->Rhubarb Wine 01 <-

For about 4 gallons of finished wine, use the following quantities:

20 pounds of rhubarb stalks

12 pounds of sugar

3 1/2 gallons of water

Bakers yeast or wine yeast starter

Lay the rhubarb stalks on a working table and start in the middle

of each stalk and crush it. Put the crushed rhubarb in a large

polyethylene pail, tub or pottery crock. Add 1 1/2 gallons of boiled

water that has been cooled down. Dissolve four grains of sodium

metabisulphite for every gallon of "must" in a cup of warm water

and stir it in well with the "must". Put on a cover or cover with

a sheet of polyethylene with a ball of cotton on one edge and tie

it down with a cotton cord. Leave for five days. Then remove the

pulp and place it in a clean cloth and wring it out. Put the liquid

in a large polyethylene jug or glass bottle. Test the wine liquid

or "must" with your saccharometer to ascertain the amount of sugar

you need for the alcohol content that you want. Include the water

to be added with the sugar. Dissolve half of the sugar in a gallon

of water and boil about two minutes. Cool to lukewarm and add. Put

on a fermentation lock and leave ferment for about ten days. Dissolve

the other half of the sugar in a gallon of water and boil for about two minutes. Cool to lukewarm and add to the "must". Leave ferment

until fermentation stops. Siphon or "rack" into another sterilized

jug leaving as much sediment behind as possible. Be sure that the

jug is filled right up to the top with no air in the jug. Fit a

fermentation lock and leave until "polished" or clear. Then siphon

into bottles or jugs and cap.