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Alcoholic drinks from central Chile and Cuyo

Partly fermented grape must (chicha de uva, cachina, Federweisser, Sturm, burčák)chicha de uva

Across Europe and South America, fresh grape must is sold and drunk while it is still fermenting, cloudy, sweet and fizzy, as Federweisser, Sturm, burčák or Chilean chicha de uva. EU law defines it as must that has some alcohol but has used up less than three fifths of its sugar, and Chile's rules set its strength. It is a seasonal drink of the grape harvest.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks6 h – 8 hFamily: White wine

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo recipe; it is grape must caught part-way through fermentation.
Fresh grape must (Vitis vinifera)Chilean chicha cruda may be made from fresh or sun-dried (asoleada) grapes; must that has been cooked gives chicha cocida[cl-d78][eu1308]
YeastThe yeasts that work in the pressed must turn its sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. A winemaking magazine says makers either rely on natural inoculation or pitch a cultured yeast[dwi][wmm-federweiser]
Starternatural inoculation or a pitched cultured wine yeast; a winemaking magazine says makers choose between the two

Total time across the recorded steps: 6 h – 8 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Grapes are pressed and the must runs out

Step 1 of 5
Press the grapes
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Output: must.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Across Europe and South America, fresh grape must is sold and drunk while it is still fermenting, cloudy, sweet and fizzy, as Federweisser, Sturm, burčák or Chilean chicha de uva. EU law defines it as must that has some alcohol but has used up less than three fifths of its sugar, and Chile's rules set its strength. It is a seasonal drink of the grape harvest. Made in 5 steps over 6 h – 8 h. The longest step, taste, then chill or keep warm, takes 6–8 h (Deutsches Weininstitut).

Key numbers
Main step6–8 hReported[dwi]Taste, then chill or keep warm
Temperature12–16 °CReported[wmm-federweiser]Let the must start fermenting
AciditypH 3.1–3.6Reported[wmm-federweiser]Let the must start fermenting

What makes this one different

These drinks are wine caught early. They are sold while the yeast is still working, so they are sweet, cloudy and fizzy, and they change from day to day; wine is fermented out and cleared first.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Chicha de uva (central Chile)Chicha cruda from fresh or sun-dried grape must; chicha cocida from cooked must. Drunk for the Fiestas Patrias in September.
  • Cachina (Peru)Fermented briefly in large barrels and drunk young, sweet or dry.
  • Federweißer / Federroter (Germany)White or red must; named for the feather-white yeast in suspension.
  • Sturm (Austria)The legal Austrian name for partly fermented must.
  • Sauser (Switzerland)The Swiss name; in Switzerland "Federweisser" means a white wine from red grapes.
  • Burčák (Czechia), burčiak (Slovakia), vin bourru (France), murci/karcos (Hungary), machari (Georgia), machar (Armenia)Regional names for the same drink.

Safety

Because the drink is still fermenting and giving off gas, it should not be sealed tight, and the bottle is carried upright. Chilean rules treat a chicha with more than 1.5 g/L volatile acidity as spoiled, and as adulterated above 300 mg/L total sulphur dioxide (400 mg/L when it holds more than 30 g/L of reducing sugar).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Wikipedia's Spanish article says that in Chile and Cuyo "chicha" came to mean grape ferments after the Spanish arrived with their plants, and that the vine spread in central Chile in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [eu1308] Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII Part II, points 10 and 11 (grape must; partially fermented grape must), as published on legislation.gov.ukspec
  2. [cl-d78] Chile, Ministerio de Agricultura, Decreto N° 78 (1986), regulations of Ley 18.455 on alcoholic beverages, articles 1, 25 and 30 (SAG copy)gov
  3. [dwi] Deutsches Weininstitut, Federweißer (product page)web
  4. [wmm-federweiser] Winemaker Magazine, Federweisser (home-winemaking article quoting Vojtěch Válka of Vinařství Válka, Czech Republic)web
  5. [s1] Wikipedia (en), 'Federweisser' (outline only)wiki
  6. [s2] Wikipedia (es), 'Chicha de uva', 'Cachina' (outline only)wiki