Welcome to our plot!

I'm Hazel, and in Nov 2006 my friend Jane and I took on a half plot at Hill Allotments, Sutton Coldfield - we want the satisfaction of growing and eating our own fruit and veg, and to improve our diet (and fitness!).

This is the story of what happened next...........

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Rhubarb Wine - Bottling

The last stage for this batch of wine is to bottle it, so it can quietly mature for a few months before being opened & enjoyed next Spring.

All wines seem to have different recommended 'maturing' times but as a rule of thumb, although you can drink your efforts earlier, I reckon that you can properly enjoy wine a year from when it was started.

The wine on scrutiny in the demijohn is clear with no sediment in the bottom appearing since it was stabilised a couple of weeks ago.

It's better to be safe then sorry, though, so it is syphoned again into a bucket to leave any minute particles behind in the demijohn & crystal clear bit-free wine ready to be funnelled into the bottles.

Whilst the bottles are sterilising, it's worthwhile checking the SG reading again - the final strength of the wine is worked out by taking the final SG figure away from the initial SG, & dividing by 7.36, which gives the percentage of alcohol in the wine.

This is 13.5%, so quite robust enough to be going on with.

All that is left to do is funnel the wine into the bottles, cork & label - not forgetting the most important taste test.*

Don't be alarmed if you pull a face at this point - the wine will be a bit 'raw' at the moment, but once it has mellowed for a few months - and rhubarb pulling has commenced next year - I promise that it will be a delight.

*Obviously, this size sample is recommended in order to conduct a very thorough taste test

4 comments:

  1. Mine needs a second racking but the flavour is definitely there. I blame/praise you for getting me back on wine making after a gap of about 7 years!

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  2. Well done! that colour is spectaular. You'll have some ready for Christmas then?

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  3. Does look very sophisticated :} And I am sure it wasn't that big a sample glass.

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  4. I'm sure you didn't need much persuading, Flum - and I bet your first batch tastes terrific.

    I've got my eye on last year's apple & elderberry for Christmas, Matron, assuming that it's sweet enough for mum's tastes - otherwise I have an apple wine which coats your teeth, rather!

    Yeah, you're right, Bilbo - trick if the photograph makes the wine sample look MUCH larger than it actually was {gg}

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