Massive Rhubarb Plant

[wildhair]

I give it a good spin - it helps fling the bubbles off. It also helps to pour the sample thru a tea strainer to remove the solids & get a better "float".

 

[Wolfpup]

Awesome tips guys. Did not take as long to get a reading today, Gave it a "shimmy" shake, tapped it and swish, here we go. It looks like the numbers are getting smaller.

 

[wildhair]

That's what should be happening. Looks like 1.034......ish. Looking good. It will start to slow down - probably - as it gets closer to the 1.000. Keep stirring and checking daily with the hydrometer. Keep everything that touches the wine clean and sanitized.

 

[Wolfpup]

Nice, thank you for the accurate reading wildhair, so this next step…

12. In 3 or 4 days (or when the hydrometer reading is 1.030 or lower), siphon into a five-gallon glass jug or carboy and attach a fermentation lock.

Does this mean it's ready..ish to put in the carboy? 1.034 and 1.030, is there a lot of difference. Or do you guys have better guidelines, like should it be at the 1.000?

And sorry for the untimely responses, we're staining one mile of fence (well not really but it sure feels like it - been at it all weekend and only 1/2 way done) in 100 degree weather, well no… its only 95 degrees - 35 Celsius (in the shade and we're in the sun).

But no more today until the sun goes down. Getting a weird head ache. Think my brain is boiling and we blondes don't need none of that.

And yes, even though my kitchen looks a bit of a mess in that last pic, I'm fanatical about sanitizing everything before it goes in the bucket and I clean everything after it's done. No one moves for fear of making a possible piece hair or dust float around. Overkill, maybe, but I know how important it is. Thank you for reinforcing that.

 

[wildhair]

That's the recommendation. I think most folks look at about 1.020 as the point where you put it in the carboy. As fermentation slows down, so does the "off-gassing" which protects the wine from an invasion of the bacterium......and other such invisible nasties. Somehow, I never seem to have the time to gt it in the secondary until it's damn near dry - .990. Never had anything go funky yet.

But - my busy schedule (or laziness) aside - you should get the carboy washed and sanitized, make sure you have a bung that fits with a hole for the airlock, make sure you have a COUPLE airlocks and couple clean wine bottles, glass jugs, etc - in case you have more wine than you have carboy. You'll need bungs for those, too.

And a long piece of food grade tubing for a siphon - 6 - 8' or so. I have several different sizes, the 1/2" or 3/8" tubing are great for general purpose. There are some siphoning gadgets out there - I just do it the old-fashioned way.

I just racked my berry wines and the rhubarb wine for the 3rd time - coming along very nicely. Sg is .994 - very nice rhubarb flavor, a soft golden orange color and no need to sweeten. Not quite clear - so I'll give it couple months, if it hasn't cleared on it's own - then it's Sparkaloid time! I looked at the "recipe" - such as it is. Not sure you could duplicate it, but I'll see if I can get it into typed form instead of my scribble. I added homemade rhubarb sauce to mine to boost the rhubarb flavor........

Get your stuff together and prepare to suck.............

 

[meadmaker1]

Taking things a bit far covers you for when you get lazy.
You could probably
I think most wait till they get closer to 1.010 or 1.000 because it's easier to stir the bubbles out, and in some cases stir the fruit pulp/skins back in.

 

[meadmaker1]

Or what he said

 

[wildhair]

LOL Too much info? She mentioned she was having strange headaches - I don't want her head to explode.

 

[Wolfpup]

Ok, let's see:

"you should get the carboy washed and sanitized, make sure you have a bung that fits with a hole for the airlock"

Check. All clean and sanitized. Will give it an extra spritzer tonight as it's been sitting for a week. And two additional 5 gallon carboys with bungs. Hubby is going to see if he can get a little one tomorrow after work.

"make sure you have a COUPLE airlocks and couple clean wine bottles, glass jugs, etc - "

Check. The two additional if immediately needed tomorrow morning. They both have airlocks and will clean them as well tonight.

"a long piece of food grade tubing for a siphon - 6 - 8' or so"

Check. Check. Some really cool siphoning stuff with this equipment kit. Has a little thing on the bottom of the "rod" that stops the pulpy stuff from getting siphoned but lets the juice thru.

"Sg is .994" and "then it's Sparkaloid time!"

Ha ha, learning the Winese language. Only two things I didn't understand here. We'll get there in a few lessons, I'm sure.

Ha, ha love this…. "Get your stuff together and prepare to suck............."

Will practice the pucker power this evening. Bob's going to be a hap... never mind.

So other than the little pirate jug, we're good to go.

And perfect meadmaker, that's kind of what you've been saying all along and why I was questioning the recipe. I will go with what you say.

By the way it seems to be going down, maybe tomorrow morning?

I will take the reading in the morning and post it for you guys' expertise.

"LOL Too much info? She mentioned she was having strange headaches - I don't want her head to explode."

OMG, Ha ha ha…too funny. So thoughtful, thank you for the kind consideration.

 

[wildhair]

You will need some smaller containers so that you can fill them up and leave very little head space. Wine bottles work good, but you'll need #3 bungs for them (pretty sure that's the #). I have some 1L plastic bottles - but I have larger bungs for those. I have some 1.5 L wine bottles, some gallon jugs, some 4L jugs, some 375 ml bottles - match the bottle size to the amount of liquid left over.

Point is - you don't want 1 full 5 gal carboy and 1 that's only 1/2 full. You need a container(s) that you can fill nearly to the top - then put an airlock in it. Minimal air space in the carboy (head room) to prevent oxidation .

Pic is sg my rhubarb wine at .994. Sparkaloid is a clarifying agent. There are a couple different ones - a topic for another day.

 

[meadmaker1]

Recipes are guide lines.
Your notes are the fine points that help you adjust future batches
The recipie provides a check list and a basic plan.
Things like racking for me happen when the wine gets to..... Saturday cuz I have time or Wednesday cuz it's a crappy tv night ect. As long as I'm near those numbers.
But having a starting place and enough of the things I'll need wether use them all or not.
As far as sparkaliod, I bought some but never used it. Gravity works pretty well, so far.
I suppose it might speed things up. I just don't have a need to speed clear wine I'm going to leave in a carboy to age anyway.

 

[Wolfpup]

Totally awesome information. I get it now. Just like the right tool, as you say, you need the right bottle to fit the liquid. Do they really have airlocks for wine and pop bottles, cool.

And wow, that's pretty clear rhubarb wine wildhair. Is that the way this one should be turning out too or is that because of the sparkaloid?.

Oh, and hubby had a question about adding more sugar. It isn't that sweet, fruity taste any longer, pretty bland actually. And meadmaker, you mentioned adjusting the sugar too, is that going to be necessary or is that later?

 

[meadmaker1]

Balloons work for air lock on odd sizes
Poke a hole in one with a pin and put it over the top upside down
Sweetening comes later

 

[opus345]

Wolfpup,

Make sure to take notes on the recipe, the steps, and the results. It helps on the next batch.

Here is link to one of my Dragon's Blood logs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b0y3apCRbEEZVvvHwI7fOym1b9WbrzFVf5LJ5jFI3sI

Take care.

 

[Wolfpup]

Ahhh, we just had a bit of a discussion about your post. He said, I have a few wine bottles stored away, we could use those, and I said yes, but we need the bungs with the air releasers. He said something about a clamp on top and I said no no, they have to be the special rubber tops that fit the air bubble thing.

It's ok, he's learning too but I felt smarter for a minute. Fine, take that all away, I will go tell him his bottles are fine and about the balloons.

Ok and check on the sugar. That comes later.

 

[Wolfpup]

Wolfpup,

Make sure to take notes on the recipe, the steps, and the results. It helps on the next batch.

Here is link to one of my Dragon's Blood logs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b0y3apCRbEEZVvvHwI7fOym1b9WbrzFVf5LJ5jFI3sI

Take care.

Nice Opus, all on excel, now that's a spread sheet app I know. I've got a bunch of notes and dates in a small book on my desk here. But I see that includes when things are sanitized, etc. Great tip.

If all goes well, I will set up a spread sheet for future and transpose this information in there too.

And hey, that looks like a good recipe. I've been encouraged to try this Dragon's Blood. Maybe can have two on the go, a pure rhubarb and a dragon's blood.

Thank you Opus.

 

[wildhair]

And wow, that's pretty clear rhubarb wine wildhair. Is that the way this one should be turning out too or is that because of the sparkaloid?
Oh, and hubby had a question about adding more sugar. It isn't that sweet, fruity taste any longer, pretty bland actually.

No, so far it's clearing on it's own. I don't have the patience of Meadmaker. Rhubarb is one of the wines that is good to drink right away - it doesn't need bulk aging. So if it hasn't cleared in a few months, I'll help it along.

Some of the fruity taste will come back once it's done fermenting & if you back sweeten (adding sweetener post-ferment). This is why I use more rhubarb in the beginning - to keep that rhubarb flavor to the bottle.

.

 

[Wolfpup]

I made a Rhubarb wine last year. The thing you really need to do is neutralise the high level of oxalic acid in the juice. My juice had a pH of 2. I bought myself a small jar of calcium carbonate and slowly added it to the juice. Brought the juice back to neutral then re-acidified with acid blend to bring it back into the range pH 3.5 to 3.9 . Oxalic acid has a very sharp and unpleasant taste hence the reason why you need to neutralise it. Also the reason why the French leave their Rhubarb Wine to mature for five to seven years. It is very much a challenge worth undertaking. Most other fruit wines are not as tricky as this stuff.

I remembered this post when you said you could drink it fairly quickly. I sure like your take on it a lot better. Right away as compared to 7 years. Also, we're not French, nothing sophisticated about our pallets, at this point.

However, based on this informative post, we also got some of this calcium carbonate. Its sitting here, have no idea what to do with it.

And yes, totally hear you about the full rhubarb taste. That will be the next batch. Chopping and freezing for the next batch is in progress.

 

[Venatorscribe]

Hi again. The acidity of the juice for me was pH 2. Hence the need for neutralising the oxalic acid. Oxalic acid won't kill you, it has an very astringent mouth feel . if you taste it you'll know what I mean. I see that you are adding orange juice to your mix. I suppose that might cover up the oxalic. If you were to google 'French Rhubarb Wine’, you'll find a reference to a commercial producer of rhubarb wine in France. They mention on that web page that these wines are extremely delectable after 5 to 7 years. Apparently it is difficult to distinguish rhubarb from grape wine after such a period. I made a rhubarb wine this time last year. It is definitely not drinkable at this point. Although I have made an Aperol wine cocktail - blending Quince wine(60%), Rose Petal wine(35%) and Rhubarb wine(5%). For the spritz component I used a Sparkling Pear Cuvée(pears from my trees). I won myself a little prize with this wine cocktail at our local wild food festival. The rhubarb added the necessary tartness.

 

[Stressbaby]

Following along here...good read...

I believe this is the recipe, is that correct?
So no pH/acid adjustments so far?