Hello,

I'm new here, and to winemaking. I've wanted to try it for some time,
but was too chicken. A friend served me some of his homemade wine a
couple years ago and hooked me. This spring, my rhubarb is huge, as
usual, and I found a very simple recipe for rhubarb wine and thought
I'd give it a try, though I know nothing about it. Of course I did
everything wrong. I left it sit open for a couple days soaking up wild
yeasts and other beasts. I used bread yeast cause I jumped in before
educating myself. Etc. I figure this batch might not turn out, but
it's been bubbling away for about 10 days now, and seems to be
clearing, so I think I'll rack it this weekend, move it to the
basement and see what happens over the next few weeks.

I've since been on an reading bend, and have purchased a simple fruit
wine kit which consists of some basic equipment and additives. I then
decided to start another batch using more "appropriate" methods. I
chose Jack Keller's Strawberry-Rhubarb recipe and followed the
instructions. All was going well for the first 3 days. It was bubbling
well. I have it in a plastic primary with an airlock, but I opened it
twice a day to stir. Seemed to be doing well. On the forth day,
though, it seemed to stall. No bubbling.

The recipe calls for 1 1/4 lbs of sugar, which seemed light, since the
first pure rhubarb recipe called for 4 lbs of sugar. So, I wondered if
maybe it just ran out of sugar. Not having a hydrometer, I simply
added 1/4 cup of sugar, and within about an hour, it was bubbling
again. It's done this twice more since, and each time, I've added
another 1/4 cup of sugar, stirred it in, and it's started bubbling
again. So I'm up to about 1 5/8 lbs sugar in the recipe.

So, is this normal? If so, how long should I continue this method? And
how much sugar is normal. As I understand it, if there's not enough
sugar in the must, the yeast can't make the maximum level of alcohol.
How do I know when it's done fermenting, and not just running short of
sugar?

I'm hoping to buy a hydrometer soon, and maybe whatever device is used
to check sugar content.