5 gallons
q 12.50 lb Rhubarb (cubed)
q 5.00 gallons of water
q 12.50 lb White granulated sugar
q 5.00 ea Campden tablets
q 50.00 oz White grape concentrate
q 1.25 ts Grape tannin (optional)
q 5.00 tsp Yeast nutrient
q 1pk Montrachet wine yeast
Starting specific gravity should be 1.090-1.095, Acid .60%.
Cut up rhubarb and put in primary fermentor. Pour dry sugar over fruit to extract juice. Cover with plastic sheet and allow to stand 24 hours. Put pulp in a straining bag (you can use a new laundered pair of panty hose) and add water and Campden tablets (to kill any "wild" yeasts) and dissolve well. Let stand another 24 hours. Add remaining ingredients including prepared yeast. Ferment 48 hours. Remove pulp bag and squeeze as much of the juice into must as you can. Stir the fermenting must twice a day to break up the "cap" that forms on the surface. In 3 or 4 days (or when hydrometer reading is 1.030 or lower) siphon into a five gallon glass jug or carboy and attach fermentation lock. Rack again in 3 weeks. Make sure all containers are topped up. Rack again in 3 months. When wine is clear and stable, bottle. Wine may be sweetened to taste at time of bottling with sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water). Add 2 stabilizer tablets per gallon (or follow directions on package if using powder) to prevent renewed fermentation. To preserve color and flavor add 1 antioxidant tablet per gallon. Age at least 6 months.
Rhubarb Wine recipe #2
1 gallon
q 1 gallon of water
q 2 1/2 lbs sugar or 3 lbs light honey (honey is recommended)
q 3 lbs rhubarb stalks
q 1 6 oz can frozen apple or white grape juice (optional)
q No acid blend
q 1/8 tsp tannin
q 1 tsp yeast nutrient
q 1 Campden tablet, crushed
q 1/2 tsp Pectic enzyme
q 1 packet yeast (champagne or Montrachet recommended)
Boil the water and sugar (or honey), and skim if necessary. Wash and cut rhubarb stalks in small pieces. Put them in a nylon straining bag and place in the bottom of your primary fermentor. With a sanitized
potato masher, mash the fruit. If you use the apple or grape juice, leave out 1/4 lb sugar or honey.
Pour water and sugar over the fruit, let cool a bit, then mash it again. Add the apple or grape juice, if using. When cooled, add the tannin, yeast nutrient, and the Campden tablet. Cover and fit with air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the Pectic enzyme. Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. After three to fours days, lift what remains of the fruit and let the bag drain. Don't squeeze out the bag! When the mix reaches a PA of 3 to 4%, or specific gravity of 1.030, rack in secondary. From there, rack as needed until fermented out and clear. This Rhubarb wine is good dry, but you may want to sweeten it a little when bottling. If so, use 2-4 ounces of sugar in a bit of water.