Rhubarb Wine

[LyonsAudio]

I think I'll bottle it this weekend.

Thanks for you help yooper_brew. I spent 4 years in Houghton (2004-2008) and met my wife in Marquette. We both wouldn't be surprised if one day we end up living back in the UP.

 

[Yooper]

I think I'll bottle it this weekend.

Thanks for you help yooper_brew. I spent 4 years in Houghton (2004-2008) and met my wife in Marquette. We both wouldn't be surprised if one day we end up living back in the UP.

We love it here! Both of my kids were born here, and my grandson also. We are always outside, and love the lakes and rivers. We spend a ton of time on our boat or in kayaks, and hiking. In the winter, I play hockey. This year we'll be spending about 6 weeks away, just because it's COLD here!

 

[LyonsAudio]

I assume I should drop some potassium sorbet and campden in this when I bottle it right?

 

[Yooper]

I assume I should drop some potassium sorbet and campden in this when I bottle it right?

That's a pretty good idea. I'd probably do that, since at 1.012, it may or may not be done.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Yooper,

made this batch up the other night along with some welch's problem is i used all of my pectic enzyme in the welch's batch. is my rhubarb wine going to be okay without the P.E. or is this stuff headed for a long run down the drain?

Thanks
Ben

 

[ChshreCat]

Pectin can cause a haze in a wine. Certainly not something that should make you dump the batch if it shows up. IF.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Same neighbor came over today while brewing and said his Rhubarb is about ready. Probably about 3 weeks and we'll have ~15 lbs. So it looks like 5G. I'm a little worried about what his opinion is on what should be done. He said something like lbs and lbs of sugar. and that it definitely needed cooked

 

[dinnerstick]

question on this recipe- this is my fist go at anything with 'wine' in the title so i just want to make sure. i have made lots of ciders, beers, and bottled liquids that were supposed to be beers. i converted the 1 gal recipe to 5L to fit my small carboys (= 1.3x) and converted it to metric so i could make sense of it, and it has me using 2 kg sugar in 5L, which is 30% sucrose, or around 1.130, is this a bit high? even if it only gets down to 1.012 that's over 15% alcohol. i was sober when i did the math, but did i maybe forget to carry a 1 somewhere? actually it's too late since i already started the batch. it sounds delicious and i am already looking forward to next years rhubarb season when i open the first bottle. thanks in advance for any suggestions, reassurances or belittling comments.

 

[conpewter]

Dinner, here's what I come up with for conversion

3 lbs. rhubarb (stalk only) (1.35 kg)
1/4 pt. white grape concentrate or 1/2 lb. of light raisins (chopped) (.12 L or .226 kg)
7 pts. water (3.3 L)
2 1/4 lbs. sugar (1 kg)
1/4 tsp. tannin
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet (crushed)
1 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 pkg. wine yeast (champagne) I used Montrachet


X 1.3 (if you really want to up it... I'd just make 4 L of the stuff and use your current carboy)


1.76 kg rhubarb
160 ml white grape concentrate or 294 grams light raisins
4.29 L water
1.3 kg sugar
1/3 tsp tannin
1.5 tsp yeast nutrient
1.5 campden tablets
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 pkg yeast

Should be a close conversion to a 5 L batch.



I'm going to start this recipe sometime soon. I just pulled 3.5 lb of rhubarb out of the garden, washed it and stuck it in the freezer.

 

[Yooper]

question on this recipe- this is my fist go at anything with 'wine' in the title so i just want to make sure. i have made lots of ciders, beers, and bottled liquids that were supposed to be beers. i converted the 1 gal recipe to 5L to fit my small carboys (= 1.3x) and converted it to metric so i could make sense of it, and it has me using 2 kg sugar in 5L, which is 30% sucrose, or around 1.130, is this a bit high? even if it only gets down to 1.012 that's over 15% alcohol. i was sober when i did the math, but did i maybe forget to carry a 1 somewhere? actually it's too late since i already started the batch. it sounds delicious and i am already looking forward to next years rhubarb season when i open the first bottle. thanks in advance for any suggestions, reassurances or belittling comments.

As Conpewter did the math, I will trust him! I use about one KG of sugar in 1 gallon. I ended up with an OG of 1.090ish.

Ideally, you'd only use enough sugar to get you to your desired OG, but I didn't see your post until just now.

The thing that will help is this- rhubarb seems to drop a lot of lees and requires several rackings. Each time you rack, you can top up (well, MUST top up) with water or a light white wine. If you use water, you will reduce the ABV and the "hotness" of the wine.

Your math is a bit off, I think. 1 US gallon is a tad less than 4L, about 3.79 liters. You could have made a 4L batch with my recipe. Multiplying by 1.3 "upped" it a bit, I think.

 

[dinnerstick]

whoops- i made a mistake in my posting but fortunately not in my concocting, in that i wrote 2kg sugar rather than 1.5. i blame a particularly tasty batch of cider from last november, which has been making me do funny things lately. i actually used 2 kg rhubarb and 1.5 kg sugar which (neglecting any other source of dissolved solids) *should* give around 1.130... but i guess that is a reasonable og?? as a cider person this seems lethal. to yeast if not humans. anyways this stuff smells really amazing after 2 days, rhubarb still in the bag, will pitch tomorrow

 

[Yooper]

whoops- i made a mistake in my posting but fortunately not in my concocting, in that i wrote 2kg sugar rather than 1.5. i blame a particularly tasty batch of cider from last november, which has been making me do funny things lately. i actually used 2 kg rhubarb and 1.5 kg sugar which (neglecting any other source of dissolved solids) *should* give around 1.130... but i guess that is a reasonable og?? as a cider person this seems lethal. to yeast if not humans. anyways this stuff smells really amazing after 2 days, rhubarb still in the bag, will pitch tomorrow

Ideally, it's be 1.100 or less. But a measly .020 extra hasn't killed anybody yet............

 

[dinnerstick]

As Conpewter did the math, I will trust him! I use about one KG of sugar in 1 gallon. I ended up with an OG of 1.090ish.

Ideally, you'd only use enough sugar to get you to your desired OG, but I didn't see your post until just now.

The thing that will help is this- rhubarb seems to drop a lot of lees and requires several rackings. Each time you rack, you can top up (well, MUST top up) with water or a light white wine. If you use water, you will reduce the ABV and the "hotness" of the wine.

Your math is a bit off, I think. 1 US gallon is a tad less than 4L, about 3.79 liters. You could have made a 4L batch with my recipe. Multiplying by 1.3 "upped" it a bit, I think.

got it! i think we were typing replies at the same time. i'll check the actual og tomorrow when i kick things off and am happy to know that a bit higher is fine. i will top off with water at rackings. for some reason the pack of generic champagne yeast from my local says 12% max. i can't wait to disprove that. thanks for replies and recipe

 

[Yooper]

got it! i think we were typing replies at the same time. i'll check the actual og tomorrow when i kick things off and am happy to know that a bit higher is fine. i will top off with water at rackings. for some reason the pack of generic champagne yeast from my local says 12% max. i can't wait to disprove that. thanks for replies and recipe

Most champagne yeast strains easily go to 18% and up. Let's not try to push that, though! "Hot" flavors can take years to age out!

 

[conpewter]

Hey Yooper question for you.... I couldn't find white grape juice, so used "100% grape juice" from welchs. Turns out to be the purple kind. Guess I'm going to end up with a rose colored wine? Not sure if there would be any tannin issues with purple grape juice.

 

[Yooper]

Hey Yooper question for you.... I couldn't find white grape juice, so used "100% grape juice" from welchs. Turns out to be the purple kind. Guess I'm going to end up with a rose colored wine? Not sure if there would be any tannin issues with purple grape juice.

I don't think so- the welchs purple juice is concord juice. It may end up even more tart but you can fix that by sweetening later if you have to.

 

[conpewter]

Thanks yooper! I actually got a bit confused with my threads, I am making your cranberry wine right now (will pitch yeast tonight). Planning on the rhubarb

 

[tchuklobrau]

yoop did u make the 5 gal batch yet?

 

[Yooper]

yoop did u make the 5 gal batch yet?

This year? Not yet- our rhubarb is just coming up here.

 

[tchuklobrau]

to up your recipe to 5g is fairly easy on most of it i have a few questions. does it become
1 1/4 tsp tannin
5 tsp yeast nutrient
5 campden tabs
5 tsp pectic ?
and still 1 montrachet? or up that as well
i have exactly 1 wine kit under my belt so i am not sure about all of these extras.
I got lucky i have acess to 4 rhubarb patches and they all doing good right now

 

[Yooper]

to up your recipe to 5g is fairly easy on most of it i have a few questions. does it become
1 1/4 tsp tannin
5 tsp yeast nutrient
5 campden tabs
5 tsp pectic ?
and still 1 montrachet? or up that as well
i have exactly 1 wine kit under my belt so i am not sure about all of these extras.
I got lucky i have acess to 4 rhubarb patches and they all doing good right now

Yes, you can multiply everything by five, but still use one package of yeast.

 

[CidahMastah]

Cool recipe yooper - now I know what I can do with the tons of rhubarb we have all around our house. Some of it has already started to bolt with all the rain we have been getting. Time to get some in the freezer!

best part about fruit wines is... the price! ha

 

[dinnerstick]

i have this going in my laundry room, 3.5 days after pitching it is fermenting so noisily that when i walked past the room i thought the water was on in the washing machine. looks like carbonated pink paint, smells luxurious

 

[chrs7446]

A few questions:

1. Do you wait for the rhubarb thaw before adding the sugar water?

2. Do you add the sugar water while still hot or do you cool it first?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Yooper]

A few questions:

1. Do you wait for the rhubarb thaw before adding the sugar water?

2. Do you add the sugar water while still hot or do you cool it first?

Thanks in advance!

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

 

[dinnerstick]

my batch developed some flocky looking stuff near the top, hopefully just yeast. but to be safe i racked off and sulfited immediately. three days later it looks normal, still clearing slowly. should have taken a picture but i didn't. does this sound ok??
it is just over a month since pitching and i have now racked twice. i tasted some while racking, it is really stunningly good already. a bit hot alcohol-wise but the balance of flavors caught me off guard! it's tart, tastes almost sweet (hydrometer confirms it is not sweet) really concentrated like a late harvest riesling! wow

 

[dmcoates]

If i wanted to do a Strawberry Rhubarb wine. Would you go half/half Strawberry to Rhubarb. Thanks

 

[Yooper]

If i wanted to do a Strawberry Rhubarb wine. Would you go half/half Strawberry to Rhubarb. Thanks

I don't know, as I've never done it! But rhubarb is much stronger in flavor, so my instinct is to use more strawberries, less rhubarb.

 

[IrregularPulse]

My neighbor just came over to tell me his rhubarb is ready. T0 scale to 5G, just multiply everything by 5?

 

[Yooper]

My neighbor just came over to tell me his rhubarb is ready. T0 scale to 5G, just multiply everything by 5?

Yes- except for the yeast. One package is still enough!