Rhubarb-Ginger Wine - Issues With Fermentation

[gitano]

Thanks, buMbLeB! Truth is, I have tasted it. (I think there would have been appropriate 'hue and cry' if I has tried to assert that I hadn't!) It's pretty 'hot'. Since I added the sugars in stages, I don't have a 'starting' specific gravity, so I don't have a good estimate of ABV %. It finished at about 0.990. I'd guess it's a strong 13%. I would be surprised to find out it is less, but frankly wouldn't be surprised a 16%.

In all honesty, I wish I hadn't added the ginger. It has a very significant influence on the taste. The reason I chose a rhubarb wine recipe that included ginger is because I like ginger. I like ginger ale. I like ginger beer. I like sliced, pickled ginger. I like grated ginger on just about any food. I don't like ginger in wine. I'm hoping that 6 to 12 month of aging will take the edge off, AND mellow the ginger taste. If not, I will likely mix it with some other fruit wine I make in the mean time. I do find it 'pretty' though.

"News at 11" - or in 6 months as the case may be.
Paul

PS - For those that might be interested in 'figuring' the ABV%, the SG after the FIRST addition of sugar was 1.135. TOTAL sugar added was 11 lbs. The total finished volume of wine was 5.5 US gallons, PLUS about a gallon of "stuff" from the transfers; predominantly wine, yeast, and floculent from pectinase. I did not add a drop of water between transfers from primary to secondary or any subsequent racking.

Paul

 

[gitano]

So it's been a bit more than 6 months - 7 months by my calculations from date of the last post in which I said I put it in bottles in the 55 degree garage - August 1, 2016.

When I put the bottles in the garage, I left one growler's worth unbottled. Last week I bottled that growler and tasted the wine. There had been some improvement, but not a great deal. It's "palatable" TO ME at this point as long as it is VERY cold. I have four 750 ml bottles in the refrigerator, and I'll have some each week until it's gone, but I don't intend to open any of the other bottles until August of '17. They will have been in the bottle at 55 degrees F for a year by then.

Honestly, I don't expect much improvement to MY palate. I think the ginger 'ruined' the wine for me. A shame really. This is the second batch of 'exotic' wine that I have made. The first was absolutely spectacular in 'look' and bouquet, and was undrinkable. This is VERY pretty, bouquet is good, and taste is something - at least to my palate - that "only a mother could love". I may have to stick to banana wine. I love that stuff.

If "you" have suggestions other than "wait" - which I am doing - for taking the edge off of this, I'm 'all ears'.

Paul

 

[gitano]

So it's been 13 months since bottling. The four bottles in the refer didn't "age well". They got poured down the drain. I just tasted the ones that have been kept at ~55 degrees F for about 14 months. It tastes "OK" - Nothing to write home about. I'll give it another 6 months.

There's a lesson for me to learn here, and I want to separate "lesson" from "gaining information" - AKA learning. One usually learns something every time they "make" something. That's not what I'm talking about with 'lesson'. Here's the lesson for me: "Don't make something because it 'sounds' good." let me explain.

I don't like "hoppy" beer. I don't like "dry" wine. I don't like "bitter" chocolate. Some of my friends accuse me of being part fly based on my 'sweet tooth'. In retrospect, I should have realized that ginger and rhubarb in a "white" wine would not be particularly 'wonderful' to my palate. I really like ginger, and I really like rhubarb. But in retrospect, ginger plus rhubarb doesn't really sound that good-tasting in wine. To my palate it is not. The ginger taste is relatively strong, and I don't like it. (It does NOT taste like ginger-ale.) I THINK I might 'like' rhubarb wine by itself, but more likely maybe it should be mixed with some other wine to temper the strong taste. While the ginger taste is obvious, the rhubarb FLAVOR is more subtle and not particularly "rhubarb pie".

So... I like banana wine. It's sweet and tastes very good the day it's finished 'brewing'. The only down side is that it doesn't last very long. I should probably stick to making the sweet stuff I like.

I'll report on the ginger/rhubarb again in 6 months.

Paul

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Another way to look at it, not to malign what you've gathered, is that you would not have learned you didn't like it if you hadn't tried doing it in the first place. If you didn't make something because it sounds good, you wouldn't know how to improve upon things in the future. Winemaking is about spending long periods of time refining technique and recipe, in this case. If you like syrupy sweet wines, work on making it that way and try and see the results. See if framing the experience positively helps you become a better winemaker in your own eyes. There really is very little limit if this style is what you're looking for. Want rhubarb pie wine? Use a low attenuating yeast, arrest the fermentation at very high residual sugar levels with the addition of distilled spirits (use a pearson square to figure out your desired alcohol level vs how much alcohol to put in) and enjoy. Drink it young, let it age (probably be a cool experiment!). For perspective, I didn't even remember subbing this thread it's been so long since I replied, and for the record, I'm a professional winemaker and to be replying this time of year is very special since I'm working like a slave, but the mood is upon me. I hope that you can glean more from the experience you've had in aging a wine that you thought me be good, and I hope you the best of luck in future experiments.

 

[Vicky66p]

PH of 4.5 is still pretty acidic. What is the ideal range?

 

[gitano]

It's been a year and a half since your question, Vicky66p, but 1) I didn't get the notification of the post, and more importantly, 2) I don't know the answer to your question.

I haven't been too interested in this wine, so it has been setting in the garage at about 55 degree F for a total of almost 3 years. I just tasted some of it again so I could report on its 'progress' here. To that end:

1) It tastes better than it did three years ago.

2) In fact, while I would not buy a wine that tasted like this one, I have tasted commercially produced wine that I liked less. The ginger is 'overwhelming' to my palate. I think, as I said above, that it was just a poor choice of ingredients/flavors to try to meld.

3) I don't think the wine making was problematic, rather, the choice of flavors was ill-advised for my taste preferences.

Also,

4) I tend to get 'focused' when I undertake to make some thing, and, as a result of that single-mindedness, can get myopic with regard to process. I think I was so focused on complete fermentation that I failed to pay attention to the details associated with taste and my personal taste preferences: namely "sweet". I was so focused on "completing" the fermentation, that I forgot to take into account that I wanted some sweetness left! In other words, I didn't want all of the sugar fermented into alcohol. I think if I had arrested the fermentation while there was still some sweetness left, I would like this wine better.

Still, the ginger is too strong for my tastes. Someone else might really like it. Like I said, I've tasted worse commercial wines. However, in my opinion, "commercially produced wine" is a fairly low bar.

Paul

 

[Blacksmith1]

You can always backswweeten.

 

[gitano]

I did backsweeten a bottle after the first 6 months of aging. I added about 3% by volume of undiluted white grape juice concentrate. That helped take the alcoholic edge off, and I assume it would work even better at this point. It also leads to a bit more effervescence, which I like. The truth be told, I'm a bit of a lazy 'vintner', and don't like to 'fool with' - during or after fermentation - the product. Not out of any sense of "purity", but rather plain ol' laziness. But... As you suggest, back-sweetening is a way to help the taste (to my palate anyway), and mute to some degree the urge to toss the lot down the drain.

Paul

 

[Blacksmith1]

As I understand it most sweet wines, store bought or homemade, have been backsweetened

 

[gitano]

I was re-reading this thread from the OP on and another thought occurred to me: Maybe I should have just 'stopped fiddling' when the fermentation stopped the first time. I did say in the OP; Tasting it, the must is clearly not completely fermented, which is supported by the SG reading. Maybe I should have just quit 'forcing' the fermentation. Almost makes me want to make another batch. This time however, no ginger for sure, and probably no citrus, AND probably only a gallon or two.

Paul