[jacquip]

Am attempting to make Rhubarb wine for the first time.  Now got to the stage where I have 2 gallons of the stuff happily fermenting away in the jars - quite lively at the moment.  It looks very cloudy, is this normal?  About how long will it take to ferment given the warm conditions at the moment?

[Beewyched]

Will take at least a month or up to 6 - cloudiness is part of the process - just sit back & wait for the bubbling to stop 

[jacquip]

Thank you very much for your advice. 

[Skirza]

Ours usually takes around 3-4 weeks. First ever batch we made got thrown away because we mistakenly thought it had gone off the 'boil' too quickly and the yeast had died. Wiser now, just wait for everything to stop bubbling then we use finings to clear it. On a side note, last year I added gorse flowers to the rhubarb and it was absolutely wonderful

[OldGaffer]

Gorse flowers sounds interesting, must try the next time I make some Rhubarb wine.

What you do need to be aware of is Rhubarb wine can go in to secondary fermentation, which occurs in the following Spring normally. I once had about a dozen bottles of the stuff, sitting in a wine rack and about 5am one Spring morning the bottles started exploding!

Works better than an alarm clock 

[daddymatty82]

any recipe? as im  tempted as i get my nans rhubarb and need to try something other than crumble any help would be great

[jacquip]

Me again.  This rhubarb wine has been fermenting happily since 25th April and now appears to have stopped.  There is sediment at the bottom of the jar but the wine is still cloudy.  Advice welcome on next steps. 

[Skirza]

This is just what I do...not saying it is right

Pour the wine into a clean container and add finings. Leave for 72 hours and bottle. I know some people rack the wine off and leave it for another 6 months before bottling, but like I said...this is what I do

http://www.wineworks.co.uk/product/kwik-clear-2-part-wine-finings-270l/

[jacquip]

Many thanks for all your help.  The wine appeared to have stopped fermenting and just went crystal clear on its own.  So I syphoned it into clean jars. I checked it with a hydrometer and it was reading 0.995 so I had a quick sip and to my surprise it was very good (if a bit potent) so I bottled it today.  I presume I have to store it now, but for how long?

[Gordon M]

Only until you're thirsty!!
Seriously though, it should really be left bottled for 12 months at least, if you think it's good now, you'll notice a huge difference in a years time. Hopefully you wont experience any secondary fermentation as mentioned above!

[cloddopper]

Gorse flowers sounds interesting, must try the next time I make some Rhubarb wine.

What you do need to be aware of is Rhubarb wine can go in to secondary fermentation, which occurs in the following Spring normally. I once had about a dozen bottles of the stuff, sitting in a wine rack and about 5am one Spring morning the bottles started exploding!

Works better than an alarm clock 

 Camden tablts are used to " Stop " the wine   once you take the fermentation to a calculated /tested level of alcohol  or in technical term it's used to prevent further fermentation .
Don't forget to rack the wine off the dead yeast cell sediments into a sterilised clean demijohn before you stop it so it does not develop off flavours & fit a sterilized water filled air lock once again,   topping it up as needed with clean cooled boiled water .  Sometimes the stopping can take  several weeks,  the wine starts to clear ( even quicker if you add finings ) Then when it's finally clear re rack it of the sediments . Stopper it in bulk & store it in a cool dark place for a few months so it can mature in bulk with the tannins ,  mallic acid  & ester alcohols developing a deeper flavour for you .

 Almost ice cold  gin clear rhubarb wine is something to behold & sip carefully as it can have a creeping rubber leg effect & put your teeth on edge if it is a full dry wine @ 14 % or so . 

[DavidandCollette]

And if you are using that lovely pink slim variety of rhubarb and the wine comes out pink and ever so slightly bubbly, make sure you have something soft to land on.....