Making Rhubarb Wine

Rhubarb wine is, without doubt, one of the easiest wines to make and to drink. Rhubarbs 1 and 2 are finished and both pleased us. Rhubarb 3 is ready for bottling and tonight I racked the most recent batch, Rhubarb 4. It is a month in the demijohn and the flavour is already amazingly delicious. It tastes like a yummy rhubarb tart with only one little thing to bring it down - it is maybe a smidgen too sweet. Then I checked my notes. I started this wine off with a pint and a half of surplus pineapple wine. What a combination! A new project for the summer time - rhubarb & pineapple wine. Apparently they work well in a crumble too.

Vin de Stinky Poo

I wrote before that I did not start this blog to boast about how delightful and yummy my home made wines are. I also want to share with you all my mistakes and disasters so you don't have to make them too.

I was drawn to the idea of speedy wines and found a recipe for making wine from supermarket fruit juice. I chose orange and apple and used boring old juice from my local Eurospar. The making of it could not have been easier. I started it in October 2012 and it has been through four rackings and has yet to clear and it does not smell delicious. It is meant to be a speedy wine so I'm not keeping it much longer and, in fact, we decanted a couple of glasses from the demijohn tonight to see if it can be drunk. We are brave like that.

Today is the first time in a fortnight that I've been near my wine apart from starting another rhubarb at the weekend. I am about to embark on a racking frenzy. And that means lots of tasting. I discovered another big mistake tonight. In January this year I made two lots of pineapple, two weeks apart. For one I used less sugar than the recipe recommended. Somehow I have labelled them with the same date so I don't know which is which. My only solution is to rack them both tonight and hope I can decide by taste which is the one with less sugar. I'm hopeful. One has already been racked (and tasted) and it is rather yummy. Not like that stinking fruit juice stuff.

But you know something? I'm going to try the fruit juice wine again for Judith Irwin recommends it. I bet that old Spar fruit juice is the problem. If the next lot is stinky too then we'll forget about it for ever.

Busy Day

I've been busy today. The second pineapple is in the primary vessel, fermenting away. The froth on top is a beautiful even white which reminds me of the fizzy head on Creamola Foam. It needs to be stirred daily for seven days before going into the demijohn.

I also racked (second racking) and sampled these three wines.

Nectarine. It's not very clear and has a heavy, peachy flavour. Still a bit on the sweet side.

One of the wines I made from clementines at Christmas. This one won't be for everyone. I think I over did it on the peel for it is a touch on the bitter side. But if it's alcoholic I'll drink it. This might be one for an experiment with blending. I have six bottles of nettle wine that are far too sweet.

Carrot & Raisin. This one is good. I'll have to make a note of the recipe before I forget. It should be easy enough to find because it included pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. It is dry as a bone, full of flavour and a beautiful colour. If we can hold off  and nothing goes wrong we'll be drinking it next Christmas.

Keeping Note

A few weeks ago I was given eight juicy pineapples. One of the benefits of being known for making wine is that people sometimes give me fruit or vegetables that they cannot use themselves. Of course, when the time comes, they receive a bottle in return for their generosity. I always remember who gave me the produce so have no problem recalling who is to get a bottle of (hopefully) yummy alcohol.

The memory is less accurate when it comes to recalling what recipe I used. This means that if something is particularly successful I don't always remember how I made it.

I made my first batch of pineapple wine at the beginning of January using a recipe from C.J.J. Berry. Berry's recipes often call for a good deal of sugar and as I prefer wines that are not too sweet I sometimes use less sugar than he recommends.  I started a second batch this evening with pineapple I'd frozen and this time I used the recommended 3.5 pounds of sugar. I think I used 2 pounds for the first batch. Taking notes on recipes is something I must always do from now on. When the time comes for drinking one might be dry and light and the other rather sweet and very alcoholic. Then I'll know.