Homemade wine tastes great, naturally pure? But I urge you to be careful...

It is the grape harvest season again. Many people have started to make their own wine. However, wine tastes good, but it is also very dangerous. I still remember the news: "A woman in Chongqing learned to make wine on the Internet. Her husband was sent for gastric lavage after tasting it. The doctor said there are many reasons, and it may be methanol poisoning. In other words, try to try less of these unknown things on the Internet in the future. Health is the most important thing."

01. Why is it methanol poisoning?

According to the doctor's judgment, it was initially suspected to be methanol poisoning. Can methanol be produced from winemaking?

The answer is yes, this is also a by-product of winemaking.

The essence of winemaking is the fermentation of winemaking materials by microorganisms. The final output of this process depends not only on the microbial composition, but also on the winemaking materials.

If the brewing raw materials contain more pectin, such as fruits, potatoes, etc., then these pectins will be an important source of methanol. They will produce methanol under the action of Aspergillus and finally enter the brewing. In addition, the selection of brewing microorganisms is also very important.

This is also why I don’t encourage people to make their own wine. We know very little about brewing, and it’s very easy to run into a lot of problems. In particular, many people think that everything can be brewed, and the result is a bunch of dark dishes that can easily pose a risk to your health.

02. Why is the wine from the winery okay?

Formal brewing must be guaranteed from raw materials to brewing to final quality inspection.

First of all, the selection of raw materials is very particular, specific grains or fruits, and even special varieties.

Secondly, the fermentation tanks in the brewing process are also very particular, and even undergo special treatment to ensure that alcohol production can be achieved to the greatest extent possible.

Finally, quality inspection is very important. This step is also difficult to achieve in private brewing. If harmful ingredients appear in the brewing, it should be discarded and traced.

However, private brewing does not meet these conditions, resulting in poisoning problems similar to those in the news. In recent years, there have been many problems with home brewing. "In March 2022, a woman in Lingchuan, Guilin, was poisoned by drinking home brewed wine and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. Fortunately, she was out of danger in the end; in October 2020, in Xiangzhou County, Laibin, Guangxi, four elderly men were sent to the hospital after drinking home brewed wine, and one of them died ; in 2019, private brewing in a family workshop in Malaysia caused 37 deaths ..."

In addition, after the wine is made, if the seal is too tight and a large amount of gas is generated in the bottle, it may cause an explosion. This usually happens when fermentation is carried out in unsuitable containers such as plastic bottles.

Finally, drink less alcohol.