Rhubarb Wine

My first four gallons has just begun. hope it works now

I just got a gallon of this started. First time making rhubarb wine for me.

Yooper or others - can you verify that you add pectic enzyme after you pull the fruit out? Or should I add it with the rhubarb? Thanks.

Helly said:

Yooper or others - can you verify that you add pectic enzyme after you pull the fruit out? Or should I add it with the rhubarb? Thanks.

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I still do it the same way I did in the instructions, with no changes, and I don't plan on changing it since it works so well.

Yooper said:

I still do it the same way I did in the instructions, with no changes, and I don't plan on changing it since it works so well.

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Thanks!

Just had to comment that this stuff rocks! I think it will be a permanent part of summer trips to the lake. I have lots of requests from family/friends already. I hope to start our 2013 batch within a week or so, as we now have enough Rhubarb for 6 gallons again.

Last year we snuck in 3 lbs of strawberries. Mostly rhubarb flavor, but a subtle hint of strawberry. This year we might go peaches instead.

solbes said:

Just had to comment that this stuff rocks! I think it will be a permanent part of summer trips to the lake. I have lots of requests from family/friends already. I hope to start our 2013 batch within a week or so, as we now have enough Rhubarb for 6 gallons again.

Last year we snuck in 3 lbs of strawberries. Mostly rhubarb flavor, but a subtle hint of strawberry. This year we might go peaches instead.

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Mmmm- peaches sounds really good in this. I'm surprised I never thought of that!

Anyone have an opinion on Lalvin yeast in this one? I have K1, 71B, and D47 all on hand. Thanks.

K1 or 71b both are fine, this time of year d47 might get a little too warm for its liking...

Finally started my batch for 2013 with 15 lbs rhubarb and 3 lbs frozen peaches. Smells awesome and it's only been soaking 1.5 days.

Going to bring up 2 or 3 of the 1.5L bottles from last year to share at the lake during the week of the 4th. I'm sure it'll be gone by midweek.

I've got 18 pounds in the freezer- I just haven't had a chance to start it yet! I'll try to do that next week for sure, as just reading this again reminded me how much I love this wine!

do i rack onto the same amount of campden as originally used ? i've a 4 gallon batch. oh and by the way tastes amazing already.

stretchmurph said:

do i rack onto the same amount of campden as originally used ? i've a 4 gallon batch. oh and by the way tastes amazing already.

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I use one campden tablet (crushed and dissolved) per gallon at every other racking.

If you've got a four gallon batch, I assume you've got a three gallon and a one gallon carboy so that it's topped off as I've never seen a four gallon carboy. If you have a four gallon carboy or demijohn, that would be fine too of course.

using a five gallon, i hadn't enough fruit (if it is a fruit ) for five gallon. I'm guessing your going to tell me i've done wrong

stretchmurph said:

using a five gallon, i hadn't enough fruit (if it is a fruit ) for five gallon. I'm guessing your going to tell me i've done wrong

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No, it's fine for now. But once fermentation slows down, it's very important to have no headspace so you need to get four one gallon jugs, or a three gallon and one gallon jug, with bungs and airlcoks.

Tested mine today, very promising. I'm excited about it.

Put 3lbs of rhubarb & 1lb. Of peaches in the freezer will start the process on Thursday I hope I this turns out good rhubarb is not cheap. 6.00 a lb.

johngottshall said:

Put 3lbs of rhubarb & 1lb. Of peaches in the freezer will start the process on Thursday I hope I this turns out good rhubarb is not cheap. 6.00 a lb.

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Wow- that is expensive. My rhubarb is free, and I have more than anybody can possibly use so I am thankful for that!

I'm getting some plants so I shouldn't have to buy it from now on a lady my wife works with is giving us some plants

Dang, 6 bucks/lb for a plant that grows like a weed. It will be worth it though! Put lots of compost and top soil with it in a sunny location that gets watered often, and you should get a 6 gallon batch for free every season.

I had a pretty bad screw up with my batch this year. I added 6x the K-meta that I should have when I started the soak. Ooops! Dang yeast kept dieing every time I would add it, even with an active starter going. Finally realized what I had done and stirred the crap out of it and added a little hydrogen peroxide to counter the K-meta. Nervously added my last hydrated yeast packet and took off for the lake for a week. Checked it last night when we returned and it fermented down to 1.015, so racked it to secondary. Phew! Probably won't be my best batch ever, but hopefully it will not be a dumper.

I added my yeast yesterday morning along with peach and grape and peach juice instead of all water tasted and it was fantastic I hope it finishes as good as it was when it started time will tell

I started a 6 gallon batch of this today. The rhubarb was frozen back in May, and I figured it was about time, so I could get ready for the fall fruits that will be coming. I'll update this when it's finished!

Our peach rhubarb finished a little higher than last year, this time it was 0.995. It had sat in secondary for 3.5 weeks, so racked it to tertiary where we start the long clearing process. Guess it's time to put that away and take a look-sy at Thanksgiving. Rack one more time after that hopefully.

The sample tasted pretty good. Again mostly rhubarb, but this time with a hint of peaches.

Hey Yooper, thanks for the great recipes! I was getting this one started and had a couple questions...

1. What are the advantages of using either the Montrachet or the EC1118?

2. I overestimated the amount of water I'd need to dissolve the sugar and ended up with a little over a gallon...is that going to change how long I need to leave the fruit in to get the amount of rhubarb juice needed before adding all the other ingredients?

Thank you for your time!

WOODSMANWI said:

Hey Yooper, thanks for the great recipes! I was getting this one started and had a couple questions...

1. What are the advantages of using either the Montrachet or the EC1118?

2. I overestimated the amount of water I'd need to dissolve the sugar and ended up with a little over a gallon...is that going to change how long I need to leave the fruit in to get the amount of rhubarb juice needed before adding all the other ingredients?

Thank you for your time!

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1. Either is fine. The yeast character is not really prevalent at all in this wine, and either would ferment out well.

2. No, but it will lower your OG a little bit. It's not a problem.

How is your rhubarb supply this year yoop? I'm going to have tons of apples but the old rhubarb patch hasn't recovered from my dad mowing it down last year. Yeah, I know! Can you believe he would do that?

lschiavo said:

How is your rhubarb supply this year yoop? I'm going to have tons of apples but the old rhubarb patch hasn't recovered from my dad mowing it down last year. Yeah, I know! Can you believe he would do that?

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Yes, I believe he did that.

We had another ton of rhubarb, but I only cut and froze 18 pounds. I didn't even make a pie this year, even though that's everybody's favorite pie.

We have a ton of crabapples, so Bob is really excited about the crabapple wine that will be forthcoming.

I just stirred up this wine, and while the raisins are making it a bit brown-ish, it smells awesome!

Here is a pic of my rhubarb/peach that was started on 7/6/13 starting to clear

The guy I brew beer with has a rhubarb patch and really likes to eat it. I have never tried it myself so anyway we started a 3 gal. batch last night. The guy at LHBS said this recipe looks awesome. This will be our first batch of wine.

I still have it in the jug bulk aging.

johngottshall said:

I still have it in the jug bulk aging.

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Have you even had a taste? How long is your aging target? looks to be a year soon.

Would this oak well?

Great to see this thread pop up again as my Rhubarb is starting to go bonkers in the back yard. I will be doing my first cutting after the Holiday weekend, and hope to have enough after cutting #2 sometime in late June (have some in the freezer from July of last year as well). This has become a bigger hit for people visiting our lake place during the summer than my beer.

In 2012 I combined 15 lbs of Rhubarb with 3 lbs of strawberries in our first batch (planning on drinking last bottle this coming weekend to celebrate summer). Last years batch had 15 lbs of rhubarb and 3 lbs of frozen peaches. Bottled that 6 weeks ago and it was crystal clear after 10 months. Not sure what we will combine with this year. Blueberries, raspberries, or apricots?

Planning on doing a Black currant wine later in the fall. Had one from Forest Edge winery in Laporte MN last summer that blew my mind. SO Flavorful.

I've had mine aging for what feels like forever. I thought I had it done at one point but I had to add some CaCO3 because it was too acidic so now I have to wait for it to clear again.

My batch still isn't cleared I had it in the refrigerator for a month but no luck

sfgoat said:

I've had mine aging for what feels like forever. I thought I had it done at one point but I had to add some CaCO3 because it was too acidic so now I have to wait for it to clear again.

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How did you know it was too acidic? Is it by taste or did you use a test?

Taste and ph.

We discovered a decent rhubarb patch growing in the woods behind our house this year. I've picked, cleaned, and froze about four pounds so far. Hoping to get enough for a 5 gallon batch, although I may have to shoot for 3 gallons. I only have two bottles left of last year's test batch. This is a must-try recipe if you haven't done it yet.


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Nice find on the rhubarb patch. Go buy a bag or two of compost or manure and throw on the rhubarb patch. Then get ready to cut every 2-3 weeks.

I've picked and cleaned 6 lbs so far and I'm sure I can get quite a bit more from it. I'm checking it every week to 10 days. Looked up some videos on splitting a plant up to propagate some more. Seems pretty simple.


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Nice, 6 lbs is a great start. I think this will be the first year we get 15 lbs from my patch alone. Usually augmented with F.I.L.'s patch.

In 2013 (our second year of making it), I got a tip from the local brew shop to freeze and thaw the rhubarb and fruit 3+ times to more easily extract the sugars. Which I did and then made the wine. For some stupid reason I did not take an OG reading, but this stuff is much more potent than the 13.8% stuff we made in 2012. Going to have to either cut back on the sugar or cut back on the rhubarb for this years wine.