Rhubarb Wine

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The campden was added 3 days ahead of time with the sugar and water. I just didn't wait the 12 hours after adding the concentrate, PE, nutrient and tannin, to add the yeast.
 
I hit 1.110!!! I hope it's not rocket fuel for the next 5 years.

Nevermind, I see that is withing the recipe. For some reason, the app doesn't display that info above the first paragraph
 
So i'm a noob that's new to brewing and i've been lurking for awhile. i've got apflewein under my belt...and i just racked my first batch of rhubarb to a 1 gallon jug and this stuff smells incredible! But...the rhubarb totally stained my primary bucket yellow... Is this an ok time to soak with some bleach? The forums seem split on it? I just know that the rhubarb is so pungent I didn't want to contribute anything off to the mead I'm making next. Thoughts?
 
Malarky said:
So i'm a noob that's been lurking for awhile to brewing and i've got apflewein under my belt...Just racked my first batch of rhubarb to a 1 gallon jug and this stuff smells incredible! But...the rhubarb totally stained my primary bucket yellow... Is this an ok time to soak with some bleach? The forums seem split on it? I just know that the rhubarb is so pungent I didn't want to contribute any flavors to the mead I'm making next? Thoughts
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Yes, bleach is fine. Just rinse, rinse, rinse well and let it dry so that no bleach smell remains. Use mostly hot water with a little bleach.
 
Just racked this again tonight. I'm so lazy. How many times do you typically need to to rack it? I had very little sediment. I'm thinking I'll be able to rack it on more time, then rack to a bottling bucket. I'm going to pick up some wine bottles and borrow a corker from a friend for this stuff.
 
IrregularPulse said:
Just racked this again tonight. I'm so lazy. How many times do you typically need to to rack it? I had very little sediment. I'm thinking I'll be able to rack it on more time, then rack to a bottling bucket. I'm going to pick up some wine bottles and borrow a corker from a friend for this stuff.
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If it's clear (you should be able to read a newspaper through it), and not dropping any more lees, you can bottle any time.
 
It's definitely clear. I thought you had to keep racking until it no longer dropped anything after racking. I'll give it two weeks then and bottle. I'm a little concerned about the nose burning whatever it was while leaning over the carboy. I'm thinking it was vinegary, but not sure.I'm hoping that I'm just not used to the chemicals in wine making and what they add until aging. I racked onto 5 campden tablets. Perhaps it was the combo of the starsan foam, the campden and the wine.
 
IrregularPulse said:
It's definitely clear. I thought you had to keep racking until it no longer dropped anything after racking. I'll give it two weeks then and bottle. I'm a little concerned about the nose burning whatever it was while leaning over the carboy. I'm thinking it was vinegary, but not sure.I'm hoping that I'm just not used to the chemicals in wine making and what they add until aging. I racked onto 5 campden tablets. Perhaps it was the combo of the starsan foam, the campden and the wine.
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The idea is that you want to go 60 days without any new lees. Then you know you won't have those lees dropping in the bottle!

The co2, campden, and wine probably made an aroma that caused that burning! I wouldn't worry about it at this point.
 
IrregularPulse said:
It's definitely clear. I thought you had to keep racking until it no longer dropped anything after racking. I'll give it two weeks then and bottle. I'm a little concerned about the nose burning whatever it was while leaning over the carboy. I'm thinking it was vinegary, but not sure.I'm hoping that I'm just not used to the chemicals in wine making and what they add until aging. I racked onto 5 campden tablets. Perhaps it was the combo of the starsan foam, the campden and the wine.
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I noticed a strong smell too...must be the campden. I tried a little sample recently and it tastes good. I ended up using super kleer as it didn't seem to be clearing by itself. It is now very clear and I racked last night to see if anything else is dropping. Now I have to decide if I should sweeten this before bottling.
 
Just made a batch of this myself. Didn't quite have 3 lbs of rhubarb. Worked out to 2 3/4lbs. Should be alright, just a little on the light side I imagine.This is the first time I've just left it towel covered... makes me nervous to do that. My friends father had some issues with infection. I'll keep ya'll posted on how it goes. :)
 
Just finished my first racking and this stuff is great! I am really excited and I can't wait till it clears more. Though i am sad that i lost more volume to racking than i thought i would(1 ga batch), it made for a terrific sample though. Now to go hunt for a larger rhubarb supply for next year.
 
Has anyone had any trouble getting this to start with a 71B?
 
Well I have about 40lbs or rhubarb in the freezer waiting to be thawed into this stuff.

Only one bottle remains from last years batch, waiting for a good reason to open it.
 
Ok, so here's a question before it gets out of hand and irrepairable. I started my rhubarb wine 8 days a go now. I had an issue getting the ferment to start with just rehydrated yeast, so I took a sample out and diluted it and got a starter going with that, then pitched that once it was going really well. This got the main ferment started. I stirred once every two days or so to aerate. I racked it into carboy on the 5th day and added airlock, this was last night. I noticed some sulfur egg smell so I sloshed it around a bit to try and get this out. I'm noticing today I can still smell it pretty noticeably coming out the airlock. Another detail is that I used a plastic bucket from home depot as the primary. Its a general use bucket and it was brand new. I sanitized it as I normally would but my concern here is that is not food grade plastic and the acids from the rhubarb may have pulled unwanted compounds out of the plastic. My rhubarb wine is also milky white, the same color as the fermenter. I know the color could simply be from the large amounts of yeast in solution and the relatively colorless ingredients. What should I do from here? My thoughts are to rack it again over a copper mesh and hope that pulls the sulfur out.
 
Atek said:
Ok, so here's a question before it gets out of hand and irrepairable. I started my rhubarb wine 8 days a go now. I had an issue getting the ferment to start with just rehydrated yeast, so I took a sample out and diluted it and got a starter going with that, then pitched that once it was going really well. This got the main ferment started. I stirred once every two days or so to aerate. I racked it into carboy on the 5th day and added airlock, this was last night. I noticed some sulfur egg smell so I sloshed it around a bit to try and get this out. I'm noticing today I can still smell it pretty noticeably coming out the airlock. Another detail is that I used a plastic bucket from home depot as the primary. Its a general use bucket and it was brand new. I sanitized it as I normally would but my concern here is that is not food grade plastic and the acids from the rhubarb may have pulled unwanted compounds out of the plastic. My rhubarb wine is also milky white, the same color as the fermenter. I know the color could simply be from the large amounts of yeast in solution and the relatively colorless ingredients. What should I do from here? My thoughts are to rack it again over a copper mesh and hope that pulls the sulfur out.
Click to expand...

I only have a few batches of wine under my belt but they all stunk at first. Just wait it out and give it time to do it's thing.
 
Atek said:
Ok, so here's a question before it gets out of hand and irrepairable. I started my rhubarb wine 8 days a go now. I had an issue getting the ferment to start with just rehydrated yeast, so I took a sample out and diluted it and got a starter going with that, then pitched that once it was going really well. This got the main ferment started. I stirred once every two days or so to aerate. I racked it into carboy on the 5th day and added airlock, this was last night. I noticed some sulfur egg smell so I sloshed it around a bit to try and get this out. I'm noticing today I can still smell it pretty noticeably coming out the airlock. Another detail is that I used a plastic bucket from home depot as the primary. Its a general use bucket and it was brand new. I sanitized it as I normally would but my concern here is that is not food grade plastic and the acids from the rhubarb may have pulled unwanted compounds out of the plastic. My rhubarb wine is also milky white, the same color as the fermenter. I know the color could simply be from the large amounts of yeast in solution and the relatively colorless ingredients. What should I do from here? My thoughts are to rack it again over a copper mesh and hope that pulls the sulfur out.
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lschiavo said:
I only have a few batches of wine under my belt but they all stunk at first. Just wait it out and give it time to do it's thing.
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Maybe that's the best advice, but I don't like the idea of a sulfur smell and a milky look. It could be just fine, but I'm not sure. Did you by any chance use montrachet yeast? Sometimes that yeast produces some sulfur odor. Otherwise, it sounds like stressed yeast and/or infection.
 
It was a 71B which I've never had that smell with. Though I think infection may be it. I had a batch of blueberries that had something in them that caused this smell and it was done in the same primary. It was soaked in bleach and spotless after that debacle. Ill give it time but if it turns bad I think ill just toss the fermenter and get some food grade plastic pails for 2 gal fermenters next time.
 
Just pulled the rhubarb out of the freezer.

Going with a 6 gallon batch ~ 40lbs of rhubarb, started with 5lbs of sugar going to check the SG and add if its still low. Thawing now so we shall see what happens....

I have two yeasts in my fridge, 1116 and 1118. Which shall I use?
 
So some comments:

I made a 1 gallon primary and a 5 gallon to give it some room.

The SG was only 1.060, so the little guy I bumped a bit with some maple syrup.

I have nothing in the house to bump the 5 gallon and felt I had to pitch yeast today, so I was wondering what would happen if I plopped a can of white grape juice concentrate tomorrow night if that would be cool.

Thoughts?
 
LyonsAudio said:
So some comments:

I made a 1 gallon primary and a 5 gallon to give it some room.

The SG was only 1.060, so the little guy I bumped a bit with some maple syrup.

I have nothing in the house to bump the 5 gallon and felt I had to pitch yeast today, so I was wondering what would happen if I plopped a can of white grape juice concentrate tomorrow night if that would be cool.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

That seems like it'd be ok. I've never done that, but I don't see any harm.
 
Bottling mine tonight. Started the batch on 7/26. I added 4 oz of strawberry extract because wifey liked that sample much better. Just in time to give a few bottles for xmas.


ForumRunner_20111214_205927.jpg
 
lschiavo said:
Bottling mine tonight. Started the batch on 7/26. I added 4 oz of strawberry extract because wifey liked that sample much better. Just in time to give a few bottles for xmas.


View attachment 40665
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Wow- that's really beautiful! It seems crystal clear and a nice golden yellow color. I'm glad it came out so well!
 
Yooper said:
Wow- that's really beautiful! It seems crystal clear and a nice golden yellow color. I'm glad it came out so well!
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Well, it looks good. It's tart and the strawberry is not very obvious. I'm bringing you and Bob a bottle tomorrow to judge before I give any away. I need the feedback. I know when my beers suck but I am no judge of wine.
 
lschiavo said:
Well, it looks good. It's tart and the strawberry is not very obvious. I'm bringing you and Bob a bottle tomorrow to judge before I give any away. I need the feedback. I know when my beers suck but I am no judge of wine.
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I'm so jealous! that looks delicious!
 
lschiavo said:
Bottling mine tonight. Started the batch on 7/26. I added 4 oz of strawberry extract because wifey liked that sample much better. Just in time to give a few bottles for xmas.


View attachment 40665
Click to expand...

So glad to see this. Mine is that same color. I've yet to bottle it. I've made it as far as getting my bottling bucket out and my bottles out of storage :eek:
 
lschiavo said:
Well, it looks good. It's tart and the strawberry is not very obvious. I'm bringing you and Bob a bottle tomorrow to judge before I give any away. I need the feedback. I know when my beers suck but I am no judge of wine.
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I can't wait! It certainly looks great and we'll really enjoy giving you feedback!
 
Just bottled mine tonight. It's definitely not sickening sweet like the guy's I had last year. It's still kind of sweet for my tastes, but I'm not really a sweet wine fan. I think if I do it again next year, I'll add something for some tartness. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised when tasting. Much better than I thought it'd turn out. This stuff looked like water while bottling. The tiniest tinge of gold when poured.
 
IrregularPulse said:
Just bottled mine tonight. It's definitely not sickening sweet like the guy's I had last year. It's still kind of sweet for my tastes, but I'm not really a sweet wine fan. I think if I do it again next year, I'll add something for some tartness. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised when tasting. Much better than I thought it'd turn out. This stuff looked like water while bottling. The tiniest tinge of gold wen poured.
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Mine had plenty of tartness. I wish it had been a bit sweeter. Maybe we should have got together and blended them. My OG was much lower 1081 I believe. That must be the difference.
 
Rhubarb is one of my favorite wine.5 Gals. is my next adventure.i am taking my Blueberry ,cranberry,blackberry out of the Primary tomorrow.
 
So my rhubarb is a little more than 5 months old, it's completely dry and it's been racked at least 3 or 4 times. it's not really throwing lees anymore and I'd say it's kinda clear light pink with a haze though, so I can't really see through it. I haven't used any type of finings, I DID use pectic enzyme pre-fermentation. I have not stabilized with kmeta/sorbate yet.

Any thoughts about how to be rid of the haze.
1-put in wisconsin garage to cold stabilize for a couple weeks?
2-assorted finings?
3-more time/racking?
4- or just stabilize it rack it and bulk age it for another 6 months or so before I bottle it?

Thanks for the help in advance
 
Malarky said:
So my rhubarb is a little more than 5 months old, it's completely dry and it's been racked at least 3 or 4 times. it's not really throwing lees anymore and I'd say it's kinda clear light pink with a haze though, so I can't really see through it. I haven't used any type of finings, I DID use pectic enzyme pre-fermentation. I have not stabilized with kmeta/sorbate yet.

Any thoughts about how to be rid of the haze.
1-put in wisconsin garage to cold stabilize for a couple weeks?
2-assorted finings?
3-more time/racking?
4- or just stabilize it rack it and bulk age it for another 6 months or so before I bottle it?

Thanks for the help in advance
Click to expand...

I don't have much experience with wine but I used some Super Kleer on mine and cold garage temps. The finings didn't work immediately but it wasn't making much progress on it's own. I'm sure time will eventually work as well.
 
I think the cold would be the first thing to try- but don't let it freeze! After about three weeks of cold, it should be very clear. If not, you could try finings. SuperKleer tends to work well, and so does isinglass. I've used sparkelloid with good results in the past as well.
 
What are the variances in colors and flavor profiles on this wine? Mine is also about 5mo old, is crystal clear but looks and smells more like a chardonnay. My Rhubarb was more green than red I assume thats why it came out mostly yellow. I haven't tasted it in 4mo so I'm not sure what mine tastes like. 4mo ago it was terrible, then again I'm not a chard fan...
 
Yoop, what is (are) your preferred yeast(s) for this recipe? Do you crush the fruit or squeeze the bag at all? I've never worked with rhubarb, but I just processed 15lbs of it yesterday & it's freezing as I type.
Regards, GF.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
Yoop, what is (are) your preferred yeast(s) for this recipe? Do you crush the fruit or squeeze the bag at all? I've never worked with rhubarb, but I just processed 15lbs of it yesterday & it's freezing as I type.
Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

The rhubarb really falls apart after thawing (so put it in the mesh bag while it's still frozen or at least semi-frozen!) and it turns into just pulpy good really quickly!

I've used many different yeast strains, and I generally use EC-1118 for this. I've used Cotes Des Blancs with good results, when I've had it.
 

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