wine making 7th post

Hello and welcome back,
I spent a little time at the wine making store asking questions about wine and trying to figure out what happened, as it turns out I did a few things wrong, well not wrong specifically, I made beginner mistakes.
First I used the wrong yeast, as a beginning wine maker this is something that I need to learn different wine ingredients different wine yeast.

Second I tried to just pitch the yeast and pray that it would get started on its own, now this works with many different wines but Rhubarb wine is very finiky and takes a special touch to make it work. You can read about it below.

Third, I did things according to a recipe that I found, and like I have said before a recipe is only a guideline, so I have developed my own recipe I will include that receipe below.

And so with all this new knowledge that I found I decided to try it again, so here we go.

here is the Recipe.

1. Rhubarb Wine (1 GAL)
   
   Ingredients:
   4 lbs rhubarb (chopped and frozen prior to use)
   3 lbs of sugar
   7 qts of water (or enough to make 1 gal plus 1 extra 750ml
   Bottle)
   1 campden tablet
   1 tsp yeast nutrient
   ¼ tsp tannin
   1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast
   
   Method

1. Put frozen and chopped rhubarb in primary cover with 1 ½ lbs of sugar (half the sugar) then wait 24 hours and stir.
2. Pour 6 qts of hot water over mixture, stir and scoop rhubarb into a nylon straining bag, and set aside in a bowl.
3. Add campden tablet crushed, pectic enzyme, tannin and mix well, place straining bag back in primary and let side for 24 hours minimum.
4. Measure SG and record. remove pulp and discard, check the liquid level is where you want it.
5. Add yeast nutrient dissolved in 1 cup water and mix into primary.
6. make up starter solution

Starter solution:
1tsp sugar
1/8 tsp nutrient
1 cup warm water (between 80 and 100 degrees)
¼ cup of must
yeast

7. let starter solution sit for 30 min then add another ¼ cup of must
8. let starter sit for another 1 hour and add ½ cup of must
9. let starter sit for another 2 hours then add 1 cup of must
10. Let start sit for 12 hours and add 2/3 of the starter to the must, pour the starter onto a spoon slowly so the starter will stay near the surface.
11. Mix another ¼ cup of must with the left over starter solution and set aside.
12. Wait 12 hours and check the must for bubbling, if fermentation has started mix the rest of the starter in the must if not remake starter add balance of yeast and repeat steps 7 through 11.
13. after fermentation has started mix 1 ½ lbs of sugar into half the amount of water and cook till sugar is dissolved, set aside and let cool to below 100 degrees
14. Add glucose to primary and stir in.
15. check SG starting should be 1.095 or 1.100
16. let sit until sg reaches 1.040 then rack
17. stop fermentation at 1.001 with 1 campden tablet per gallon and rack again
18. Rack every 2 months until wine clears after 6 months stabilize with a wine stabilizer sweeten to taste and bottle. You can drink after 3 months but it mellows with time.





Here is the wine yeast that I used, apparently this is the wine that works for wine that is very hard to start, this is also good for stuck fermentations. This yeast is recommended for Rhubarb wine.













On the side of the bucket I have drawn a line for 1 gal and 1gal plus 1 750ml bottle, I like to ferment these sided by side and use it to top up the 1 gal carboy. These lines are for liquid only so when the pulp is added the liquid level will be much higher.










This is a picture of the wine 2 days after it started fermenting, as you can see there is a layer of foam on the surface this is a good sign that the fermentation is well under way.







So there it is, this is the method and recipe I am using I have no Idea how it will taste because I am not at that point yet.

Today I have 2 gallons of raspberry wine at the 3 month mark in another month I will be able to add stabalizer to them and rack again for another 2 months.
I also have my first batch of rhubarb wine well under way in the first week of fermentation.
So stay tuned and I am sure you will learn something.

Wine making 6th post

Hello and welcome back,
Last week I decided to try and make up a batch of rhubarb wine, I sort of combined 2 recipes together to make up my batch.

Ingredients:

5 lb rhubarb
6  pts water
2.5 lb Sugar
0.25 tsp Tannin
1 tsp Nutrient
1 Campden tablet, crushed
1 pkg Wine Yeast

O.G. 1.095-1.100

Procedure:

Place chopped rhubarb and sugar in fermenter. Mix well. Cover w/plastic sheet for 24 hrs. Crush rhubarb. Pour HOT water over the crushed rhubarb and stir vigorously. After a bit, scoop the rhubarb into a straining bag and squeeze as much of the juice out as possible.

Discard the pulp. Add the next 4 ingredients. Check and adjust (if necessary) the gravity of the must (should be 1.110) Check and adjust (if necessary) the temperature (should be 75 deg F). (The recipe doesn't say to, but it seems to me that you should wait 24 hrs before adding the yeast so the Campden tablets don't kill it too). Ferment at 75 deg F, until sg is at 1.040 then rack to secondary, ferment @ 65 deg F,until sg is at1.000 then add 1 crushed campden to stop fermentation then rack again, etc., until clear. Bottle. Age 6 months. Bottle.

I first took 4 lbs of frozen rhubarb and 2 lbs of sugar and mixed it together in my Primary and waited 24 hours, the sugar helped to extract the juice from the , now thawed, rhubarb and created a sugary slurry in the bottom of the primary.

after the 24 hours I put all the rhubarb in a straining bag so I could squeeze the rest of the juice from it and add that to the must. after this process I had about 1/3 of a gal of liquid.

I added enough water to make up 1 gal and 1 750 ml bottle, I find that fermenting these side by side when I rack the gal I can top up with the 750 ml bottle, this way I am not adding water to the wine and diluting it.

I added the water, 1 crushed campden tablet, pectic enzyme, and enough sugar to bring the sg to 1.100, I then put the rhubarb in the straining bag back in the primary for another 24 hour period.

After 24 hours, I again pulled out the rhubarb squeezed what I could out of it added the juice to the must and discarded the pulp. I dissolved the yeast nutrient and added the yeast.

after 24 hours again there was nothing, no bubbling, no fizzing, no nothing, It smelled good though, I tested the sg and still at 1.095.
The fermentation did not take, so I decided to make up a starter of warm water, glucose (sugar cooked with water and dissolved) and 1/4 cup of the must, I then added the yeast to it and waited.
Again nothing, I was reading that if there is too much sugar to start with sometimes the yeast can't get started so I decided to cut the must in half and fill with straight water, I tested the sg and it was around 1.040 so I decided to pitch the yeast again and wait another 24.
Still nothing, now I am just frustrated, so back to the internet for more research, I found an article that talked about the yeast needing a lot of air in the beginning, I am using a bucket for a primary so there should be plenty of air, but I thought maybe I should stir this up a bit and see what happens, I poured the must into a sanitized carboy and then back into the primary this created lots of bubbles So I thought it may have worked, after another 24 hours,
still nothing, the bucket was calm and once again the fermentation didn't take.

I am now past 5 days since I started this endeavor, and frustrated that I wasted sugar and yeast on this batch, but I am thinking it is time to shut this one down, I dumped out what I have cleaned up everything, and now I need to go over my notes and find out what I did wrong. I will add pictures soon for anyone who is still reading.

come back soon.