9 replies to this topic

[Climber]

I've been searching the forum looking for the rhubarb recipe from Tim Vandergrift. Haven't been able to locate the recipe...only references that people used his recipe. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Larry

[Bar Barrique]

I have it, some folks on the original thread broke it down for 23 liters.

Rhubarb wine

recipe makes 10 Imp. gal. (12 US, 46 liters), I have found that this recipe usually produces more than 46 liters for me.

45 lbs. frozen rhubarb
3 grams pectic enzyme
6 grams sulphite
2 ounces precipitated chalk
10 kilograms sugar
4 liters pineapple juice
3 packages EC1118 yeast + yeast nutrient

-Place frozen rhubarb in fermenter

-Sprinkle on 3 grams of pectic enzyme, 6 grams of sulphite, 2 ounces of precipitated chalk, and, 10 kilograms of sugar onto the frozen rhubarb.

-let it sit for 3 days

-Add 38 liters of water, yeast nutrient, and, 4 liters of pineapple juice.

-adjust specific gravity to 1.085 with more sugar

-Add 3 packages EC1118 yeast

-rack wine after 3-4 days when specific gravity aprox. 1.010 - 1.015 , You will probably have more than 46 liters of wine.

-after second racking, add 1/4 tsp sulphite.

- I don't usually back sweeten, but if you do; add sorbate to prevent re-fermentation.

[Climber]

Great! Thanks for posting it.

Larry

[Bar Barrique]

No problem. I like this wine, and, many of my friends have enjoyed it as well. As Tim noted; it could be mistaken for a white grape wine.
I often "recycle' a used grape pack from a kit into it, so that I get a nice blush colour.

Cheers;

Bar

[saramc]

I made this! Getting ready to bottle it soon. I did 3 gallons of Tim's recipe and then 2 gallons of a Spiced Rhubarb that Deb_RN is fond of. And I must say, both get big thumbs up!!!

I am now scrounging for all rhubarb I can find and stockpiling in my freezer, but if I don't source enough I will likely grab 5 gallons of juice from Walker's since that is what I used previously. I did plant some rhubarb, so maybe in a 2 seasons I can harvest!!

[Julia Williams]

Does anyone have this recipe in standard measurements, not metric.

[saramc]

Julia...welcome to the forum. I may suggest learning how to use an online calculator to convert metric to US, since you will come across many recipes in metric. It takes nothing but a few keystrokes in your search engine. But here is the converted recipe.

Rhubarb Wine by Tim Vandergrift 12 US gallons/46 liters

45 lbs. frozen rhubarb
3 grams pectic enzyme (0.11 ounces by weight)
6 grams sulphite (0.22 ounces by weight)
2 ounces precipitated chalk (by weight)
10 kilograms sugar (22 lbs)
4 liters pineapple juice (4.2 quarts)
3 packages EC1118 yeast + yeast nutrient

-Place frozen rhubarb in fermenter
-Sprinkle on 3 grams (0.11 ounces) of pectic enzyme, 6 grams (0.22 ounces) of sulphite, 2 ounces of precipitated chalk, and, 10 kilograms (22 lbs) of sugar onto the frozen rhubarb.
-let it sit for 3 days
-Add 38 liters (10 gallons) of water, yeast nutrient, and, 4 liters (4.2 qts) of pineapple juice.
-adjust specific gravity to 1.085 with more sugar
-Add 3 packages EC1118 yeast
-rack wine after 3-4 days when specific gravity aprox. 1.010 - 1.015; anticipate >12 gallons
-after second racking, add 1/4 tsp sulphite.
- I don't usually back sweeten, but if you do; add sorbate to prevent re-fermentation

[bushrinker]

I just started my rhubarb yesterday. Had 160 lbs of frozen rhubarb in the freezer. needed to make room for the black raspberries that are coming in now. By the time I got all my juice squeezed water added ph adjusted as good as I could I ended up with with enough to make 18 gallons of wine. I was going to use a recipe ( If you could call it that ) I got from a old timer around here but decided to split the juice into 3 batches. I have a 6 gallon batch of Tim's recipe brewing as we speak along side of a batch that I omitted the pineapple and used 1112 yeast and another batch without the pineapple that I used bread yeast. That's what the old-timer always uses. I am really curious to see what ABV you can get out of bread yeast. The guy makes some really mean rhubarb wine but has know idea what the alcohol content is. Oh ya and he never uses sulphite in his primary with rhubarb, I really think that's what makes his rhubarb as tasty as it is. I have mentioned this on this site before. I have a old book that has a reference to this. it says to omit the Campden tablets if the wine is to taste more like rhubarb and add it if the wine is to taste more as a hock. What ever that all means, I guess mine has always tasted more like a hock because his tastes a whole lot more like rhubarb. I've been waiting a year for this experiment. I'm probably going to use the batch I used the 1112 to mix with the one I used the bread yeast in, should the bread yeast stall to soon. I started them all at a sg of 1.075.

[saramc]

Very interesting bushrinker. I can't even imagine what 160# of rhubarb looks like!

I ended up backsweetening part of my Rhubarb Pineapple with Summer Breeze Strawberry frozen concentrate, and it is absolutely delicious. I am torn as to whether do that with the rest of that batch because I like it so well. But, I think I will do a trial with just simple syrup, chill it, and see how I like it.
The spiced rhubarb has been backsweetened with a simple ginger sugar syrup & in a few bottles I added a touch of vanilla. I found that combination actually brought everything out--rhubarb, spice, and a whisper of vanilla. I like it very much.

[bushrinker]

Just an up date: All three batches are in a carboy now and all are still bubbling away. As far as the bread yeast goes that was the first batch to go below 1.000. the 1112 was at 1.010 and the 1116 was at 1.003 I added another 2 lbs of sugar to each batch and within 2 days they gobbled all that up. The bread yeast had no problem keeping up with the 1116 wine yeast. I split the 1112 batch again and added elderflower to five gallons and added a gallon of Welche's Peach Medley juice to make up a 3 gallon batch.
What I can say for sure is that all three do taste much more like rhubarb, in fact they taste just like tart rhubarb. They taste much better than the wines I have made in the past. I have know doubt the campden changes the profile of rhubarb. I have made rhubarb at least 10 other times in the past. I know when reading up on the use of bread yeast before trying this some articles stated that bread yeast doesn't clear like wine yeast. The old timers wine was crystal clear after 8 months and he never even heard of a clearing agent. So time will tell with mine. One thing did cross my mine when doing this is I wonder if the bread yeast would have worked at all if I did add the k-meta? I'm thinking it would have had a hard time.
Just thought I would up date if anyone was keeping track. Now I wait for the clearing test and then put them through the taste test.