Hello all

[OhCrap]

Glenn's the name from little ole ireland
Been brewing beer for a while now and decided to branch into wine.
I've a couple of cellar craft and kenridge showcase kits ageing or fermenting.
I've also got a mother in law who has decided that she is giving me this years rubarb and elderberry crop to make wine with so I'm being thrown in at the deep end. Ah well it'll be fun
)

 

[dralarms]

Welcome, and enjoy

 

[Kraffty]

Sounds like you'll be off to a roaring start, couple of kits for experience and on to some free fruits for more practice. Lots of time to study up and get prepared and a great resource right here.
Welcome,
Mike

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome, Glenn! Enjoy the ride.

 

[Angelina]

Cheers OhCrap! Welcome to WMT! I been wanting to make a rhubarb wine myself, so I am planting a patch this year. I hear it makes a great wine. Keep us posted when you do. It will be a few years before mine matures.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Glenn, and welcome. The deep end is quite shallow. Here you'll be up to your knees, not your oxters (that's Scottish).

 

[OhCrap]

Cheers for the warm welcome, I've just come in from the brew house. The smells of wine, beer and freshly cut wood (stored behind the deciding wall) seem to have a magical effect on me . Can't wait to fill up the lonesome looking Demi johns. Go an start with some 5 Litre wine first then utilise the big gear I use for beer

 

[Julie]

Hi Glenn,

Welcome to winemakingtalk

 

[2020steve]

Welcome to WMT Glenn

 

[MarcMaserati]

Welcome...though I'm new here myself!

I've made rhubarb wine many times and even entered a winemaking competition in 2008. It's great!

A couple tips I found to be useful:

Use sugar to draw out the juice. Add the sugar directly to the washed and chopped rhubarb for a few days. It will drain out the liquid from the rhubarb fast.

Also, take a portion of your batch (~25%) and titrate out all the acid with calcium carbonate. Then, add this acid free portion back to the main batch until you get the acidity you prefer. Add tartaric acid if you removed too much.

Have fun! The best part of this hobby is that even if you make a mistake, 99% of the time you can still drink it!

-Marc