Rhubarb Wine

[Yooper]

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

Use stalk only. Freeze fruit and then place in mesh bag and tie up. Place in primary and let thaw. Dissolve sugar in a little boiling water and dissolve campden and pour over fruit. Let sit 2-3 days, stirring daily, and keep pimary covered. Then, strain fruit out and discard. Add all other ingredients (using cold water) except yeast. Cover. 12 hours later, add yeast and stir well. Cover loosely with a towel. Stir daily, breaking up cap. When s.g reaches 1.020-1.040, rack into secondary, top up if needed, and attach airlock. Rack as needed, adding campden every other racking. This throws alot of lees, so you may need to rack as early as two weeks. When there are no lees for at least 60 days, and the wine is clear and done fermenting, it is ready to bottle. Tastes best after at least one year.

Dry, this tastes a bit like pinot grigio. You may prefer it sweetened, but I don't sweeten.

 

[Jim Karr]

OK, Yoop.....you and I seem to be the mad Michigan winos. I just got 4.8 pounds of rhubarb given to me today, and they're going into the freezer as soon as I type this post!!

Wish me success!

 

[Yooper]

OK, Yoop.....you and I seem to be the mad Michigan winos. I just got 4.8 pounds of rhubarb given to me today, and they're going into the freezer as soon as I type this post!!

Wish me success!

I made rhubarb custard pies today, but this weekend I'll cut rhubarb for wine! I'll cut it and stick it in the freezer until I make a batch. I think I'll make about 5 gallons this year- I still have 6 gallons to bottle from last year! It's beautifully clear- a nice golden color, believe it or not!

 

[slimer]

I have 3 rhubarb "bushes" in the back. Should I boil before freezing?

 

[Yooper]

No! Never boil fruit for wine making! Just rinse it off, cut off the bad parts and leaves and freeze. Freezing helps break up the cell walls, so the fruit should be very mushy when it thaws.

 

[slimer]

You want some? I have at least 10#.

 

[slimer]

And the Hawks are going to win tonight.

 

[slimer]

Ummmmm. Looks like I may be eating my words.

 

[SegmentedMonkey]

So when you say "sugar", do you recommend white sucrose (table sugar) or something like dextrose? I've got my rhubarb in the freezer to start this on the weekend.

 

[Yooper]

Table sugar. It works well for wines, and especially fruit wines, since it's only there to boost the ABV. It doesn't leave behind flavors like honey might.

 

[SegmentedMonkey]

Another Q. Would it be acceptable to knock down the sugar a little in this to make a wine that's 11-12% instead of 15% which your numbers seem to come out around? What's your opinion on that?

 

[Yooper]

Another Q. Would it be acceptable to knock down the sugar a little in this to make a wine that's 11-12% instead of 15% which your numbers seem to come out around? What's your opinion on that?

Mine came out to about 13%- 1.095 to .992 or so. (I can't see the actual numbers once I hit "reply"). I think that it's best to stay at 13% or under- otherwise you have rocket fuel that takes ages to age out!

You want to go 12% or so, to ensure you have enough alcohol to preserve the wine more than a year or so. But more than that is really not necessary, and increases the aging time.

When I make this again in a few weeks, I'll try to hit 1.080-1.085, for a 12% ABV wine.

 

[SegmentedMonkey]

Ok, I'll take your word. I put your numbers for OG and final G into a calculator, and the strongest case scenario was around 15%, but that's assuming that you start off at your max gravity and it goes all the way to your expected minimum gravity.. 12% is what I'm aiming for, because I've got a 16% mead, and it's still like jet fuel after 8 months.

 

[pdxjules]

This sounds great. Thanks for Posting.

 

[Jim Karr]

I made a two gallon batch based on Yooper's recipe........it's fantastic! Very dry, but still a delicate flavor that's definitely identifiable as rhubarb. What a great wine! Next season, it's gonna be a five gallon batch!

 

[conpewter]

Why do you take the rhubarb out before fermentation?

 

[Yooper]

Why do you take the rhubarb out before fermentation?

Because you just want the rhubarb juice- not the stalks and fibrous stuff.

 

[conpewter]

Gotchya, I was just trying to reconcile all the wines and most leave everything in until after fermentation (like the pumpkin wine I was working on today). The 8 gallon fermenter was not enough room for a 6 gallon batch so I had to leave out some of the pumpkin and sugar water and do a 5 gal batch instead. The bucket is filled to the brim (just so much pumpkin!) I'm worried about fermentation.

 

[Goat_Nutz]

You guys know much about Rhubarb? I was talking to my brother about making this wine and he swore up and down that it was a bad idea, repeating over and over that "anything with rhubarb in it goes bad real fast". I was planning on making a batch and putting a bottle in the basement, i like keeping one bottle of all my batches down there for long periods of time to see how they age out.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Most things you're brother makes probably don't have a 12% alcohol rating There's proof by at least two members here that it's great after a year even.

My 75 year old neighbor came over yesterday during a brew day to distract me while my pot boiled over Really he came over to talk about his son in law making Rhubarb wine and asked if I'd be interested. I said shoot yea. He's going to pick some form his garden and clean it up real good and chop it for me and bring it over. Going to scale this recipe depending on how much he gives me and make this up. This will be my first wine, besides apfelwein, which isn't really a wine. I've never used tannin, campden tabs, or pectic enzyme before or dealt with constant racking and lees. Should be fun. I'm hoping to get enough for a 5G batch since there will be so much time invested in waiting.

 

[Jim Karr]

I promise you'll love it...........

 

[LyonsAudio]

I started a rhubarb wine some 5 weeks ago and admittedly went a little high on the sugar guess and started at 1.130 but had no room to water her down any more so I just went with it.

I think it stalled as when I racked it over last sunday it was at 1.022 and this sunday I checked again and its still at 1.022. Should I pick up some yeast nutrient or what?

Thanks.

 

[Yooper]

I started a rhubarb wine some 5 weeks ago and admittedly went a little high on the sugar guess and started at 1.130 but had no room to water her down any more so I just went with it.

I think it stalled as when I racked it over last sunday it was at 1.022 and this sunday I checked again and its still at 1.022. Should I pick up some yeast nutrient or what?

Thanks.

You may need to get some more yeast- a higher attenuating yeast like champagne yeast if you didn't use that before. You're already at 14% ABV, so you may not get it going again. Starting yeast in a high alcohol environment is not easy. What yeast strain did you use?

 

[LyonsAudio]

I used k1-v116. Just what I had in the fridge.

Would it be stable at this point, just super sweet?

 

[Yooper]

I used k1-v116. Just what I had in the fridge.

Would it be stable at this point, just super sweet?

Maybe not. The alcohol tolerance of that yeast strain is around 18%, if it's happy. You can try dissolving some nutrients in a little of the wine, and then stirring it in. That may encourage it to get going again.

 

[LyonsAudio]

Well I put in yeast nutrient about 2.5 weeks ago and now its down to 1.012.

I don't see any action. How long should I wait to call it close enough?

 

[Yooper]

Well I put in yeast nutrient about 2.5 weeks ago and now its down to 1.012.

I don't see any action. How long should I wait to call it close enough?

I don't know! I guess you can just stick it in the corner, top it up and wait and see. Once it's completely clear, and not dropping any more lees, you can probably consider it finished. I would be very hesitant to bottle until it's been clear for quite a while- you'd hate to have fermentation finally restart and shoot out your corks.

 

[LyonsAudio]

I think I'll do that then.

My samples I have been pulling to test SG on taste pretty good....

 

[LyonsAudio]

So its been another month (ish).

Just checked it and its at 1.012 yet. Still taste good. It did drop more lees.

So... should I just go bottle it or do another rack/top up and wait another month?

After taking another taste, I think I should just put a tap on it and drink it...

 

[Yooper]

So its been another month (ish).

Just checked it and its at 1.012 yet. Still taste good. It did drop more lees.

So... should I just go bottle it or do another rack/top up and wait another month?

After taking another taste, I think I should just put a tap on it and drink it...

Well, if it's so clear that you can read a newspaper through it and it's not dropping lees, it's probably done.