Rhubarb wine making thread with recipe

[Willow]

I've just syphoned the orange wine I started 7th May into the 2nd dj.. I got a mouthful and it DEFINATELY is alcoholic!!!! It has a very slight orange aftertaste and seems fairly dry , will the taste change a lot over the next months? will it get sweeter? and if I want it sweeter can I just add sugar?

[ChrisG]

How much did you drink? If you drink the whole bottle and can still see, then no, it didn't ferment out properly.

Yeast does need warmth to multiply, and that is what it does - feeds on the sugar as it multiplies, and produces alcohol.

So can I re-ferment it? And if so, how?

[p.penn]

I've just syphoned the orange wine I started 7th May into the 2nd dj.. I got a mouthful and it DEFINATELY is alcoholic!!!! It has a very slight orange aftertaste and seems fairly dry , will the taste change a lot over the next months? will it get sweeter? and if I want it sweeter can I just add sugar?

It will mellow - you will need to leave it about a year after bottling to mature.

Ruth, I really wouldn't re-ferment it. You would need to test the specific gravity to see how it's doing and anyway, it's a year old. You can always blend it with another wine.

[perchy]

I've just syphoned the orange wine I started 7th May into the 2nd dj.. I got a mouthful and it DEFINATELY is alcoholic!!!! It has a very slight orange aftertaste and seems fairly dry , will the taste change a lot over the next months? will it get sweeter? and if I want it sweeter can I just add sugar?

It will mellow - you will need to leave it about a year after bottling to mature.

Ruth, I really wouldn't re-ferment it. You would need to test the specific gravity to see how it's doing and anyway, it's a year old. You can always blend it with another wine.

how do you blend wines Helen? I am thinking of starting wine making, maybe you could take me through from start to finish at some point

[p.penn]

Of course I will Perchy. I have very little on at present and it would be my pleasure.

[perchy]

Of course I will Perchy. I have very little on at present and it would be my pleasure.

Thank you, I wasn't wondering about blending wines for me, I noticed you were advising Ruth, just thought it may be easy to explain

Maybe you could pm the starting rules and requirements just to get me started

[AL37]

So can I re-ferment it? And if so, how?

Or you could just shove it down the lav now to save you getting the screaming habdabs later.

[Willow]

So can I re-ferment it? And if so, how?

Or you could just shove it down the lav now to save you getting the screaming habdabs later.

AL !!!!!

[fishpond]

Helen
Some questions please

1) Why can't use water from the hot tap?
2) What can I use for straining the rhubarb mixture into the dj ? does it matter if bits of rhubarb get through?
3) Have you ever made garlic wine ?(is it even possible?) (I seem to be growing rather a lot )

Note:-I have just received the book you mentioned last year by CJJ Berry, certainly seems to be straight forward with simple explanations.
Note 2:- If I end up in hospital, I AM BLAMING YOU.

Nearly forgot, I have a gallon of mead still in a dj since oct 2010,according to the book this will only do it good.(airlock has still got liquid in, I have just checked)
Frightened to bottle it, I may like it and cause my ticker untold damage.

p.s Just found 2 recipes for garlic wine on goggle

[p.penn]

Ha ha ha!

Right to answer your Qs

1) Because your water has been heated not boiled, and also may have been stored in a cold water storage tank before hand. Far too much risk of infection. You also shouldn't drink cold water from a tap fed from a tank

2) I generally use a straining bag, but I for the rhubarb I prefer a sieve - plastic, not metal. Not much should get through,

3) No, sounds disgusting I have made green tomato wine, which tasted exactly like a greenhouse full of tomatoes smells!

Bottle the mead - I would think half bottles would be fab if you have any. It is a lovely drink when matured. You may think a wine tastes ok/disgusting when bottling, but do leave it to mature. You will notice the difference.

Winemaking has taught me patience.

[fishpond]

Pretty well a non-gardening day today, (non-stop rain) so kitchen it is!
Rhubarb and sugar now in a s/steel pan.
Mead racked into another dj (well you have to try it , don't you?
Another dj of white wine, made in 2010 found and will bottle later.
Is it time for the Xmas party yet?

[Willow]

My Rhubarb wine is now bubbling at a rate of about one plop ever 2 seconds.. not as fast as I seem to remember the other wines 'plopping' at that stage. but it has turned colder so that may be a reason. Its a creamy slightly pinkish colour.
(The elderflower wine is festering in a covered bucket upstairs.. I picked far too many elderflowers and read that you can dry them by spreading them out , so have them spread out on a clean sheet in the spare room.. It smells amazing!!)

[p.penn]

How is it now Willow? I made 3 gallons this year and they are all slightly different colours. although they bubbled away steadily for a few weeks, they are still very, very, very slowly fermenting.

My Rhubarb wine is now bubbling at a rate of about one plop ever 2 seconds.. not as fast as I seem to remember the other wines 'plopping' at that stage. but it has turned colder so that may be a reason.

Yes, the cooler weather will prevent the yeast muliplying as fast. Just don't be in too much of a hurry to rack it in case the weather changes and it bursts into action!

[fishpond]

Helen
I have 2 gall of Rhubarb on the go and like yours, they are a slightly different colour, even though they were made the same with Rhubarb from the same root.
2 weeks difference in pulling rhubarb, they are still bubbling away.
Looking good for 2014.

[p.penn]

Well yes, when it eventually finishes, then a couple of rackings, and 9 months to a year maturing time.....

2014 it is then!