Rhubarb wine recipes anyone?

[gstours]

I,m always looking forward to summer and we can grow more rhubarb than anyone can eat.
   So I need a good recipe for making wine,  I have some basic brewing skills.
  Hope for a reply.   Let's talk 5 gallons.  🙋‍♂️  I've got several types of dry wine yeast.  What are the steps?🐥

[theswimmer]

Gary I can tell you what I would do but

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Will have what you need.
If you need general info let me know and I will do what I can.
Keller knows his stuff and has helped me over the years with things  way over my head.
Gary if you just want to chat about making wine just drop me a pm with your # and we can talk.
Best,
JT

[festus]

I haven't made any rhubarb wine, but I have added rhubarb to strawberries along with some white grape juice concentrate similar to this recipe of Jack's.  There is a winery in Crossville, TN that used to make dandy Strawberry-Rhubarb wine.  I checked their website but unfortunately it isn't on their wine list anymore.

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB WINE

Multiply this recipe by 5.5 to aim for five gallons of finished product.

4 lbs. freshly picked (or frozen) ripe strawberries
2 lbs. fresh (or frozen) red rhubarb stalks
1 cup Welch's 100% White Grape Juice frozen concentrate
6 pints water
1ź lbs. finely granulated sugar
1 tsp. citric acid
ž tsp. pectic enzyme
1/8 tsp. powdered tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 sachet Red Star Côte des Blancs wine yeast

Trim all leaves from rhubarb. Do not peel, but wipe clean and cut into thin, quarter-inch lengths. Lay slices in bottom of primary and sprinkle sugar evenly over them. Cover with clean cloth and allow to sit 24 hours. The juice from the rhubarb will have largely turned the sugar to a syrup. Using a sanitized spoon or spatula, scoop the rhubarb slices into a nylon straining bag containing the strawberries (sliced if fresh, thawed and chopped if frozen). Tie closed and lay in primary. Stir in all remaining ingredients except pectic enzyme and yeast. Cover primary for 12 hours, then add pectic enzyme and stir. Recover the primary and allow to sit another 12 hours. Stir must again to ensure all sugar is dissolved and add activated yeast. Recover primary and set aside. Punch down cap twice daily for 5-7 days. Remove bag and allow to drip-drain (do not squeeze) for at least 30 minutes. Combine drippings with liquid in primary and transfer to secondary, topping up if required. When fermentation in secondary stops (3-8 weeks), rack, top up and refit airlock. Rack again every 6 weeks until wine is clear and no longer dropping sediment. Stabilize and sweeten to taste if desired. If no renewed fermentation in 30 days, bottle the wine. Age 3-6 months, but no longer than one year.

[theswimmer]

Looks like a great recipe Festus!

[jigmaster501]

Yeah,

As stated above, get rid of the leaves and cut away anything that is close to the leaves. The leaves are toxic and there is no evidence indicating that the alcoholic fermentation will eliminated the toxicity.

Also cut away any damaged portions and be sure to scrub the rhubarb to remove any dirt and rinse clean. You want to minimize anything competing with your yeast.

[swill88]

I,m always looking forward to summer and we can grow more rhubarb than anyone can eat.
  So I need a good recipe for making wine,  I have some basic brewing skills.
 Hope for a reply.   Let's talk 5 gallons.  🙋‍♂️  I've got several types of dry wine yeast.  What are the steps?🐥

You are talking 5 gallons a month, right?

[oldmanjoe]

I,m always looking forward to summer and we can grow more rhubarb than anyone can eat.
  So I need a good recipe for making wine,  I have some basic brewing skills.
 Hope for a reply.   Let's talk 5 gallons.  🙋‍♂️  I've got several types of dry wine yeast.  What are the steps?🐥

You are talking 5 gallons a month, right?

     The first 5 gallons goes in a week , because it tastes so good .                  Friends and family it goes faster.

[theswimmer]

Yeah,

As stated above, get rid of the leaves and cut away anything that is close to the leaves. The leaves are toxic and there is no evidence indicating that the alcoholic fermentation will eliminated the toxicity.

Also cut away any damaged portions and be sure to scrub the rhubarb to remove any dirt and rinse clean. You want to minimize anything competing with your yeast.

Agree with Jiggy on this one........

Best
JT

[theswimmer]

Gary,
You have a glass carboy?

[theswimmer]

Yeah,

As stated above, get rid of the leaves and cut away anything that is close to the leaves. The leaves are toxic and there is no evidence indicating that the alcoholic fermentation will eliminated the toxicity.

Also cut away any damaged portions and be sure to scrub the rhubarb to remove any dirt and rinse clean. You want to minimize anything competing with your yeast.

Also remember that it is one Campden tablet crushed per gallon of must or wort to kill the wild yeast and other pathogens. This coupled with time( 24 hrs in advance) will give the yeast you select time to gain a foothold and work with the fruit and suger. Lots of wine gets made without but you will achieve a much more consistent result by following the steps outlined in Festus recipe.

[festus]

Anybody ever drank Muscadine wine?  It's a native grape indigenous to south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I used to make about 25 gallons of white and another 25 gallons of red annually.

[theswimmer]

Anybody ever drank Muscadine wine?  It's a native grape indigenous to south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I used to make about 25 gallons of white and another 25 gallons of red annually.

Mmmmm yup.
Mighty fine . I'm partial to the white , kinda like a Sauturne but not as sweet.

[festus]

Anybody ever drank Muscadine wine?  It's a native grape indigenous to south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I used to make about 25 gallons of white and another 25 gallons of red annually.

Mmmmm yup.
Mighty fine . I'm partial to the white , kinda like a Sauturne but not as sweet.

The Carlos muscadine is a bronze that's one of the best for wine. Too bad they're only in season a few weeks.  My vines haven't matured yet but I got a few last year.  They make good moonshine (brandy) also. 

[gstours]

Thanks everyone for the great advice.  I have made some 🍷 but want to improve if possible.  Camden,  yes. Got 3 & 5 gal carboys.   What dry available wine yeast give s your favorite results? 
    I,m a all grain ale brewer and don't understand the finer problems of wine. 
   Maybe we can all have a get together tasting next year.🤦‍♀️

[festus]

I've heard that Montrachet yeast may cause hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg odor) gas in wine so I avoid it. But I used it for many years without a problem.  Haven't made any wine in several years but usually used Lalvin EC-1118 and Champagne yeast. Pretty much after several years the rule of thumb proportions for fruit wines, which were readily available in the wild was, 1 gallon fruit, 3 lbs sugar, 3 quarts of spring water plus necessary additives.  I have fine tuned wines such as checking for total acidity and pH, but it wasn't necessary.  True wine grapes won't do well here on account of the humidity and fungi, so I had to settle for growing muscadine grapes, which aren't the best for good dry wine.  For 50 lbs of muscadines I ameliorated with about 2 gallons of water plus needed cane sugar to bring SpG up to about 1.100.

Never got around to brewing whole grain beer, but in my younger days we used to brew a "beer of sorts." LOL in the woods inside old junked out tv cabinets.  One 3.3 lb can Red Top hopped malt syrup.  5 lbs cane sugar.  5 gallons water and a pack of ale yeast.  Let SpG drop to 1.005 to 1.007 and bottle. Just enough fermentation going on to carbonate the beer.  Age for two weeks. Never had a bottle to explode using that method.  Then in 1971 when Nixon was in office I had just turned 18.  Voting age dropped from age 21 to 18.  Legal drinking age was dropped from 21 to 18 here in Tennessee.  At $1.59 it was too easy to buy 6 "premium" Budweiser and Schlitz.  Some regional beers shipped here from Louisville and Cincinnati such as Sterling, Falls City, Burger, and Hoody-Poo (Hudephol) were available for $1.09 per six pack.  We weren't choosy. Now every grocery store chain has a pretty good selection of semi-craft beers, and about every other hick town has a brewery.