help with rhubarb wine

[dirwood]

I am attempting my first rhubarb wine and seem to be having some trouble, following a recipe from the book "Strong Waters", I used a Red Star Montrachet, hydrating it in a little apple juice and water, yeast foamed up and started working fine added it to the must and after three days there was no sign of air lock activity. Yesterday I added another batch of yeast prepared the same way and still no sign of activity. I waited 36 hrs before pitching the first batch of yeast after treating with campden tablets, is it possible there is still some sulphur killing of the yeast or too high of an acid level? I added yeast nutrient and pectin enzymes prior to pitching first batch of yeast. I am wondering if I should try another yeast, I have several available if need be. Thanks for any help, I really don't want to loose the almost twenty pounds of rhubarb I have into this batch of wine. On a positive note the must tastes awesome and should be a great wine if I can get it to kick.

Thanks,
JW

 

[DVBrew]

Your acid could be high test it if so you could add calcium carbonate

 

[dirwood]

Any other things I could use to drop the acidity?, I live quite a ways from a source of brewing supplies. Would a Red Star champagne or Lalvin 1118 be more tolerant of the acidity?

 

[Yooper]

Any other things I could use to drop the acidity?, I live quite a ways from a source of brewing supplies. Would a Red Star champagne or Lalvin 1118 be more tolerant of the acidity?

If the cause is that the must is too acidic, probably not. But I'm not convinced that is the problem.

What was the recipe, and how many campden tablets did you use and when?

 

[dirwood]

Yooper,

Recipe was as follows:
4 gallons chopped and frozen Rhubarb thawed out
2 quarts frozen blueberries, thawed
10lbs sugar mixed with fruit
let sugar and fruit sit 16hrs
added boiling water to top off 7.5 gallon bucket
once cool added 6 campden tablets
after 30 hrs added Montrachet yeast, started in apple juice
1/2tsp yeast nutrient
pectin enzyme
tea from 4 tea bags in one cup boiling water

after three days of no sign of activity I added another batch of Montrachet yeast, this time started in mixture of 1/2 rhubarb must and water, yeast activated well and added to must, 36 hrs later and still no sign of activity. I am thinking of trying a champagne yeast as it has always worked for me in the past. Look forward to any advice.

JW

 

[Yooper]

Yooper,

Recipe was as follows:
4 gallons chopped and frozen Rhubarb thawed out
2 quarts frozen blueberries, thawed
10lbs sugar mixed with fruit
let sugar and fruit sit 16hrs
added boiling water to top off 7.5 gallon bucket
once cool added 6 campden tablets
after 30 hrs added Montrachet yeast, started in apple juice
1/2tsp yeast nutrient
pectin enzyme
tea from 4 tea bags in one cup boiling water

after three days of no sign of activity I added another batch of Montrachet yeast, this time started in mixture of 1/2 rhubarb must and water, yeast activated well and added to must, 36 hrs later and still no sign of activity. I am thinking of trying a champagne yeast as it has always worked for me in the past. Look forward to any advice.

JW

I don't see any reason that it wouldn't start. That's strange. Have you verified that it never started with any hydrometer readings?

Champagne yeast would be fine in this, but I'm stymied as to why it didn't get going.

For now, I'd recommend stirring it up like crazy with a sanitized spoon/dowel/rod/whatever to make sure you get some oxygen in there and do that twice a day. You can also stir in another teaspoon or two of yeast nutrient.

 

[DVBrew]

The ec1118 yeast is the best for stuck fermention. I don't know anything else to lower acid. In your recipe it said you top up the primary with boiled water that is not good for rhubarb wine I'm not sure what it does I just now it's not good

 

[dirwood]

Well I started a batch of Red Star Champagne yeast and added it last night and when I got up this morning things were fermenting away. Will have to see how it all turns out, will post when I rack to secondary.
JW

 

[HTwiner]

When I first started making rhubarb wine, I tried a number of different types of yeasts. The only one I could get going was Red Star Champagne and then only with a starter. Now I always use the Red Star Champagne with a starter and have never had another problem with starting. And, everyone who likes rhubarb likes my rhubarb wine.

 

[Daze]

Your acid could be high test it if so you could add calcium carbonate

I like to call it baking soda. add it to boiling water to sanitize it, let it cool and add it to the wine.

 

[Alucard1983]

Heres a heads up for next time you make it. Add about 15 grams of precipitated chalk to the wine per 1 gallon. I would add this bit at a time and wait 3 hr for it to do its job. This should drop the acidic level down to about 3.0 to 3.4 (you can test with litmus paper). You should have no problems getting the yeast going. Also hold back 1-2 lb of sugar till the fermentation is well under way.

 

[dirwood]

Well just over six monthes later and i can report back this batch of rhubarb wine is my finest creation yet. Everyone who has sampled has given rave reviews. Hope to get enough rhubarb next year for two batches.
Thanks for all the pointers.