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.
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