Rhubarb Wine

 I have now made 4 different wine kits with suprisingly pleasing results. It's now time to make wine from natural, free 'hedgerow' ingredients ('hedgerow wine').This can be anything that can be naturally sourced, from Elderberries to Rhubarb (the list is endless.) If you have friends with gardens or alottments, even better as the main ingredients are going to be free! I have found the promise of a free sample bottle of homemade hooch  will do the trick :o) I actually made this wine back in June 2013 and it is ready for bottling now. So this is like time lapse photography with all the photos and methods, bang up to date............bar the bottling.

Rhubarb Wine -  (from Juliets' garden) - Makes 6 bottles of wine

The perfect time to start making your hedgerow wine is when that particular fruit is in season, fresh and in abundance. If you are not ready to make it you may freeze it until you are.My friend (Juliet) has given me some fresh Rhubarb from her garden. It is a good idea to have a recipe to work from as a basis. It is up to you what little extras you add for flavour.....

• 2.3 kg Rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
• 1.4 kg VinClasse Brewing Sugar
• 285 ml Strong, cooled black Tea
• 2.8 lt  Water
• 2 tsp VinClasse Yeast Nutrient
• 5g sachet All Purpose White Wine Yeast 
• 1 x Cinnamon Stick (optional, I like cinnomon)
• 1 x Campden Tablet  (for after fermentation has finished)

 Day 1

Have nice cup of tea with friend then 'acquire' fresh rhubarb from her garden. Wash and cut the Rhubarb into 1cm lengths and place in a clean/sterilised fermentation bucket. If you are going to freeze your Rhubarb it would be good to do it at this early stage so that it is fresh when you freeze it.

Fresh Rhubarb - Washed and Cut

 Add the 1.4 kg Brewing and Wine Making Sugar to the Rhubarb and stir in well to coat all the Rhubarb. Add the Cinnamon Stick. At a glance it is hard to see how this mixture will transform into a syrup as it looks dry and powdery .......

                                                      

Rhubarb, Sugar and Cinnamon Stick

 I covered this for 3 days, stirring daily to incorporate the Rhubarb and Sugar and release the juices.

Day 2 

Day 2 - Rhubarb and Sugar

I lifted the lid and noticed the sugar was starting to draw the juice from the Rhubarb and was fizzing slightly. Gave it a stir ......


Day 3

Day 3 - Rhubarb and Sugar

There was now a nice, sweet smelling, pink syrup !!! Ready for straining ......

Day 4

My Rhubarb syrup was now ready for the next stage of making into wine....

I sterilised the following equipment:

• 10lt Bucket and lid (you can use your 25lt bucket if you wish)
• Long handled plastic spoon
• Small, fine straining bag
• Small jug (for the tea)
• Trial jar and Hydrometer
• Glass bottle (in the absence of a rolling pin)

I used the sterilised bottle to crush the Rhubarb to extract the remaining juice before straining. I strained the juice/syrup into the clean bucket using the small straining bag, squeezing the bag to extract as much juice as possible.

Day 4 - Strained Rhubarb Juice

 I added 2.8lts boiling water and stirred well to combine the syrup and water. I then allowed it to cool to room temperature (around 18°c) I placed the bucket in a sink full of cold water to speed the process of cooling. At the same time I made up the 1/2 pt of Black Tea and allowed to cool to the same temperature.

Once both were cooled I added the tea and stirred.

I

Day 4 - Rhubarb Juice with added Back Tea

I placed some of the juice into a trial jar and took an Hydrometer reading. It is important to do this as you need this initial reading (Original Gravity Reading or OG) to establish later on if your fermentation has stopped and the alcohol content of your wine. You need to take the OG reading before adding yeast, nutrients etc.




The OG was 1065

I then added the 5g sachet 'All Purpose White Wine Yeast', 2 tsp Yeast Nutrient and stirred.

Day 4 - Rhubarb Wine fermenting

I placed the lid on the bucket and inserted the 'handy airlock' into the lid (containing a little water) At this stage the temperature on the LCD strip (on the bucket) was 22°c. I placed the bucket in our temperature regulated fridge and set the thermastat to 20°c to keep it at a constant temperature.

I left it there for 5 days to ferment. Checking it daily.........

Day 7


I checked on its progress and the must had tiny bubbles on the surface and around the edge.

JUICE + SUGAR + YEAST = ALCOHOL + CARBON DIOXIDE

These bubbles are produced by carbon dioxide (a by-product of yeast when fermenting) It keeps oxygen away from the must and wine by acting like a blanket and protects it.

The must continues to ferment on Day 8.

Day 9 - 5th Day of Fermenting

The must appears to have stopped fermenting as there are no tiny bubbles rising. I transferred some of the must into a sterilised trial jar and took another hydrometer reading. You do this when you think that fermentation has stopped and it is called a Specific Gravity reading or SG. The SG was 998 This reading indicated that the wine was ready to transfer into the demijohn.

Day 9 - Rhubarb Wine - Specific Gravity reading using a Trial Jar and Hydrometer

When I transferred my Rhubarb wine into the sterilised demijohn it came up slightly short therefore I added a mixture of brewing sugar and boiling water (mixed in a clean jug) and stirred well until it disolved and left to cool before adding to the demijohn. I filled it just below the neck to leave a gap between the wine and the bung (when it was inserted) I shook the demijohn to ensure that the sugar solution was thoroughly mixed in. I also took another hydrometer reading and with the added sugar solution the reading went back up to 1008.

I inserted a 'bored cork bung' with a 'handy airlock' and added an LCD temperature strip (to monitor the wine is kept at a constant temperature)

Day 9 - Rhubarb Wine

 I placed the demijohn in our temperature controlled fermenting fridge to increase the temperature to 22°c to promote fermentation. I aimed to leave it there for 1 month checking daily and decreasing the temperature to 18°c.

It continued to bubble away vigorously at 18°c with tiny bubbles fizzing to the surface and a peach coloured froth.

Day 25

Fermentation appeared to have stopped and I took another hydrometer reading to confirm this.

Day 26 

I syphoned the Rhubarb Wine into a clean/sterilised demijohn, taking care to leave most of the sediment behind.

I added 1/2 tsp 'Fermentation Stopper' - (1/2 tsp per gallon, dilute in a little cool boiled water) I shook it to mix in a 'see saw' motion. I repeated this for 3 days.I also added 1 crushed 'campden tablet' to inhibit bacterial contamination during the aging process (optional)

I inserted a solid bung and placed on a shelf to mature for the next 6 months........

The Rhubarb wine was looking quite translucent now compared with the opaque, peach coloured must of a couple of weeks ago.

Note:  Whilst I was making my Rhubarb Wine, my colleague also decided to make some. We used practically the same recipe bar he froze his rhubarb and didn't add a cinnamon stick.......
For some reason his wine didn't clear as well as mine and he added some wine finings.

I guess the proof is going to be in the tasting :o)