Simple rhubarb melomel

[Kent88]

My wife wants me to use up some rhubarb that we were going to use to make wine for a friend's wedding.

I've been consulting the wine book we use when we make our small batches (and scale up for large batches) that we've followed to make some good rhubarb wine. For one gallon of rhubarb wine it says I need 5 pounds of rhubarb and 5&2/3 cup sugar. I figure that amount of sugar, by weight, is 40oz. That sugar alone would make one gallon of a 1.115OG sugar-water solution. I should be able to reach that gravity with a little under 44oz of honey (which is only about 4oz shy of the rule-of-thumb 3lb/gallon).

Is that a reasonable amount of honey and rhubarb? 5lbs of rhubarb and 44oz of honey per gallon. Was my math off anywhere?

I'm sure that such a concoction would ferment, but is it within spec to make a decent melomel? What kind of gravity contribution can I expect from rhubarb?

 

[honeycon]

I have eaten a lot of rhubarb and would not expect much of a sugar contribution from it. I have only made one batch of rhubarb mead and that turned out very well. Honey was added till 1.109 was reached, It fermented dry, then in 1/4 cup increments, honey was added till it stopped at 1.010. By fermenting dry and then adding small amounts of honey, you can reach your desired FG fairly easily. It is difficult for me to reach a FG by using a formula from the start.

 

[SkeletorMob]

, It fermented dry, then in 1/4 cup increments, honey was added till it stopped at 1.010.

This interesting, we're you adding the honey while it fermented until the gravity stabalized? Or did you stabilize with additions and then add honey?

 

[wildmazer]

yeah, i would think step-feeding like honeycon's talking would probably be the way to go. you'd definitely want some residual sweetness at the end or it would just be straight sour. i'd bet you'd add more than 44oz by the end doing it that way, unless you're using a really low-tolerance yeast.

 

[Kent88]

yeah, i would think step-feeding like honeycon's talking would probably be the way to go. you'd definitely want some residual sweetness at the end or it would just be straight sour. i'd bet you'd add more than 44oz by the end doing it that way, unless you're using a really low-tolerance yeast.

I actually would like to use a low-tolerance yeast, but the only low-tolerance yeast I've used that clears up within 4 months is that dry Red Star montrechet yeast, and it ferments the fruit wines I've made to dry. I would also like to use less than 44oz, I don't want it to be more than 11% or 12% abv. I'd like to reduce the amount of honey to keep the final product under 12%, but I don't know how much sugar the rhubarb will contribute (but I'm sure it isn't much), and I would use a yeast that will dry it out, then back-sweeten later.

The idea of step-feeding doesn't appeal to me. I've tried using the Wyeast sweet mead strain and when it clears up there appears to be a lot of honey that has settled out (despite that I've been told here that once honey gets into suspension it wont settle out, I've tasted the sediment, it tasted like dilute honey instead of yeast). I'm not saying "no way, I'm not going to step-feed", I'd just need a little more convincing before I try it.

Any comments about the amount of rhubarb I'm considering using?

 

[honeycon]

I used just under 3# of rhubarb and added some gooseberries to a total of 3#. Added 4 oz of white grape juice concentrate as well. KI-V1116 yeast and some ferm-O. The flavor is definitely rhubarb. Not sure if I would much more, 5 # should be plenty . I am interested in finding out how you do with a target OG and FG. Please keep us posted.