The production of the first factory-made pomegranate wines started in Israel about 30 years ago. A little later the positive experience was adopted by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. Beginner winemakers also could not ignore this delicious and healthy fruit, and thanks to this the technology of making homemade pomegranate wine recipe was developed. It’s not a cheap pleasure in our neck of the woods, but this doesn’t stop enthusiasts.
Pomegranates only flaw for winemaking is that it contains too much acid, the influence of which has to be neutralized. Otherwise, you won’t be able to achieve proper fermentation. This problem gets solved by adding water and a relatively big portion of sugar.
Almost all of the store-sold pomegranate wines are made following the same technology. The only exception is Israel. There’s a variety of pomegranate in this country which has reduced content of acid and high sugar content. Its fruits are suitable even for making a dry wine.
You can make homemade pomegranate wine from your own or store-bought pomegranates. The higher the sugar content, the tastier beverage you’ll get. Before juicing pomegranates you should thoroughly sort them out, removing tainted and moldy ones, because if their pulp will get into the must, it might ruin the wine irreversibly.
Ingredients:
- Pomegranates – 11 lb / 5 kg
- Sugar – 12.3 oz / 350 grams per 0.25 gal / 1 liter of juice
- Water – 0.05 qt / 50 ml per 0.25 gal / 1 liter of juice
Pomegranate Wine Recipe
- Get special wine yeasts. Pomegranates wild yeasts might not be enough for its juice to ferment, that’s why I suggest you play it safe by adding active yeasts from raisins or berries to the must.
You should buy wine yeasts only. If you add bakery or distillers yeasts, you’ll end up with home brew, not wine.
- Wash the pomegranates, peel them and get rid of the white membrane which is very bitter.
- Juice peeled grains.
- Pour the juice with the pulp into a wide pot, add water, sugar (5.3 oz /150 grams per 0.25 gal / 1 liter of juice) and wine yeasts following the instruction, and then stir it up.
- Tie up the neck of the container with Airlock and leave it in a dark place with a temperature of 65-77F° / 18-25°C. Once a day stir the must by clean hands or with a wooden spoon.
- After 3-4 days you’ll notice a sour odor, a hissing sound and foaming on the surface. This means that the must is successfully fermenting. It’s time to filter it through 3-4 layers of gauze in order to get pure juice.
- Squeeze the pulp (the solid part left after filtering) through gauze or with the press. Mix the obtained juice with the filtered one.
- Add sugar (3.5 oz / 100 grams per 0.25 gal / 1 liter) to the fermented juice, stir it up and pour into a fermentation container. I advise you to fill the fermentation container up to ¾ of its volume in order to leave space for foam and carbon dioxide.
- Install fermentation Airlock. Leave the container in a dark warm room (65-77F° / 18-25°C). It is very important to maintain a stable temperature during fermentation.
- Upon the 5th day of installing the water lock add 1.8 oz / 50 grams of sugar per 0.25 gal / 1 liter of juice. For this you’ll have to open the container, pour out 0.25 gal / 1 liter of the must, dissolve sugar in it, pour the syrup into the must, and install the airlock again.
- After another 4 days add remaining sugar (1.8 oz / 50 grams per 0.25 gal / 1 liter) following the same technique described in the previous step.
- After 35-50 days active fermentation will stop (the airlock will stop bubbling, the wine will get brighter, and there will be sediment at the bottom). Pour the new wine from the sediment through a narrow tube into another clean container and seal it hermetically tight, a container with airlock is recommended, in case it will start fermenting again.
- Leave the beverage in a dark place with a temperature of 50-61F° / 10-16°C for 4-6 months of aging. Prolonged aging removes sharpness, balancing the wines taste. However, if you are not very patient and want your drink sooner, few weeks will do fine too!
- At the last stage the wine should be separated from the sediment, bottled and hermetically sealed with corks. Keep it in a fridge or a basement. Its shelf life is up to 3 years.
Eventually you’ll get 0.4-0.5 gal / 1.5-2 liters of homemade pomegranate wine with ABV of 11-13 degrees and an original refined taste and light scent of pomegranates. It goes well with fruits and desserts.
Hope you will enjoy this Pomegranate Wine Recipe! Also do share some pictures and how was the taste of your own homemade Pomegranate Win!