifically about drinking water, and not about tea, coffee, juices and other drinks.
Cold vs cold
Oddly enough, doctors recommend drinking chilled water now, since in this form it is better absorbed by the body. It is also important to remember a simple truth: purified water is the key to a tasty drink. You can find it in supermarkets or filter tap water. And it’s easy to get it at home. To do this, pour water into a container, put it in the freezer for several hours, then let it thaw. Harmful impurities will settle to the bottom, and you will only have to carefully drain the clean liquid. You can make your water even tastier with your own hands by adding just a few ingredients that you probably have at home.
Citrus immunity
One of these components is any fruit, with the possible exception of banana and avocado. The main thing is that the fruits are juicy and ripe. Let's start by making delicious water with lemon and other citrus fruits. Take an orange, a lemon and a lime, cut them into circles with zest. Knead them slightly, pour 2 liters of water in a jug with a lid and put them in the refrigerator. The drink should spend a day there so that the citrus fruits release the maximum amount of useful elements. The most important of them, of course, is vitamin C, which the body needs especially urgently now. You can strain the water or drink it with pieces of citrus fruit. By the way, it’s convenient to take it with you to work or for a walk.
Berry carnival
with wild berries it turns out no less tasty. For this recipe, we will need frozen berries, which we prudently prepared in the summer. Take 100 g of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, lightly mash them with a fork and pour in the juice of 2 limes; you can also put a few wedges of lime in the water. You can make the same healthy water with fresh fruit. Pour the mixture with 2 liters of water, add 3-4 sage leaves if desired. It will give the drink refined notes and a pleasant aroma. We leave it in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours, and you can treat your loved ones. Children will especially love this berry water recipe, so put a bottle of it in their backpack when packing for school.
Pineapple lightness
Fans of diets will be pleased to know that tasty water is perfect for losing weight. Pineapple water will achieve impressive results. Cut 200 g of fresh pineapple pulp into cubes. Canned fruits are not suitable because they contain a lot of sugar. Chop a small bunch of mint and mash it in a mortar and masher. Combine the greens with pineapple in a jug, pour in 1.5 liters of water and put in the refrigerator overnight. Remember that tasty water is stored for no longer than 3 days, so there is no point in preparing it for future use. With regular use, pineapple water will remove toxins, and along with them, excess weight will go away.
Apple Health
Eating an apple will also help you get rid of unwanted pounds, and at the same time improve your metabolism. Grate a small peeled apple, preferably a sour one. Add ½ tsp to it. grated ginger root, sprinkle with ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon and mix well. Pour this mixture into a liter of hot water at a temperature of 90 °C and brew it like regular tea. For a richer aroma, you can add a few basil or rosemary leaves. Cool the apple water and put it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Before drinking, you can strain the water and add slices of fresh apples to it. Drink it on an empty stomach every morning, and good health will be ensured for the whole family.
Cucumber cheerfulness
Some recipes pair the delicious fruit water with watery vegetables such as cucumber. Take 4 cucumbers: grate 2 of them on a fine grater with peel, cut the other 2 into circles. Cut 2 lemons with zest into the same circles. We divide the middle bunch of mint into leaves, and mash the branches in a mortar. Place all the ingredients in the bottom of the jug, fill them with a liter of water and put them in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This drink is often used for short-term detox diets. If you love to exercise, be sure to take a bottle of cucumber water with you. It will quench your thirst during workouts and help you quickly restore strength after them.
As you can see, preparing delicious water with fruits and berries will not take much time and effort. You can easily come up with new recipes yourself to please your loved ones with pleasant and unexpected combinations.
When preparing pasta, always use plenty of water - at least 1 liter per 100 grams of product. It is better to cook the pasta in a large saucepan, because in order to cook it properly and not stick together, it needs free space. Typically, to prepare pasta, boil 5.5-7.5 liters of water, add salt and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
Should I add salt to the cooking water?
In Italy, salt is always added to pasta. A pinch of salt added to the water helps the flavor of the pasta to develop. We recommend sea salt because this natural product enhances, rather than overpowers, the flavor of the pasta. However, if you are on a salt-free diet, you do not need to add salt to your Barilla pasta.
Do I need to add oil to water when making pasta?
There is no need for oil to keep the paste from sticking. Just follow the instructions on the Barilla toothpaste package - just use plenty of water and you won't have any problems like this.
Why is it important to cook pasta until al dente?
Pasta is a source of slow carbohydrates. The al dente state of readiness (meaning the degree of readiness of the pasta, when, although completely cooked on the outside, it has a firm core on the inside) makes it possible to fully reveal the beneficial properties of the pasta. Al dente pasta is more filling and provides the body with energy longer. Due to the special protein structure of traditional pasta, it has a low glycemic index. This paste takes longer to digest than most other foods containing carbohydrates. Cook pasta al dente to maintain a low glycemic index.
Do I need to rinse the paste?
Barilla pasta should not be rinsed after cooking. Washing is necessary in order to wash away excess starch. Usually the paste releases a lot of starch and sticks together if poor quality wheat was used to make it. And Barilla pasta is made from high-quality durum wheat.
Anyone who decides to start winemaking at home, searching for the necessary information, is faced with elementary recipes, simple proportions and cooking technologies. At first, it may even seem that making delicious homemade wine from grapes is easier than baking a sponge cake. However, having started the process itself, a novice winemaker will discover many nuances, without which nectar will not be produced. One of these questions is the proportion of sugar and water in grape must, so let's find out together how many servings of each ingredient you need to add to get the perfect drink!
From the history of wine culture
To deal with a dilemma, sometimes you need to look back, carefully looking at the sequence of events in time. Many winemaking traditions, like the culture itself, originate from the era of Antiquity, when both grape harvests and technologies were different. The production of wine among the ancient Greeks was limited to the fermentation of natural yeast contained in the skins of grapes, so drinks in most cases were not famous for their strength. It was also impossible to maintain their aroma, since when interacting with air, the wine turned sour, transforming into vinegar. The conclusion is this: only drinks with a high concentration of sugar from a certain grape variety retained their wine essence. But it was impossible to drink this, so the Greeks diluted the wine with water before tastings.
People who drank wine undiluted were considered barbarians or heavy drunkards in Ancient Greece. However, clean water was only provided for the sick or children.
Another interesting recipe from our ancestors: add sea water to the wine, boiled with spices or herbs, and then strained. Then it is infused, and only a few years later it is added to homemade wine. The aromatic salt water influenced the sweetness and acidity of the drink, and also contributed to long-term storage.
Water proportions
Today, winemakers do not have problems with fermenting substances, so the use of water during preparation remains a matter of choice for the winemaker.
The main function of water in the process of preparing wine from grapes is to reduce the acidity of the future drink. Therefore, before adding water to the wort, check the acidity level of the grape variety or other fruit and berry crops involved in production.
Qualities of water that should be added to the wort:
- clean;
- soft;
- without smell.
Not sure how much water to add? You need to start from your goals:
- If you are preparing homemade table wine, keep the acidity within 0.8–1.0%;
- For making sweet/strong wines, the best value is 1.0–1.2%.
If you overdo it with diluting the grape juice (acidity drops to 0.6%), then the must will most likely refuse to ferment, so the wine will spoil.
Formula and nuances
To calculate the required amount of water, elementary arithmetic operations are used. But before that, you need to measure the acidity of the future wort, and also decide on the desired acid level of your drink. The formula is simple:
Amount of water = (acidity of juice / acidity of wine) – 1.
The answer is given in liters (L). The resulting volume also includes the amount of sugar that needs to be added to the wort, as well as the results of repeated pressing of the pulp. Carefully calculate how many volume positions are occupied by the mentioned ingredients, otherwise mistakes will inevitably occur!
The main disadvantage of this method is the loss of the natural aroma of the fruit, so many winemakers prefer adding ground pure chalk to water or mixing juices of contrasting acidity levels.
News about water
A few rules about using water when making homemade wine:
What about sugar?
The winemaker not only determines the sweetness of the future wine by the amount of added sugar. How much you add, the drink will be so strong and thick. To get the desired result, you need to find out the sweetness parameter of the resulting wort, and then, using the correct method, change the initial proportion.
Methods for adding sugar:
- before the first fermentation in the form of sand;
- before the first fermentation, as well as during the quiet (5th, 10th day of the fermentation period) in the form of syrup;
- at the end of the process.
These time frames vary for a variety of recipes, so be sure to taste the must at different stages of your wine production. The golden rule for the sweetness of wine: if the volume of the wort is 1 liter, then every 20 g of sugar increases the strength of the drink by 1°. Calculate in advance how many degrees of wine you need to get in the end.
Amount of sugar = (280 * (amount of acid 1 liter of juice / desired amount of acid)) – amount of sugar 1 liter of juice
The result is calculated in grams (g). 280 – the amount of sugar that needs to be placed in a container to obtain wine with a strength of 16°.
In addition to the formula, the masters have established proven numbers about how much sugar needs to be added for the desired effect. However, do not forget to take into account the grape variety, because relying only on the hydrometer readings will be a mistaken action. Classic proportions showing how much sugar is needed to obtain a certain drink:
- 200 g syrup / 1 l – liqueurs;
- 100–160 g syrup / 1 l – dessert wines;
- 50 g syrup / 1 l – semi-sweet wines.
Preparation of dry wines from grapes is usually done without a sweetener. Many recipes suggest replacing sugar with honey.
Total
There are as many winemakers as there are advice; It is possible to find the best option through numerous experiments: taste and technological. Water and sugar are the most popular ingredients (after juice, of course) in most recipes, so take their participation in the process especially seriously. You just need to correctly, clearly set a goal, define the standard of your future masterpiece. You already know how much sugar or water to add, all that remains is to back up the recipes with a good mood and diligence. Let your homemade Dionysia always please the eye and taste, then you will certainly share your finds, right?
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