Rhubarb Wine

[TasunkaWitko]

It's that time of year, and I've got a bunch of rhubarb coming up in various corners of the yard. The other day, my youngest son picked seven pounds of it, so I plan on making at least one 1-gallon batch.

I got this recipe from Yooper over at the HomeBrew Forums. Those of you who know her, know that she knows her beer and wine! I'll be giving it a try, probably this weekend -

Rhubarb Wine
Yooper’s Recipe

3 pounds rhubarb (stalk only)
1/4 pint white grape concentrate or 1/2 pound of light raisins (chopped)
7 pints water
2 1/4 pounds sugar
1/4 teaspoon tannin
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet (crushed)
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 package of wine yeast (such as champagne or 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, dissolve campden tablet and pour over fruit.

Let sit 2-3 days, stirring daily, and keep primary 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 SG 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 a lot 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.

I am considering bringing the amount of rhubarb up to 3.5 pounds, with a proportional increase in sugar. Would anyone with experience have any feedback on that idea? My goal is for a wine that is drinkable (not too sour), but also tastes of rhubarb. Back-sweetening is, of course, an option, but anything that can bring the rhubarb forward a bit without being too much would be great.

More as it happens - thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice -

Ron

 

[BernardSmith]

Luc Volders used to be a frequent member of this forum and he has/had a blog where he looked at how to reduce (or control ) the pH of rhubarb. You might want to check out his approach - see: http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2009/09/rabarberwijn-1-rhubarbwine-1.html
Bottom line, he freezes the juice in plastic containers, cuts the frozen juice from the containers and then removes from the ice the darkest sections which he argues is where the acids are most concentrated. The measure of the acidity before and after this excision does seem to support his point. HOWEVER, and this may be my ignorance (or Luc's English) when I learned chemistry a pH of 4 was far more acidic than a pH of 6 but Luc's model is to ADD more acidity to his reduced acidic must to bring it from 4 to 6... So I cannot say that I follow his argument. But be that as it may, the key point is that you may want/need to reduce the acidity of your rhubarb - or at the very least you may want to measure the pH so that you know what to expect before you ask the yeast to thrive in an environment that may be capable of removing the enamel from your teeth

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Bernard - I've never heard of that, but I will take a look at it. I'll also see if I can get some help with the translation - it looks Dutch, and I have a couple of friends who are fluent in Dutch.

On another note, I came across this recipe for rhubarb pop; I'm posting it here partially so I don't forget it and partially because I got to thinking that it might be a good project for those who have kids. This might be a way to get them involved with something fun and evidently delicious as you are making your rhubarb wine.

http://andhereweare.net/2014/03/make-rhubarb-soda-lacto-fermentation.html/

 

[Arne]

@TasunkaWitko Scroll down towards the bottom of the blog. It is translated into English. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I went ahead and got started with this tonight; I realised too late that I was a little unclear about the amount of sugar water and a couple of other things, but I did my best to follow a (hopefully) good interpretation of the instructions in Yooper's original post.

First, I cleaned and sanitized everything, then put the fruit in a strainer bag (it was still frozen but thawed pretty quickly). My dad keeps insisting that more rhubarb is necessary (he is making a batch now too, and is using 4.75 pounds), so I decided to throw caution to the wind, and used 3.5 pounds of rhubarb for this first attempt. I brought the sugar up a little, to 3 pounds, to compensate for the extra rhubarb. It looked to me as though the rhubarb was taking up a lot of room in the primary bucket, so I went ahead and heated the full 7 pints of water hot enough to fully dissolve the sugar - close to, but not quite, boiling.

Once the sugar was dissolved, I let it cool a bit, then poured it onto the strainer bag and a crushed campden tablet. If I would have been thinking, I would have dissolved the campden tablet in a little water, but that slipped my mind. The rhubarb was still partially frozen, so the water cooled very quickly to something close to room temperature.

I stirred the water and rhubarb around in order to dissolve the campden tablet and get everything together. Even with the full 7 pints of water, it seemed like part of the rhubarb was floating on top in the bag, but maybe it just needs to absorb the water.

If I read the instructions correctly, I'll now stir the rhubarb and water for a couple-three days in order to extract the juice, then squeeze, strain and discard the fruit solids from the bag. After that, I will add the pectic enzyme and the rest of the ingredients, except the yeast, which will come 12 hours after that. After adding the yeast, the procedure looks like it will pretty much follow in similar fashion to the wine I've made before.

All in all, it looks like I went off the rails a little bit, but not in any significant way that will affect the final outcome.

Speaking of tart rhubarb on a warm summer day, I've got a recipe for a rhubarb-strawberry strong ale that I will be trying for the first time in a couple of weeks. If anyone is interested, let me know - it's in .pdf format, so shoot me a PM with your email and I'd be more than glad to send it over.

Ron

 

[Arne]

If it has been 12 hrs. since the addition of camp. tabs I would get the pectic enzime in there. Helps bring the juice out of the fruits as well as helping it clear later on. Arne.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

This was my instinct too, Arne - unfortunately, the instructions were a little vague on that point, so I wasn't 100% sure. I'll get it in there.

Last night, 6 June, I stirred my rhubarb "juice" and squeezed the mesh bag again. All went as expected, and I am guessing that we're on schedule here.

There isn't much else to report, except that I'll repeat this procedure tomorrow night; then, I will strain/discard the rhubarb and add the other ingredients to the rendered juice. 12 hours after that, I'll proceed with the addition of the yeast, and will begin this project in earnest.

More as it happens, etc. &c.... Thanks again, and keep checking in!

 

[GreginND]

Rhubarb is a vegetable, not a fruit. It is low in pectin and I've found that pectinase is unnecessary and does nothing to help the wine.

 

[Scooter68]

Rhubarb is a vegetable, not a fruit. It is low in pectin and I've found that pectinase is unnecessary and does nothing to help the wine.

Excellent post - Anyone know of a list compiled of wine "sources" (fruit/vegetables) that gives a little guidance as to what additives, preparation is different or unique to that source? Why common sense may help a lot of us, sometimes we don't know what we don't know.

Thanks again for that post

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Well, as it turns out, I went to work, and forgot to add the pectic enzyme - but judging by GreginND's post, it will all work out in the end. I guess I never considered that rhubarb is indeed a vegetable, rather than a fruit. I remember now reading that when I was a kid, but that was quite a while ago.

I'm getting pretty eager to get this going and try this out as finished wine. My dad tends to sample his wine as he makes it, to the point where I think he only gets about half as much as he set out to make! Myself, I might sneak a sip here and there, but for the most part, I try not to even think of taking an actual, bona fide drink of it until it's well along. However, the samples of his that we've tried have been pretty good, and show a lot of promise.

Thanks to all for the replies - I am very new to this (this is only my second batch of "real" wine - my first was a chokecherry wine), and I am grateful for any opportunity to learn.

Ron

 

[dcbrown73]

Interesting.

I'm going to White Silo Winery's 9th Annual Rhubarb Festival this Sunday. Honestly, I don't ever remember even tasting Rhubarb, so it should be fun and a new experience for me. I can't wait to try their Rhubarb wine after reading how popular it is here.

 

[Scooter68]

All the more reason to increase the "fruit" quantity and up the target ABV 1-2% so your lees losses and the necessary sampling won't weaken your end wine. Not a big increase but a little - 1/2lb - 1 lb. Have never heard anyone say there was too much fruit flavor in their wine.

 

[geek]

Interesting.



I'm going to White Silo Winery's 9th Annual Rhubarb Festival this Sunday. Honestly, I don't ever remember even tasting Rhubarb, so it should be fun and a new experience for me. I can't wait to try their Rhubarb wine after reading how popular it is here.

I'd wish I could go but my son has soccer tournament both Saturday and Sunday..,[emoji23]

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Tonight, 7 June - I drained and strained the solids and added the other wine ingredients, including the tannin, yeast nutrient and pectic enzyme.

I am 250 miles away from any white grape concentrate, but no big deal - chopped golden raisins will do the job very well, as I have found. Unfortunately, my supply of golden raisins has "disappeared" (thanks, kids!), so I'll have to add them tomorrow, when I add the yeast. I "assume" (?) this will be alright.

Per the instructions, I already added a campden tablet at the beginning, when I started the rhubarb in the sugar water, so I "assume" (?) that I do not add another one until I am racking the wine.

Observations were much the same as before; the first night, the "juice" was a pinkish yellow, but last night and this evening, it became more yellow in colour. When I added the tannin, the colour darkened just a bit. There is still more than a gallon in play here, but I have a feeling that by the time I transfer it off the fermentation lees and into secondary, it's going to be right where it needs to be. There might be enough for a wee sample, and that will be about it.

That's all for now - more as it happens ~

 

[montanaWineGuy]

My two 6 gallon batches are going to be moved to carboys today. Fermentation is highly active. One more batch, and hopefully I can bottle before the Elderberries are ready to be picked.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Elderberries? You must be on the other side of Montana!

Tonight, 8 June, I threw in the half-pound of chopped golden raisins and pitched my yeast (Montrachet).

Not much else to report, but the next few days will determine whether or not I was successful!

 

[Arne]

Make sure you keep your nutrients up with that Montrachet. Arne.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Arne -

I've got a teaspoon in, for now. Is Yeast nutrient something that can also be added during primary fermentation, if needed?

 

[montanaWineGuy]

Elderberries? You must be on the other side of Montana!

Tonight, 8 June, I threw in the half-pound of chopped golden raisins and pitched my yeast (Montrachet).

Not much else to report, but the next few days will determine whether or not I was successful!

Mineral County. Yesterday, I was up at one of my Elderberry sources, and it looks like it is going to be banner year.

 

[montanaWineGuy]

Hi, Arne -

I've got a teaspoon in, for now. Is Yeast nutrient something that can also be added during primary fermentation, if needed?

Add 12 to 24 hours before pitching the yeast.