Rhubarb Wine — Home Brew Recipe
Share
Style: Rhubarb Wine | ABV: ~11.5% | Volume: 4.5 litres (6 bottles) | Difficulty: Beginner
About This Recipe
Rhubarb wine is a British garden classic — pale pink or golden in colour, tart, refreshing and surprisingly elegant. Garden rhubarb (available from April to June) is ideal, but supermarket rhubarb works perfectly well too. This wine ferments quickly and is drinkable sooner than many fruit wines — though it still improves with a few months in the bottle.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg fresh rhubarb stalks
- 1.1kg winemaking sugar
- 4 litres water
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 packet Young's Dried Active Yeast
Method
- Chop rhubarb stalks into 2cm pieces (use only the stalks — rhubarb leaves are toxic). Place in a sterilised vessel.
- Add sugar and stir well. Leave covered overnight — the sugar draws out the juice from the rhubarb.
- Next day, add 4 litres of cold water and yeast nutrient. Take OG reading with hydrometer (target ~1.080).
- Pitch yeast. Cover loosely and stir daily for 3–4 days.
- Strain through muslin bag, pressing gently. Transfer to fermenting vessel and fit airlock.
- Ferment 3–4 weeks until still. Rack using syphon when sediment builds.
- Bottle when clear and stable. Drinkable after 2–3 months, better at 6.
Brewer's Notes
Never use rhubarb leaves — they contain oxalic acid and are toxic. The cold-maceration method (leaving rhubarb in sugar overnight) is more effective than boiling and preserves more of the fresh, tart character.