I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is
happenning, After adding the yeast the next day I added some yeast nutriant
but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome

thanks


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------






RIBENA WINE



Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point out
that this famous syrup of excellent quality could well be added to
fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The
rate to add it would be one to two bottles per gallon.

When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles of
Ribena per gallon would make a vast improvement to the flavour and quality
of the wine.

Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one
or two bottles or Ribena could well be added to make up for other fruits in
this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this later)
because the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation,
but it would be best to add it at the vigorous fermentation stage-during the
first ten days.

If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle
contains approximately eight ounces of sugar, so you should reduce
accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.

Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just over
seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is Preserved with 350 parts per million
SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.

Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the
amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon, by using half
Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative
to around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent
fermentation, though it could do so.

My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in mind
and it will be seen that I began with a good deal less than equal parts or
Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.

Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar
to work on at the start, and because I wanted to reduce the SO2 content to
below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling the
flavor of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The method,
incidentally, met with the approval of V. L. S. Charley, B.BC., PH.D.,
technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham group and
one-time director of the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.

All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool
naturally.

STAGE 1:
Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four
Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a nucleus was added and the
mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.

STAGE 2:
After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena bottle
of water were added and the mixture allowed to ferment for a further ten
days.

STAGE 3:
After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one
more bottle of water were added. Fermentation was then allowed to carry on
to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round
wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.

At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have
been driven off during fermentation by adding those last two bottles, I was,
in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million.
fearing that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage I
decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising the
temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no suitable
thermometer, stand the bottles in a saucepan of water and slowly raise the
temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in volume enough
to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive
off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at once. The caps of the bottles
must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was carried out in
narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being
fitted after ten days. Racking was not carried out until one month after the
last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation ceased. Even at
this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at
the age of six months.

At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against the
cost one should set the fact that no sugar need be added and that one has a
top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this, there is
no expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing much to do at
all. And, most important of all, Ribena has been treated with a
pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished
without fear of pectin clouding the finished wines. Such boiling would, of
course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored slightly to cooked
blackcurrants.

It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more
of Ribena or one less of water, while a dry wine would result if less Ribena
were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this would be
offset to some extent by to dryness.

If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the
gallon will contain roughly four pounds of sugar and the equivalent of four
pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon of wine
and, provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of sugar to
fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that seven bottles of Ribena
would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine without it being
too sweet.

It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make
just under a gallon of wine, have been most successful and I do urge readers
to have a go.

A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as
little as two pounds of blackcurrants to the gallon, therefore, if you made
four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used the
equivalent of two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar. This
would give you a wine of about twelve percent of alcohol by volume. Such a
wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the process
you would get a sweeter wine of one or two percent more alcohol.

I am a newbie too. My advice to you would be to get a (double or tripple callibrated) hydrometer. That way you can
judge how much sugar there is in your must and therefore how much alcohol it could potentially contain at the end of
fermentation.

I would throw a guess in that it is either sulfite or very high sugar levels which are stopping the wine from starting
properly. If you have a hydrometer reading, providing it to the group may also help them troubleshoot the wine.

Very best of luck, Jim


"Paul" > wrote in message ...
>I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is happenning, After adding the yeast the next day I
>added some yeast nutriant but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome
>
> thanks
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
> RIBENA WINE
>
>
>
> Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point out that this famous syrup of excellent quality
> could well be added to fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The rate to add it would
> be one to two bottles per gallon.
>
> When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles of Ribena per gallon would make a vast
> improvement to the flavour and quality of the wine.
>
> Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one or two bottles or Ribena could well be added
> to make up for other fruits in this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this later) because the
> amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation, but it would be best to add it at the vigorous
> fermentation stage-during the first ten days.
>
> If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle contains approximately eight ounces of sugar,
> so you should reduce accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.
>
> Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is
> Preserved with 350 parts per million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
>
> Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the amount of sugar to about three and a half
> pounds per gallon, by using half Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative to around
> 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent fermentation, though it could do so.
>
> My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in mind and it will be seen that I began with a
> good deal less than equal parts or Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.
>
> Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar to work on at the start, and because I
> wanted to reduce the SO2 content to below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling the flavor
> of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The method, incidentally, met with the approval of V. L. S.
> Charley, B.BC., PH.D., technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham group and one-time director of
> the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.
>
> All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool naturally.
>
> STAGE 1:
> Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a
> nucleus was added and the mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
>
> STAGE 2:
> After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena bottle of water were added and the mixture allowed
> to ferment for a further ten days.
>
> STAGE 3:
> After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one more bottle of water were added.
> Fermentation was then allowed to carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round
> wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.
>
> At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have been driven off during fermentation by adding
> those last two bottles, I was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million. fearing that the
> yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage I decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising
> the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no suitable thermometer, stand the bottles in a
> saucepan of water and slowly raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in volume enough to
> reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at
> once. The caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was carried out in
> narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not
> carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this
> early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.
>
> At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against the cost one should set the fact that no sugar
> need be added and that one has a top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this, there is no
> expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing much to do at all. And, most important of all, Ribena has
> been treated with a pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished without fear of pectin
> clouding the finished wines. Such boiling would, of course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored slightly to
> cooked blackcurrants.
>
> It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more of Ribena or one less of water, while a dry
> wine would result if less Ribena were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this would be offset to some
> extent by to dryness.
>
> If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the gallon will contain roughly four pounds of
> sugar and the equivalent of four pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon of wine and,
> provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of sugar to fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that
> seven bottles of Ribena would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine without it being too sweet.
>
> It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make just under a gallon of wine, have been most
> successful and I do urge readers to have a go.
>
> A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as little as two pounds of blackcurrants to the
> gallon, therefore, if you made four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used the equivalent of
> two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar. This would give you a wine of about twelve percent of alcohol by
> volume. Such a wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the process you would get a sweeter wine
> of one or two percent more alcohol.
>

I have just got a hydrometer and the reading I get is 1.100 please advise as
to what this means, do I need to add more sugar or dilute it some

help

thanks
"jim" > wrote in message
...
>I am a newbie too. My advice to you would be to get a (double or tripple
>callibrated) hydrometer. That way you can judge how much sugar there is in
>your must and therefore how much alcohol it could potentially contain at
>the end of fermentation.
>
> I would throw a guess in that it is either sulfite or very high sugar
> levels which are stopping the wine from starting properly. If you have a
> hydrometer reading, providing it to the group may also help them
> troubleshoot the wine.
>
> Very best of luck, Jim
>
>
> "Paul" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is
>>happenning, After adding the yeast the next day I added some yeast
>>nutriant but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome
>>
>> thanks
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> RIBENA WINE
>>
>>
>>
>> Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point
>> out that this famous syrup of excellent quality could well be added to
>> fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The
>> rate to add it would be one to two bottles per gallon.
>>
>> When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles
>> of Ribena per gallon would make a vast improvement to the flavour and
>> quality of the wine.
>>
>> Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one
>> or two bottles or Ribena could well be added to make up for other fruits
>> in this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this
>> later) because the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop
>> fermentation, but it would be best to add it at the vigorous fermentation
>> stage-during the first ten days.
>>
>> If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle
>> contains approximately eight ounces of sugar, so you should reduce
>> accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.
>>
>> Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just
>> over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is Preserved with 350 parts per
>> million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
>>
>> Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the
>> amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon, by using
>> half Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2
>> preservative to around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to
>> prevent fermentation, though it could do so.
>>
>> My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in
>> mind and it will be seen that I began with a good deal less than equal
>> parts or Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.
>>
>> Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar
>> to work on at the start, and because I wanted to reduce the SO2 content
>> to below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling
>> the flavor of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The
>> method, incidentally, met with the approval of V. L. S. Charley, B.BC.,
>> PH.D., technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham
>> group and one-time director of the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.
>>
>> All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool
>> naturally.
>>
>> STAGE 1:
>> Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four
>> Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a nucleus was added and the
>> mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
>>
>> STAGE 2:
>> After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena
>> bottle of water were added and the mixture allowed to ferment for a
>> further ten days.
>>
>> STAGE 3:
>> After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and
>> one more bottle of water were added. Fermentation was then allowed to
>> carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a
>> good, round wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh
>> blackcurrants.
>>
>> At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have
>> been driven off during fermentation by adding those last two bottles, I
>> was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per
>> million. fearing that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this
>> stage I decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising
>> the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no
>> suitable thermometer, stand the bottles in a saucepan of water and slowly
>> raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in
>> volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high
>> enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at once. The
>> caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of
>> fermentation was carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton
>> wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not
>> carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking
>> followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was
>> nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.
>>
>> At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against
>> the cost one should set the fact that no sugar need be added and that one
>> has a top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this,
>> there is no expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing
>> much to do at all. And, most important of all, Ribena has been treated
>> with a pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if
>> you wished without fear of pectin clouding the finished wines. Such
>> boiling would, of course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored
>> slightly to cooked blackcurrants.
>>
>> It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more
>> of Ribena or one less of water, while a dry wine would result if less
>> Ribena were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this
>> would be offset to some extent by to dryness.
>>
>> If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the
>> gallon will contain roughly four pounds of sugar and the equivalent of
>> four pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon
>> of wine and, provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of
>> sugar to fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that seven bottles
>> of Ribena would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine
>> without it being too sweet.
>>
>> It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make
>> just under a gallon of wine, have been most successful and I do urge
>> readers to have a go.
>>
>> A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as
>> little as two pounds of blackcurrants to the gallon, therefore, if you
>> made four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used
>> the equivalent of two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar.
>> This would give you a wine of about twelve percent of alcohol by volume.
>> Such a wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the
>> process you would get a sweeter wine of one or two percent more alcohol.
>>
>
>

Well as I say, I am no expert at all but the SpecificGravity (which can also equate to the total potential alcohol of
the wine) sounds a shade on the high side. Saying that, if you used a montrachet red wine yeast (I believe it's pretty
sugar tolerant but might not be able to turn that much sugar into alcohol. I think my montrachet can produce 15% under
absolutely optimum conditions.) Perhaps this is the yeast used as your original recipe said that it would make a sweet
wine.

Winemakers seem to suggest putting enough sugar in with the fruit to ferment to complete dryness at your desired alcohol
level then adding sugar after that to make it as sweet as you want it. That way you can start with a less strong sugar
level which may be kinder to the yeast...

My understanding is that a champagne style yeast (which can usually ferment up beyond 16%) would be a safer choice at
that level of sugar pressuming you want to ferment the wine completely dry and then sweeten it. Otherwise a Montrachet
style yeast may leave the wine a little less dry.

Have you gone 48 hours from adding the yeast yet? It could just be slow to get started. What temperature is the must
at? I am sure one of the wine-heads will step in soon and give you some better answers.

Good luck!

Jim

"Paul" > wrote in message ...
>I have just got a hydrometer and the reading I get is 1.100 please advise as to what this means, do I need to add more
>sugar or dilute it some
>
> help
>
> thanks
> "jim" > wrote in message ...
>>I am a newbie too. My advice to you would be to get a (double or tripple callibrated) hydrometer. That way you can
>>judge how much sugar there is in your must and therefore how much alcohol it could potentially contain at the end of
>>fermentation.
>>
>> I would throw a guess in that it is either sulfite or very high sugar levels which are stopping the wine from
>> starting properly. If you have a hydrometer reading, providing it to the group may also help them troubleshoot the
>> wine.
>>
>> Very best of luck, Jim
>>
>>
>> "Paul" > wrote in message ...
>>>I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is happenning, After adding the yeast the next day
>>>I added some yeast nutriant but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> RIBENA WINE
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point out that this famous syrup of excellent
>>> quality could well be added to fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The rate to add
>>> it would be one to two bottles per gallon.
>>>
>>> When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles of Ribena per gallon would make a vast
>>> improvement to the flavour and quality of the wine.
>>>
>>> Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one or two bottles or Ribena could well be
>>> added to make up for other fruits in this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this later) because
>>> the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation, but it would be best to add it at the vigorous
>>> fermentation stage-during the first ten days.
>>>
>>> If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle contains approximately eight ounces of
>>> sugar, so you should reduce accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.
>>>
>>> Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is
>>> Preserved with 350 parts per million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
>>>
>>> Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the amount of sugar to about three and a half
>>> pounds per gallon, by using half Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative to
>>> around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent fermentation, though it could do so.
>>>
>>> My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in mind and it will be seen that I began with a
>>> good deal less than equal parts or Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.
>>>
>>> Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar to work on at the start, and because I
>>> wanted to reduce the SO2 content to below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling the
>>> flavor of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The method, incidentally, met with the approval of
>>> V. L. S. Charley, B.BC., PH.D., technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham group and one-time
>>> director of the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.
>>>
>>> All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool naturally.
>>>
>>> STAGE 1:
>>> Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of
>>> a nucleus was added and the mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
>>>
>>> STAGE 2:
>>> After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena bottle of water were added and the mixture
>>> allowed to ferment for a further ten days.
>>>
>>> STAGE 3:
>>> After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one more bottle of water were added.
>>> Fermentation was then allowed to carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round
>>> wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.
>>>
>>> At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have been driven off during fermentation by
>>> adding those last two bottles, I was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million. fearing
>>> that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage I decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles
>>> by raising the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no suitable thermometer, stand the
>>> bottles in a saucepan of water and slowly raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in
>>> volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat
>>> should be cut off at once. The caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was
>>> carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days.
>>> Racking was not carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation
>>> ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.
>>>
>>> At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against the cost one should set the fact that no
>>> sugar need be added and that one has a top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this, there is
>>> no expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing much to do at all. And, most important of all, Ribena
>>> has been treated with a pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished without fear of
>>> pectin clouding the finished wines. Such boiling would, of course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored
>>> slightly to cooked blackcurrants.
>>>
>>> It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more of Ribena or one less of water, while a
>>> dry wine would result if less Ribena were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this would be offset
>>> to some extent by to dryness.
>>>
>>> If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the gallon will contain roughly four pounds of
>>> sugar and the equivalent of four pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon of wine and,
>>> provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of sugar to fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that
>>> seven bottles of Ribena would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine without it being too sweet.
>>>
>>> It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make just under a gallon of wine, have been most
>>> successful and I do urge readers to have a go.
>>>
>>> A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as little as two pounds of blackcurrants to
>>> the gallon, therefore, if you made four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used the
>>> equivalent of two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar. This would give you a wine of about twelve
>>> percent of alcohol by volume. Such a wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the process you
>>> would get a sweeter wine of one or two percent more alcohol.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

Paul wrote:
> I have just got a hydrometer and the reading I get is 1.100 please advise as
> to what this means, do I need to add more sugar or dilute it some

1.100 is an excellent starting point. The SO2 might be the problem.
Your best bet at this point is to quickly pitch a different yeast.

Greg

Ah yes, see my 'hydrometer isn't properly calibrated' post above for why it seemed a little high, heh heh.

Cheers for correcting that Greg.

Jim

> wrote in message ps.com...
>
> Paul wrote:
>> I have just got a hydrometer and the reading I get is 1.100 please advise as
>> to what this means, do I need to add more sugar or dilute it some
>
> 1.100 is an excellent starting point. The SO2 might be the problem.
> Your best bet at this point is to quickly pitch a different yeast.
>
> Greg
>

Upon further consideration, several things have occurred to me.

First, this must be one heck of a sweet beverage if it must be thinned
out before fermentation. Various sources online describe Ribena as a
beverage, but your recipe describes it as a syrup. Are there different
varieties of this product?

Second, and more relevant to your query, perhaps they have changed the
formulation of it. Are you certain that it only contains SO2? Even a
small amount of other preservatives would prevent fermentation. Look
for "Sorbic acid" or "Sorbate" on the label. If you find either, I very
much doubt you'll ever get the yeast started.

Regards,

Greg G.

Standard Ribena (concentrate rather than ready made) contains:

Water, Sugar, Glucose Fructose Syrup (from wheat and maize), Blackcurrant Juice from Concentrate (22%), Citric Acid,
Vitamin C, Preservatives (Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Bisulphite), Colour (Anthocyanins)

Source: http://www.ribena.co.uk/accessible/o...s/index.html#1

I hope this helps solve the issue,

Jim

> wrote in message ups.com...
>
>
> Upon further consideration, several things have occurred to me.
>
> First, this must be one heck of a sweet beverage if it must be thinned
> out before fermentation. Various sources online describe Ribena as a
> beverage, but your recipe describes it as a syrup. Are there different
> varieties of this product?
>
> Second, and more relevant to your query, perhaps they have changed the
> formulation of it. Are you certain that it only contains SO2? Even a
> small amount of other preservatives would prevent fermentation. Look
> for "Sorbic acid" or "Sorbate" on the label. If you find either, I very
> much doubt you'll ever get the yeast started.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg G.
>

I think the Benzoate might be a problem. I've never tried to ferment
anything that included it as an ingredient, but most sources indicate
that it will prevent fermentation. As an example, the following is from
a recipe on Jack Keller's web site:

"A second complaint was that at least two people had trouble getting
the must to begin fermentation. That problem, it turns out, was due to
the products being heavily preserved with additives. If the additive is
sulfite, we can solve it easy enough with a yeast starter solution and
adding the syrup to it bit by bit, but if the problem is potassium
sorbate or benzoate it will not ferment. Period. Read the labels
carefully."

Regards,

Greg

Would boiling the ribena get rid of the preservatives
I have bought 4 litres of the stuff and do not want to waste it

thanks

"Paul" > wrote in message
...
>I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is
>happenning, After adding the yeast the next day I added some yeast nutriant
>but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome
>
> thanks
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
> RIBENA WINE
>
>
>
> Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point out
> that this famous syrup of excellent quality could well be added to
> fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The
> rate to add it would be one to two bottles per gallon.
>
> When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles of
> Ribena per gallon would make a vast improvement to the flavour and quality
> of the wine.
>
> Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one
> or two bottles or Ribena could well be added to make up for other fruits
> in this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this later)
> because the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation,
> but it would be best to add it at the vigorous fermentation stage-during
> the first ten days.
>
> If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle
> contains approximately eight ounces of sugar, so you should reduce
> accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.
>
> Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just
> over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is Preserved with 350 parts per
> million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
>
> Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the
> amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon, by using half
> Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative
> to around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent
> fermentation, though it could do so.
>
> My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in mind
> and it will be seen that I began with a good deal less than equal parts or
> Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.
>
> Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar
> to work on at the start, and because I wanted to reduce the SO2 content to
> below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling the
> flavor of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The
> method, incidentally, met with the approval of V. L. S. Charley, B.BC.,
> PH.D., technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham
> group and one-time director of the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.
>
> All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool
> naturally.
>
> STAGE 1:
> Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four
> Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a nucleus was added and the
> mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
>
> STAGE 2:
> After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena bottle
> of water were added and the mixture allowed to ferment for a further ten
> days.
>
> STAGE 3:
> After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one
> more bottle of water were added. Fermentation was then allowed to carry on
> to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round
> wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.
>
> At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have
> been driven off during fermentation by adding those last two bottles, I
> was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per
> million. fearing that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this
> stage I decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising
> the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no
> suitable thermometer, stand the bottles in a saucepan of water and slowly
> raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in
> volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high
> enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at once. The
> caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of
> fermentation was carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton
> wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not
> carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking
> followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was
> nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.
>
> At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against
> the cost one should set the fact that no sugar need be added and that one
> has a top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this,
> there is no expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing much
> to do at all. And, most important of all, Ribena has been treated with a
> pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished
> without fear of pectin clouding the finished wines. Such boiling would, of
> course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored slightly to cooked
> blackcurrants.
>
> It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more
> of Ribena or one less of water, while a dry wine would result if less
> Ribena were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this would
> be offset to some extent by to dryness.
>
> If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the
> gallon will contain roughly four pounds of sugar and the equivalent of
> four pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon
> of wine and, provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of
> sugar to fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that seven bottles of
> Ribena would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine without
> it being too sweet.
>
> It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make
> just under a gallon of wine, have been most successful and I do urge
> readers to have a go.
>
> A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as
> little as two pounds of blackcurrants to the gallon, therefore, if you
> made four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used
> the equivalent of two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar.
> This would give you a wine of about twelve percent of alcohol by volume.
> Such a wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the
> process you would get a sweeter wine of one or two percent more alcohol.
>

Hi Paul.

I had a bit of a google for you and found the following outlining the very problem you are having.
http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/cgi/...m=11088071 69

It sounds like boiling won't help - sodium benzoate has a melting point of 300c apparently and a boiling point beyond
that. Nothing I could find would help degrade or eliminate the sodium benzoate from the Ribena (nothing safe to consume
at least)

One correspondent mentioned that making a must containing half the amount of Ribena produced a fermentation. You could
try this, but I wouldn't hold out much hope that it would ferment very fast or taste very rich.

I don't know your location Paul, but last year I went to a pick-your-own place in South Staffordshire hoping to pick
blackcurrants for a gallon of wine as affordably as possible. Unfortunately when I got there, I had missed the final
pick. Fortunately they pick and freeze a portion of the crop at its prime and charge a fair bit less for the frozen
berries which you scoop from a bucket of loose berries (so you can see what you are getting). I figured that since we
often freeze fruit before use in wine to help extract the flavour within, buying recently frozen fruit couldn't hurt...

I think it worked out at about £8.00 for enough blackcurrants to make the 1 Gallon Jack Keller recipe - once upscaled to
quantities for a UK Gallon (google black currant wine jack keller) It is smelling very good several months down the
line

Good luck whatever you try, Jim

"Paul" > wrote in message ...
> Would boiling the ribena get rid of the preservatives
> I have bought 4 litres of the stuff and do not want to waste it
>
> thanks
>
> "Paul" > wrote in message ...
>>I have just started out and on following the recipe below nothing is happenning, After adding the yeast the next day
>>I added some yeast nutriant but still nothing, help. I am new so any advice welcome
>>
>> thanks
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> RIBENA WINE
>>
>>
>>
>> Before I explain how easy it is to make wine with ribena let me point out that this famous syrup of excellent
>> quality could well be added to fermenting 'musts' made up from of the fruits to get special results. The rate to add
>> it would be one to two bottles per gallon.
>>
>> When making wines from dried fruits the addition of one or two bottles of Ribena per gallon would make a vast
>> improvement to the flavour and quality of the wine.
>>
>> Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one or two bottles or Ribena could well be
>> added to make up for other fruits in this wy, you mar disregard the SO2 preservative (more about this later) because
>> the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation, but it would be best to add it at the vigorous
>> fermentation stage-during the first ten days.
>>
>> If you propose to use Ribena in this way, bear in mid that each bottle contains approximately eight ounces of sugar,
>> so you should reduce accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.
>>
>> Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is
>> Preserved with 350 parts per million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
>>
>> Obviously, our aim when making wine with Ribena will be to reduce the amount of sugar to about three and a half
>> pounds per gallon, by using half Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative to around
>> 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent fermentation, though it could do so.
>>
>> My trials with ribena were carried out with the above point borne in mind and it will be seen that I began with a
>> good deal less than equal parts or Ribena and water, gradually bringing them up to equal parts.
>>
>> Because I did not want to overwork the yeast by giving it too much sugar to work on at the start, and because I
>> wanted to reduce the SO2 content to below 175 parts per million (without heating with the risk of spoiling the flavor
>> of the syrup), I decided to work to the following method. The method, incidentally, met with the approval of V. L. S.
>> Charley, B.BC., PH.D., technical director of the Royal Foresty factory of the Beecham group and one-time director of
>> the Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol.
>>
>> All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed tocool naturally.
>>
>> STAGE 1:
>> Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a
>> nucleus was added and the mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
>>
>> STAGE 2:
>> After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of ribena and one Ribena bottle of water were added and the mixture
>> allowed to ferment for a further ten days.
>>
>> STAGE 3:
>> After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one more bottle of water were added.
>> Fermentation was then allowed to carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round
>> wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.
>>
>> At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have been driven off during fermentation by adding
>> those last two bottles, I was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million. fearing that
>> the yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage I decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by
>> raising the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to do this and have no suitable thermometer, stand the
>> bottles in a saucepan of water and slowly raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in
>> volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat
>> should be cut off at once. The caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was
>> carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days.
>> Racking was not carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation
>> ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.
>>
>> At first it might seem expensive to make wine with Ribena, but against the cost one should set the fact that no
>> sugar need be added and that one has a top-quality product all ready for the job in hand. Apart from this, there is
>> no expensive fruit to buy, no messy crushing-in fact nothing much to do at all. And, most important of all, Ribena
>> has been treated with a pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished without fear of
>> pectin clouding the finished wines. Such boiling would, of course, drive off the SO2 and give you a wine flavored
>> slightly to cooked blackcurrants.
>>
>> It will be seen that a sweeter wine may be made by using one bottle more of Ribena or one less of water, while a dry
>> wine would result if less Ribena were used. A dry wine would lack the fuller flavour, but this would be offset to
>> some extent by to dryness.
>>
>> If eight bottles of Ribena are made into one gallon by adding water, the gallon will contain roughly four pounds of
>> sugar and the equivalent of four pounds of blackcurrants. This amount of fruit is ample for a gallon of wine and,
>> provided one likes a fairly sweet wine, this proportion of sugar to fruit is not too much. On the whole, I feel that
>> seven bottles of Ribena would be the limit you could use to make a gallon of wine without it being too sweet.
>>
>> It will be clear that my trials with Ribena, using six bottles to make just under a gallon of wine, have been most
>> successful and I do urge readers to have a go.
>>
>> A point to bear in mind is that a good light wine is often made with as little as two pounds of blackcurrants to the
>> gallon, therefore, if you made four bottles of Ribena into a gallon of 'must', you would have used the equivalent of
>> two pounds of blackcurrants and two pounds of sugar. This would give you a wine of about twelve percent of alcohol by
>> volume. Such a wine would be dry, but by adding half a pound of sugar during the process you would get a sweeter wine
>> of one or two percent more alcohol.
>>
>
>

On Jan 24, 3:41 am, "Paul" > wrote:
> Would boiling the ribena get rid of the preservatives
> I have bought 4 litres of the stuff and do not want to waste it

I suspect Jim is correct... the Benzoate will persist no matter what.
If you do somehow manage to get a fermentation started, I suspect that
the must will rot before fermentation completes. It seems that the
batch you've prepared might be a lost cause.

For the Ribena syrup that remains, you could start a batch of straight
mead and use it for flavor and sweetening after fermentation is
complete. That is, start a batch of plain mead following a dry mead
recipe and at the first racking (at about the one month mark), top it
up with Ribena. Allow it to age for another month or two, then rack
again. Check the flavor and add Ribena and/or water as your palate
dictates.

A little Ribena will probably go a long way being used like this. Is it
any good on waffles? :-)

Greg

It's a bit too runny.

I think the preservatives used by the manufacturers must have changed fairly recently...

Jim

> wrote in message oups.com...
>
>
> On Jan 24, 3:41 am, "Paul" > wrote:
>> Would boiling the ribena get rid of the preservatives
>> I have bought 4 litres of the stuff and do not want to waste it
>
> I suspect Jim is correct... the Benzoate will persist no matter what.
> If you do somehow manage to get a fermentation started, I suspect that
> the must will rot before fermentation completes. It seems that the
> batch you've prepared might be a lost cause.
>
> For the Ribena syrup that remains, you could start a batch of straight
> mead and use it for flavor and sweetening after fermentation is
> complete. That is, start a batch of plain mead following a dry mead
> recipe and at the first racking (at about the one month mark), top it
> up with Ribena. Allow it to age for another month or two, then rack
> again. Check the flavor and add Ribena and/or water as your palate
> dictates.
>
> A little Ribena will probably go a long way being used like this. Is it
> any good on waffles? :-)
>
> Greg
>

A search of this group on Google yields a number of threads on this
subject. It seems that a slow starting and slow fermenting Ribena must
is a common thing. It might be best to repitch yeast, if not already
done, and let it go. It'll either ferment or rot. No reason to throw it
out until you know for sure.

Here's a link to the past discussions:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...rch+this+group

Greg G.

> A search of this group on Google yields a number of threads on this
> subject. It seems that a slow starting and slow fermenting Ribena must
> is a common thing. It might be best to repitch yeast, if not already
> done, and let it go. It'll either ferment or rot. No reason to throw it
> out until you know for sure.

I wouldn't throw it out unless the cost is minor but the benzoate is
going to be an issue. Maybe diluting it enough to get it to start and
feeding the remaining in might be the best option. If you are
concerned about spoilage you could take what you have now and freeze it
in gallon bags; then thaw a gallon at a time to add it back in.

I might start like this.

Take 1/10 of what you have and dilute it with 5 to 10 parts water and
enough sugar to get that to a SG of 1.070. See if that will ferment.
If not, find another use for the remaining batch. Assuming it gets
going, once you have a decent ferment add back into it the same amount
of Ribena you started with and see what happens. Go slow and keep the
fermentation temperature over 70 F.

I am making this up; I have no experience doing this by the way...
That is what I would try if i were you though. You do have to be very
careful of using anything with preservatives, they are in there to
retard fermentation among other things but you know that now.

Joe

Jack Keller dealt with a very similar situation to this in a recent
blog entry.

See http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/wineblognew.asp. Look for
"Fermentation Troubles" under the December 10 entry. It essentially
deals with making a very large starter colony of yeast to add to the
must. If this doesn't reach the desired degree of fermentation, then
add another starter colony when the first one stops.


On Jan 25, 5:28 am, "Joe Sallustio" > wrote:
> > A search of this group on Google yields a number of threads on this
> > subject. It seems that a slow starting and slow fermenting Ribena must
> > is a common thing. It might be best to repitch yeast, if not already
> > done, and let it go. It'll either ferment or rot. No reason to throw it
> > out until you know for sure.I wouldn't throw it out unless the cost is minor but the benzoate is
> going to be an issue. Maybe diluting it enough to get it to start and
> feeding the remaining in might be the best option. If you are
> concerned about spoilage you could take what you have now and freeze it
> in gallon bags; then thaw a gallon at a time to add it back in.
>
> I might start like this.
>
> Take 1/10 of what you have and dilute it with 5 to 10 parts water and
> enough sugar to get that to a SG of 1.070. See if that will ferment.
> If not, find another use for the remaining batch. Assuming it gets
> going, once you have a decent ferment add back into it the same amount
> of Ribena you started with and see what happens. Go slow and keep the
> fermentation temperature over 70 F.
>
> I am making this up; I have no experience doing this by the way...
> That is what I would try if i were you though. You do have to be very
> careful of using anything with preservatives, they are in there to
> retard fermentation among other things but you know that now.
>
> Joe