Seasonal wine May - Rhubarb Rhubarb

[Col]

Keeping it seasonal (an excellent series Lordeoin, fair play to you), anyone who can get their hands on some rhubarb should add it to their cellar. It makes a very nice, light, crisp wine. Honestly!
There are a number of ways of making it, but I discovered this one last year and was delighted with it.

RHUBARB

Get a quantity of rhubarb, top and tail it (the poisonous oxalic acid is in the leaves), and cut into two inch lengths. Then freeze for at least a week. Thaw the rhubarb ( I put it in a large colander over a bucket, and cover it with a cloth to keep the flies away). 4 lbs. of rhubarb will give you roughly a pint of juice without squeezing it.

Now, put  into a fermenting bucket -

1 pint of Rhubarb juice
1 Litre of apple juice
1 Litre of white grape juice (both not from concentrate)
750g white sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectolase
1 camden tablet

Top up to about 7 pints with water

Now, make up a yeast starter, with 1 tbsp of sugar in 1/2 pint of boiled, cooled water and a pinch of citric acid. Add 1 tsp of yeast, cover with cling film and leave for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, give your must a vigorous stir, and add the starter. Strain to a demi john after about four days - this ferments out fairly quickly - and top up when the vigorous ferment has died down. Mine fermented down to .998. Finish in the usual way (i.e. rack off, add a tsp of potassium sorbate and a camden tablet, and add finings or clear naturally if you wish). This can be drunk a month after clearing, but will improve with keeping. If you have more rhubarb, just multiply everything up, except the yeast - for example, last year I had enough rhubarb for 4 gallons, so I multiplied everything by 4. Enjoy!

[elslow]

I've been thinking about rhubarb a lot recently. Anyone got a recipe idea for rhubarb and ginger beer? Had some very nice rhubarb and ginger jam today...

[Will_D]

My Rhubarb technique:

Pick, Top n Tail, slice into 12mm slices or 1/2 inch or so. Freeze

As the RB grows repeat above.

When you have enough (consult a country wine recipe like above). 

Pour the frozen RB into a fermenter. Then cover the still frozen RB with the required amoiunt of sugar. Leave to thaw and for the sugar to extract the flavours and colours but NOT the acids.

After a day or two pour of the syrup and sparge the RB with boiled water a few times.

Put spent RB on compost heap and then add raisens or whatever else recipe says, pitch the yeast and ferment as usual

This is called a "Dry Sugar Extraction"

If after the two days of dry sugar extraction  you then add water and yeast and fermented for a week or so then it would be called a "Carbonic Maceration"

[LordEoin]

All my Rhubarb died, not sure if it as the dog or just the wrong place for it
Going to have to check if the folks still have a patch!

Can you still edit the 'Seasonal Wine, May' into the title? It would be awesome for future years etc (otherwise i'm just going to steal your recipe next year )

[Col]

I didn't want to steal your thunder...

[Ciderhead]

All my Rhubarb died, not sure if it as the dog or just the wrong place for it
Going to have to check if the folks still have a patch!

Can you still edit the 'Seasonal Wine, May' into the title? It would be awesome for future years etc (otherwise i'm just going to steal your recipe next year )

Rhubarb needs plenty of water and plenty of shite , fortunately I am full of both

[LordEoin]

I didn't want to steal your thunder...

There's be no thunder stolen. We could call it 'a collaborative effort with a view to a communal endgame'.
See Ciderhead, I'm full of shite too 

[DEMPSEY]

I didn't want to steal your thunder...

There's be no thunder stolen. We could call it 'a collaborative effort with a view to a communal endgame'.
See Ciderhead, I'm full of shite too 

Ditto to ye all,being full of shite is a requirement for good conversation.

[Eoin]

The country recipes I've seen have added some bicarb immediately to neutralise the acids.

[Col]

I've never found the need to neutralise any acid - as I say, the poisonous muck is in the leaves. But if it works for you, go for it. I've also seen recipes that maintain you should never boil rhubarb or add boiling water to it, but that obviously works, as quoted on another post. So, it's obviously not just us posters that are capable of exuding verbal excrement, but recipe makers elsewhere as well! Oh, and I've modified the thread title, as requested, Milord...

[Eoin]

I've never found the need to neutralise any acid - as I say, the poisonous muck is in the leaves. But if it works for you, go for it. I've also seen recipes that maintain you should never boil rhubarb or add boiling water to it, but that obviously works, as quoted on another post. So, it's obviously not just us posters that are capable of exuding verbal excrement, but recipe makers elsewhere as well! Oh, and I've modified the thread title, as requested, Milord...

Yeah I'm not sure about the whole talking excrement bit, it was actually precipitated chalk and the recipe comes from Jack Keller, who is one of the best internet resources on making country wines, so I'd not ignore him all too fast. I've no doubt you have a working recipe so don't get me wrong, I'm just wondering how you get it to finish with enough sugar to not be really tart.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques34.asp

[Col]

God, I'm not dissing Jack Keller - he's up there with CJJ Berry in my estimation. I suppose I'm just saying that there's an infinite number of ways to skin the proverbial cat. I've just checked my notes, and this recipe fermented out to .998, which is plenty sweet enough, and then I stabilised as per usual. I suppose the apple and grape juices countered any tartness from the rhubarb. You could, of course, back sweeten after stabilising, but like I say, .998 is plenty sweet enough for me.

[LordEoin]

Different strokes for different folks. Once the end result is to your liking, do whatever's convenient