Rhubarb Mead

[kiljoy]

Hey guys! I've recently scored 6 gallons of honey from my beekeeper cousin. I had also scored about 2 lbs. of frozen Rhubarb. I took a long hiatus from winemaking and haven't made a mead in years. I've decided to combine the two into a Rhubarb Mead. Now, I've seen multiple recipes that call for precipitated chalk for the rhubarb wine and yeast energizer for meads etc. I like to keep things as basic as possible, so I'm just going to combine then with some k1-v1116 yeast I have laying around and see what happens. I'm just looking for any helpful advice on whether I'll need the energizer or chalk or anything else you can think of. I'm a bit out of practice. Also the ABV? K1 seems to go to 18%, so I'll have to go dry and back sweeten., What's a good target? I was thinking 12% like a regular wine. FYI, I ended up asking an AI assistant to generate me a rhubarb mead recipe and am using that as a base

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome back!

Honey has no nutrient for the yeast, so it's a good idea to add nutrient to provide a good environment for growth and to avoid stressing the yeast. Energizer? I haven't used it in years.

I haven't made rhubarb in many moons, so I can't advise on that. Others should be able to provide feedback.

I'd add a bit of powdered tannin, say 1/4 tsp per gallon, which gives the wine a bit more structure and backbone, but won't noticeably alter the taste.

IMO 12% is a good target. Anything between 11% and 13% should be fine.

 

[kiljoy]

Thanks! I do have nutrient, not energizer. I don't have powdered tannin, so I'll go with the ol' strong tea technique.

 

[Rice_Guy]

When I juice frozen rhubarb I get a TA of 1.35 to 1.69%. Since a wine typically is from 0.5 (dry wine) to 0.7% (table sweet) TA we could expect to be in the balance range with 1 to 2 or 1 to 3 dilution. Two pounds should get you in the pH target but your finished wine may need extra acid.
A typical rhubarb juice is from 1.010 to 1.030, ie there isn’t much in the juice. You definitely will need a yeast nutrient. In the last few years I started splitting this into two doses at 1.090 and 1,050.

Sounds like a good mead. Happy fermenting.