Massive Rhubarb Plant

[Wolfpup]

I should have posted earlier on this thread (sorry). The leaves on rhubarb contain oxalic acid and is considered toxic (not poisonous). As the season progresses, the oxalic acid in the leaves starts to travel down the stems. This is why it is not recommended to harvest after June. I've known of cases where people have become sick (gastric wise) after eating rhubarb harvested in September. I do not know if the acid would effect fermentation, but as the season progresses, the acidity will increase. Just thought I'd throw this tidbit out and if someone else mentioned this, I missed it.

Hi Dennis, I have heard this too. We've had this rhubarb plant for a long time and we've been warned several times....Never pick rhubarb in a month that ends in "R". Haven't put much thought into it, we are usually pretty rhubarbed out by September. We do eat it all summer though, July and August too. Interesting about the gastric issues. Not something we've experience but I think we have pretty hardy systems.

Great info though, expands on what I've always thought was more of an old myth or something.

 

[Wolfpup]

Just found this thread when searching for "crabapple". I do however have a batch of rhubarb wine on the go right now-clearing, as I just started mine in July. So many great tips here!!! This is my second batch, the first we decided to try the "old fashioned German" version, which included 3/4 oz bruised ginger and 3/4 oz cloves per gallon. We managed to produce 5 gallons of a very effective oral anaesthetic, although it was quite nice when mixed with warm apple cider! Things would be done differently if repeated.

As to Canadian suppliers (I'm near Medicine Hat, AB), there is one in Calgary that I've ordered from a couple of times. They have quite a range of yeasts and additives and flavourings, and etc, and shipping wasn't completely ridiculous. http://grapestoglass.com/

One note about the pH meter- I work in a lab and in a pinch we have used half and half of the 4.0 standard calibrator and a KCl solution. I'm sure you got the storage solution though by now.

I am just getting ready to harvest my rhubarb for the second time. And pick the rest of my Concord grapes, hopefully there will be enough room in the freezer with all the sour cherries in there already.

Good luck with the rhubarb, I am excited to see how yours turns out, AND how mine turns out!!

And a big THANK YOU to all the posters here, i have been well entertained and informed for the last couple of hours!!

PS. Does anyone know if you can use the calcium carbonate to counter the oxalic acid after fermentation???

Hi there abrewkat, oral anesthetic made me laugh. That sounds totally like something I was expecting to create. Did have a big doozy mistake but the drain didn't complain and all evidence easily washed away. All the work involved teaches those lessons quickly though.

I did get the PH meter solution, nodes are staying damp. It did take a couple of weeks. I don't know what the problem was but was excited when the little, bitty tiny bottle showed up. Pictures can be so deceiving. I will check out the website you linked.

Good luck with your crabapple search. I have a tree too. We've eaten lots though and its a young tree. Chopped up with yogurt and honey, very refreshing.

Oh and that article Meadmaker posted, the woman that wrote it seems like quite the scientist. Her techniques sure look like they take care of the oxalic acid thing.And a great read. I've got 25 lbs of frozen rhubarb from earlier this summer. It may be a winter venture now.

 

[Venatorscribe]

You are getting real close to it. Probably time to start planning your back sweetening program. Then after that a couple of racks and you are there. Smart move re the honey, also experiment with brown sugar and white sugar to get the flavour you want. If you intend to 'sparkle' then use Erythritol. I am sure 'meadmaker1' and a couple of the other guys will guide you through that. BUT your fires are more important at the moment. If you come across any of the Kiwi or Ozzy firefighters over there helping, give them a a couple of cold beers. Cheers Craig

 

[meadmaker1]

Good to hear from you.
Was thinking about you as i was racking my apple rhubarb, started around the same time as yours. I was intending it to be a quick to drink batch but life happened and im just getting back to it.
Im liking the tartness rhubarb is adding to the batches ive done lately. ( used rhubarb in place of lemmon, in a mead version of dragons blood- and added to yellow plumb batch recently started ).
It always seem to push its companion forward.
I recomend racking your wine off of the sediment. And keep an eye out for it after racking. Youve put a lot into this, you dont want to end up with dust in your bottles
Perhaps sweeten and bottle one of your topping jugs. That will satisfy the urge to bottle and buy you some time.

 

[Wolfpup]

Hi folks, looks like it's been about 5 years. We set the bottles on a table and the only thing I did, since the last post was dust the bottles. Oh and I did put vodka in the bubblers every few months when I noticed the liquid was gone. We have company coming this weekend and hubby said why don't we try some of that wine. He put some in bottles and when I got home he an odd look on his face. Said the wine didn't taste good at all. I tried it and loved it. Let me show you the readings and maybe someone can tell me what's going on with it or what stage we're at.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

5 years under airlock ? Well it looks good that’s a plus and your SG looks to be about 0.986 so depending on your starting SG should be a good ABV. I didn’t have time to go back and read the whole thread from 5 years ago.

most fruit wines can be bottled at 6 months to a year since I don’t believe they improve very much over time as grape wines do. I see you backsweetened back then too. Assuming you kept air out of your wine and you say you like i, that’s what matters. Some people don’t like the taste of dry wines, and some people don’t like sweet wines at all. So you didn’t make any more for 5 years ?

 

[Wolfpup]

Hi FlamingoEmporrium, correct on all accounts. Under air lock for 5 years and have not made any since. Events took on a life and their own and the time just flew by. Good news is that I was able to retire a bit early and I now have time for this wonderful hobby. Yeah, hubby has a sweet tooth and I love dry wine so I guess that would explain the discrepancies in taste. He did add a bit of sweetened grape juice to his glass and then quite liked it. Ok, so everything should be fine for us to bottle the batch? If we wanted, could we add some honey at this point or no, are we well past that stage?

 

[Rice_Guy]

* the normal issue on home made aged fruit wine is oxidation making ethyl acetate. It has sharp notes at low level kinda like dried apricot. When levels are high it is described as nutty or sherry like.
* the wine is a preservative system, yeah flavors are less fresh but micro infection isn’t much of an issue. At one year yeast are dead so you could back sweeten with honey.
* I collected one of Mom’s berry wines with sealed cap at about 30 years / liked the taste when I added more acid/ it works. The acid content seems to decrease with age.
* Be sure to give it some metabisulphite since the level probably is zero
* the all in all is if you like the flavor or like it as a sangria with juice, enjoy it

 

[Wolfpup]

Awesome, thanks Rice Guy. Exactly what I needed to know. What does metabisulphite do?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Hi FlamingoEmporrium, correct on all accounts. Under air lock for 5 years and have not made any since. Events took on a life and their own and the time just flew by. Good news is that I was able to retire a bit early and I now have time for this wonderful hobby. Yeah, hubby has a sweet tooth and I love dry wine so I guess that would explain the discrepancies in taste. He did add a bit of sweetened grape juice to his glass and then quite liked it. Ok, so everything should be fine for us to bottle the batch? If we wanted, could we add some honey at this point or no, are we well past that stage?

Now would be a good time to backsweeten either with honey or sugar since fermentation is long done. Might be interesting if Backsweetening brings back a little rhubarb flavor.

metabisulphite (potassium metabisulphite) K-meta basically kills bacteria.

 

[meadmaker1]

Good to see you finished with something that you like.
I didn’t read all the posts but caution you If you intended to sweeten before bottling read up on how to treat it first.
It will start fermentation again and blow corks out. Big waist worse mess.
Potassium sorbare and k meta are what to use. I don’t recall amounts off hand.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Good to see you finished with something that you like.
I didn’t read all the posts but caution you If you intended to sweeten before bottling read up on how to treat it first.
It will start fermentation again and blow corks out. Big waist worse mess.
Potassium sorbare and k meta are what to use. I don’t recall amounts off hand.

There is probably No danger of refermentation after 5 years.

 

[winemanden]

Just had the first harvest from my rhubarb, covered with an old rubbish bin for the winter. Enough bright pink rhubarb to make two very nice pies. It's still growing, and the normal rhubarb looks to be growing well. Looking forward to winemaking later.

 

[Wolfpup]

The taste is actually quite amazing. With a little honey added hubby is really enjoying it too and I like it even better. We just put some in one bottle and will finish the rest with the same amount. I want to thank everyone for all their help. This was a great experience, to be repeated in the near future.