Two Rhubarb Wine Recipes

Rhubarb Wine Recipe #1

Makes 5 gallons

Ingredients

• 12.5 pounds cubed rhubarb (cubed)
• 5 gallons water
• 12.5 pounds granulated white sugar
• 5 Campden tablets
• 50 ounces white grape concentrate
• 1.25 teaspoons grape tannin (optional)
• 5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
• 1package Montrachet wine yeast

Instructions

1. Starting specific gravity should be 1.090-1.095, and acid should be .60%.
2. Cut up rhubarb and put in primary fermentor.
3. Pour dry sugar over fruit to extract juice.
4. Cover with plastic sheet and allow to stand for 24 hours.
5. 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.
6. Let stand for another 24 hours.
7. Add remaining ingredients including prepared yeast.
8. Let ferment for 48 hours.
9. Remove pulp bag, drain and allow as much of the juice to drip into the must as you can. Do not squeeze the bag.
10. Stir the fermenting must twice a day to break up the "cap" that forms on the surface.
11. In 3 or 4 days (or when the hydrometer reading is 1.030 or lower), siphon into a five-gallon glass jug or carboy and attach a fermentation lock.
12. Rack again in 3 weeks. Make sure all containers are topped up.
13. Rack again in 3 months.
14. When wine is clear and stable, bottle.
15. 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.
16. Age for at least 6 months.

 

Rhubarb Wine recipe #2

Makes 1 gallon

Ingredients

• 1 gallon water
• 3 pounds light honey or 2.5 pounds sugar (honey is recommended)
• 3 pounds rhubarb stalks
• 6-ounce can frozen apple or white grape juice (optional – if used, reduce sugar or honey by 1/4 pound)
• No acid blend
• 1/8 teaspoon tannin
• 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
• 1 Campden tablet, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
• 1 package yeast (champagne or Montrachet recommended)

 

Instructions

1. Boil the water and honey or sugar; skim if necessary.
2. Wash and cut rhubarb stalks into 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.
3. Pour water and sugar over the fruit, let cool a bit, then mash it again.
4. Add the apple or grape juice, if using. When cooled, add the tannin, yeast nutrient, and crushed Campden tablet.
5. Cover and fit with airlock.
6. Twelve hours after adding the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme.
7. Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast.
8. After three to four days, lift what remains of the fruit and let the bag drain. Don't squeeze out the bag!
9. When the mix reaches a Potential Alcohol (PA) of 3 to 4%, or specific gravity of 1.030, rack in secondary.
10. From there, rack as needed until fermented out and clear.
11. 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.