The time of year has come again when in my dads allotment there is a ridiculous glut of rhubarb. He has about 3 large plants and possibly a couple more smaller ones and each can produce a good amount each week. Within quarter of an hour I'd managed to pick all the stalks I needed to make a gallon of wine with plenty left over to eat and give away. The recipe I used was the first that came up using a google search and can be found here. I took pictures along the way so you can see what I did.
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| Rhubarb growing in the allotment; this is a tiny portion of what my dad grows. |
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| Just over 1.5kg of rhubarb |
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| Exactly 1.5kg of rhubarb once the ends are trimmed! |
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| Cut into pieces; the recipe says about 6mm but I didn't measure! |
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| Add 1.3 kg of sugar |
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| After a short stirring the rhubarb is already breaking down in the sugar and releasing juice. |
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| Cover and then leave for 3 days. |
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| Each day I took the cling film off and crushed it to release more juice |
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| On the third day I had loads of juice. |
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| Using a new cloth and sieve combination I started straining the juice away. |
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| The juice was collected in a food grade bucket. |
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| What was left over when all the juice was squeezed out of the pulp. |
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| 250ml of grape juice was added. |
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| Finally using cooled boiled water filled up a demijohn. I added yeast, yeast nutrient and pectolase enzyme at this stage and it is popping away nicely! |
All that remains now is to leave it a few weeks then rack it away from the sediment at least once, maybe twice, then bottle it up to mature or just drink! I'll let you know how it tastes!
I can't wait to see how this turnss out. Sadly I do not have Rhubarb here but there are some exotic fruits here that I would love to try.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't entirely understand is how to balance the sugar and yest mix as each fruit has diffferent amounts of natural sugar and acid.
I am not in a rush, I still have to figure a way of getting demi johns and the rest of the kit to Angola but I wiill keep reading your blog.
I too don't understand how to balance sugar and acids but by using a combo of following others recipes and trial and error I hope to get it eventually! The problem is that some of the wines take so long to mature properly that by the time they are ready you could have forgotten the process, that's why taking good notes is important. Getting demijohns should be reasonably easy because if needed you can you use any old bottle as long as it is sterilized and holds at least a gallon. I've heard that you can put a balloon over the top to act as a air lock, as long as you put a pin prick hole in for gas to escape. The yeast is probably going to be the main problem but if you can get someone to send you some over then that would get you going! I have bought yeast from ebay so maybe you could find someone on there that would deliver to you. Good luck with it any way and let me know how you get on
DeleteRhubarb wine is one of my regulars, though I have changed from making it the way you describe to just boiling up the rhubarb to extract the flavour. Your way is more fun, but the last two times I did it that way, I got propionic (?) acid and it all ended up tasting cheesy. One helpful hint about rhubarb is that I have found if you keep your demijohn in the dark (wrap it in silver foil) the pink colour will keep better.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased that your dandelion wine came out well. I have yet to try mine made last year, but I will have a bottle within a week. Interesting that red grape juice works!
Not sure if it was the red grape juice that worked or the fact that i used the correct amount of sugar for a gallon but only made a 3 litre batch! It was really strong, we had 2 glasses each and could feel it! We are planning on making another couple of demjohns of it this year if we can find time to pick the dandelions!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on the rhubarb, it is in a dark place now but spent a few days on my kitchen table. It seems to have already started loosing some colour. I'm sure it'll be fine though.