RHUBARB WINE

[NorthernWinos]

Jobe...I make a dry apple wine not too high in alcohol....then use the method in the ***Sparkling Wine*** tutorial...


http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1222


My recipe is Posted someplace....? I use our own steam extracted apple juice...You could use any store bought juice in gallons and maybe beef it up a bit with some frozen apple concentrate to boost the flavor and body....my juice is kind of syrupy.


I use pretty much all juice...water only to dissolve the sugar, you could dissolve the sugar in some juice. I start with S.G. about 1.085...so it's not to high in alcohol...


Add 'the usual suspects'...acid, tannin, campden, etc. Add Pectic Enzyme, Yeast Nutrient, Yeast Energizer and use Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast. Do NOT stabilize...Do Not use any Sulfite near the end of fermentation...then do the Dosage with sugar and yeast [Lalvin EC-1118] and bottle in Champagne/Sparkling Wine bottles....


Ours is a BRUT...dry and crisp with a nice apple flavor. Sometimes we put some apple flavoring in at bottling, but this last batch has none and has a nice delicate flavor on it's own.


I am planning another batch in a month or so....Will do a Post at that time, but you can go for it now.


I don't know how you can makea sweeter wine....I have read someplace to sweeten it to use an artificial sweetener, but it has mixed reviews as to after taste.


Most recipes say to use a dry, low alcohol wine...but ....like all wines...It's YOURS...make it as to your own tastes.


I usually use...
-20 quarts juice [S.G. 1.040 or so]
-8-9# sugar [S.G. to 1.085]
-5 tsp acid blend
-5 tsp liquid tannin
-1 tsp ascorbic acid
-6 campden tablets


Water to 6 gallons


-6 tsp yeast nutrient
-3 tsp yeast energizer
-3 tsp Pectic enzyme'
-2 pk Lalvin EC-1118 yeast [I divide my wines into 2 buckets...
hence the 2 pkts yeast...never a failure or overflow]


Rack till clear.


Add:
-1 3/4 cups white table sugar dissolved in small amount boiled water [cool before adding to wine]
-1 pkt Lalvin EC-1118 yeast [re hydrated]


Let rest for 2 months...shaking weekly. Invert bottles...Riddle for 2 weeks or more....Let rest....Dégorge....let rest again...Enjoy!!!!

 

[pelican]

Now that my Valiant Effort at a first wine is doing some chilling to hopefully throw of some diamonds and reduce it's acid a bit before finding it's way into some bottles ... I was debating what to start next.

I am waiting for a package of extra goodies I ordered from George here, including a bottle of the red grape concentrate, so the chokecherry will wait a bit.

I have a jug of apple juice, and thought hm, maybe Apple Wine -- but then
rummaging through the pantry, blowing off the dust from mystery mason jars put up by my honey in his Bachelor days (he'd been a bachelor for a while...), I found some Crabapple + Rhubarb "Con"(centrate) juice, and another one of just Crabapple, and a couple of just Rhubarb - well one was just rhubarb and one was utterly devoid of any identification, so I went by color and taste - it was Rhubarb too.

So - next up is Crabapple & Rhubarb. The must is all mixed up and doing it's thing with the campden tablet ~ but before I added the sulphite it was sure tasty!

I just have a question about Pectin enzyme -

Are there either rough or exact guidelines in how much to use? When I opened the jars, the juice had a bit of jelling going on. And, if needed, can pectin enzyme be added both at the beginning, in the must and after fermentation is complete, like fining agent? or does it all have to go in from the start?

Thanks ~ the Lady Pelican

 

[Guest]

NW:
I was reading through this post and after page 2 of 13, (wow. that's alot of attention for one post) I'm running low on time. I'll have to come back later and finish this.

Anyway... What I was going to say was, if you havn't gotten an easy way outa the conversion mess later in your post, I use this web site.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html


Good to hear your postings.


By the way, and again, I hope I'm not reiterating your post but, nieve that I am,I thought rhubarb was a poisonous plant?

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

I just have a question about Pectin enzyme -

Are there either rough or exact guidelines in how much to use? When I opened the jars, the juice had a bit of jelling going on. And, if needed, can pectin enzyme be added both at the beginning, in the must and after fermentation is complete, like fining agent? or does it all have to go in from the start?

Thanks ~ the Lady Pelican

Best if used prior to pitching yeast , as it breaks down the fruit for better extraction of juice. 1/2 tsp per gal of must, or 1/10 tsp per lb of fruit.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

By the way, and again, I hope I'm not reiterating your post but, nieve that I am,I thought rhubarb was a poisonous plant?

Just the leaves, never eat or use them. The stalks are edible.

 

[pelican]

Thanks for the guidelines there on the pectin enzyme, JW.
I'd guess the same levels apply if you already have juice to start with?


Like NW and some others here, we've got the steamer-juicer and plan to start the wines from the steam-extracted juice rather than fruits themselves.


Thanks again!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Gee..... Pelican...you actually went into that pantry....

It always looked a tad intriguing when I'd see it...Lots of jars of mystery juices

. I raided that pantry a couple years ago and took the Blackberry juices from him that I had extracted years ago from berries he had picked at the farm...it made a great wine...

Now I am feeling a bitguilty that I took those juices before you got there and deprived you of the joys of making that wine.....Tho...you might have gotten to taste some of it. I will make this up to you in bottles of other fruit wines soon...

 

[Guest]

JW...


Thanks for clearing that up.
By the way, Marcy says. "The man is still wrong regardless of wether there's a woman there or not. It's the point of the matter."

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

 

[pelican]

Now I am feeling a bitguilty that I took those juices before you got there and deprived you of the joys of making that wine.

~ At least you didn't take the jars of Highbush Cranberry juice ~

(I was brave enough to open and check one of those out - that was a mystery better left unsolved

)

Meanwhile ---

The crabapple rhubarb is gently fermenting, tasted it tonight and it was like a lovely tangy apple cider, nice and tingly - SG was at 1.064 from starting at 1.090 - this one is not racing along as fast and furious as the Valiant did a few weeks ago. I read that a slower, cooler ferment preserves some of the more delicate flavors - I hope so!

Looking forward to sharing some of my first wines with you in turn, NW !

 

[NorthernWinos]

They will be the BEST wines you ever made!


I found the last bottle of Blackberry wine...It has your name on it now....vintage...bottled Dec. 6th2005.


We are growing Highbush Cranberries here...they taste bad....After you spit them out there is an aftertaste in your mouth like....wine. Someday I will try a batch of it. I think Swillologist or another Fourm member is making a batch of wine with them....Should be interesting.

 

[swillologist]

I hope it smells better then the stuff I have working. The yeast has over power the cranberries for now. I can still smell them on my hands from crushing them though. I'm have the same trouble I had with the last batch of rhubarb. It don't seem to want to start. I stirred it today hoping to get some more oxygen into it. It's only been a couple of days so it might start before long.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Smelly huh...


I lost patients with a grape wine the other day...It had sat for 2-3 days with no activity...I added another yeast.... and..... Zowie...it took off like crazy...Was down to S.G. 1.012 today so we racked it off of all that yeast...Hope it turns out okay.


It bewilders me why it didn't take off with the first yeast....The yeast starter looked good, cooled to room temperature, added it to room temperature wine...All the additives and procedures were as always....One of those mysteries.

 

[pelican]

The last blackberry, lovely THANK YOU!

I saw you post that there was a report of a fantastic wild blackberry found growing near Pequot (just wonder where???) This spring.summer.fall - whenever, we will have to go hunting for some
blackberry cuttings to give new homes to, all the blackberry that was
growing here got decimated when they widened the road.

The Highbush Cranberry, are yours a nursery bought type or wild? I wonder if there's a difference between a cultivated variety and the wild ones growing in the swamp over here which is where he had gotten these for the juice in the jars I think. The jar I opened was rather smelly which I hear is what these things smell like (bad, generally). I've read that they either make the most divine or disgusting wine --- I'd bet on disgusting which is why I just shoved them back into the dark reaches of the pantry.


I would be interested in hearing more from folks who had some experience with them, we certainly have enough growing nearby. Seems a shame to let nature's bounty go unused.

 

[swillologist]

Mine started as nursery bought. I didn't buy them but they are not native here. So I know the guy that owned the place before I did had to have bought them. The birds have planted then in a wet spot north of the house. That is where I picked these this fall. The highbush cranberry should be an interesting wine.
I will give the rhubarb a couple more days and then I will put in another pkt of yeast if it hasn't done anything by then.

 

[NorthernWinos]

How are these wines coming guys???

 

[NorthernWinos]

The last blackberry, lovely THANK YOU!

I saw you post that there was a report of a fantastic wild blackberry found growing near Pequot (just wonder where???) This spring.summer.fall - whenever, we will have to go hunting for some blackberry cuttings to give new homes to, all the blackberry that was growing here got decimated when they widened the road.

The Highbush Cranberry, are yours a nursery bought type or wild? I wonder if there's a difference between a cultivated variety and the wild ones growing in the swamp over here which is where he had gotten these for the juice in the jars I think. The jar I opened was rather smelly which I hear is what these things smell like (bad, generally). I've read that they either make the most divine or disgusting wine --- I'd bet on disgusting which is why I just shoved them back into the dark reaches of the pantry.


I would be interested in hearing more from folks who had some experience with them, we certainly have enough growing nearby. Seems a shame to let nature's bounty go unused.

Pelican...We are coming down this spring and try to get some bushes or cuttings. They grew on our old farm...But we sold the farm in 5 parcels and the largest patch now has a huge house on top of the brambles....Think we will try the neighbors around there as we don't really know the people who bought our land...Like you meet them once and never look back.


The High Bush Cranberries that grew on our farm down there were kind of tall andleggy and grew in a swamp. The bushesI got from the County Soil & Water District are a bit more compact...but... the deer had done a wonderful job of shaping them when they were young and that led to nice compact bushes.....These leaves seem greener and thicker....but the smell and taste are the same....

Like I mentioned before....after spitting out the fruit...the after taste wasn't bad...almost wine like.

 

[swillologist]

The wine is the same way NW.It tastes terrible but theafter taste is almost good. I know it's not done yet and needs to age. But I'm afraid it is going to take a lot of aging for this to be drinkable. I need to take a picture of this stuff. It is ugly. I don't know what the stuff is that is floating around in there.

The rhubarb is going good now. It should have been racked today but I was out of town. It will just have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[pelican]

I decided to transfer the Crabapple Rhubarb yesterday from the primary to the secondary - no idea what the SG is since I didn't get the replacement hydrometer yesterday as I had anticipated, but the primary fermentation had settled down and there doesn't seem any danger of overfoaming blowing out the airlock now - so... below is the picture of what it looks like now.


This time I made over 1 gal in the primary so as to have enough reserve for later topping up, and I ended up with 5 liters - large jug is 4 liters and small one is 1 liter.

Sorry if the pic is small - I gave my good digital camera to my daughter this fall, and all I have left to take pictures with is my phone, and a webcam - and the computer's in another room. It starting settling sediment right away, it looks like I might need that extra liter in the end after all.


Tasted it - 3 days ago it tasted charming, delightful, full of promise - now it tastes utterly charmless, not really any taste in specific other than fermenty and "charmless" is the only term I can come up with. I do hope that changes over time... but "yecht"!


Does rhubarb wine generallydo this in it's youth and development?? I guess I'll find out what it does later, uh, ... later.

 

[NorthernWinos]

We try Rhubarb Wine every couple years...and to date....Jim hasn't liked most of them....


The Rhubarb/Raspberry/Red Grape and the Rhubarb/Strawberry/Red Grape have been the best of them. Some people are loving the Rhubarb/Pinapple....but think Iadded too much Pineapple juice...so can't taste the Rhubarb in that one...notour favorite wines no matter what I try.