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Dan
 
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Default Rhubarb Wine part 3

It's been 2-1/2 months since I last racked the wine (Nov 16). It's been
sitting in the basement in the wine cellar, so it's cool, but not cold. A
minimal amount of sediment has come out, but the wine is still cloudy. What
should I do next?

Here's my procedure so far:







.. 30 lbs frozen rhubarb

.. 14 litres cold water

.. 1/2 tsp potassium metabisulphite



.. 17 lbs finely granulated sugar

.. 4 litres boiling water



.. 450ml Realemon juice

.. 2 tbsp yeast nutrient

.. 1/2 tsp tannin

.. 2 packages wine yeast





NOTE: If using pre-washed and ½" pre-cut frozen rhubarb (which is MUCH
easier to crush), be sure to thaw in a container since juice is sure to leak
from the bags.



October 10, 2003

Crush in a small container in small quantities with a piece of sterilized
hardwood. Divide equally between two primaries. (30 lb of rhubarb produced
22 lb of juice and 8 lb of pulp). For each primary, dissolve ¼ tsp potassium
metabisulphite in 1 litre of water and pour over rhubarb. Add an additional
6 litres of water to each primary. Stir. Cover primaries with a towel and
let sit for three days, stirring daily.



October 12, 2003
Dissolve 17 lbs of sugar in 4 litres of boiling water. Allow to cool.



Strain rhubarb through a nylon straining bag and squeeze as much liquid as
possible from the pulp. Discard pulp and return juice to a single large
primary. Stir in cooled sugar water, lemon juice, nutrient, and tannin.
Split equally between 2 glass carboys, pitch a package of yeast into each
and fit with blow-off hoses.

(When yeast was pitched, batch was at 70', so I put the heating coil around
them. There ended up being no foaming, so airlocks would have worked in lieu
of hoses.)

Starting TA was 7.0

Starting SG was 1.092



October 26, 2003
When fermentation settles down (5-7 days), set aside in cool place until
wine begins to clear.

(Been busy with work. Neglected wine, so heating coil was left on until
today. Wine is at 72/73 F. Airlocks put on instead of blow-off hoses. No
sign of clearing yet. Minimal activity in airlocks.)



November 16, 2003
Rack. SG is 0.994. Add ¼ tsp of potassium metabisulphite to each batch by
dissolving in a cup of wine first. Re-rack to fill an 18.9 litre carboy,
five 2 litre pop bottles, and one 1 litre pop bottle. Airlock put on carboy,
caps put on pop bottles. No sign of clearing yet, but thought wine should
finally get off the sediment.

(Wine is tart, yet sweet, somewhat syrupy in texture. Rhubarb flavour is
prominent. Potassium metabisulphite stripped away the beautiful rose
colour!)