Valpolicella Wine Kit

A couple of months ago, I bought a wine kit that was on sale:  Wine Kitz Traditional Vintage Valpolicella.  It is meant to be a nice table wine.  This last weekend, I finally got around to starting it.  The kit consisted of 10 L of concentrated valpolicella grape juice and packets of yeast, potassium metabisulfite, potassium sorbate, kieselsohl, and chitosan - all the consumable materials you need.

Naturally, you start by sterilizing all of your equipment.  Then, you simply mix the grape juice with enough water to give you 23 L and sprinkle the yeast packet on the surface.  The fermentation starts up quickly -  more or less as soon as any dissolved oxygen is used up by the yeast.

10 L bag of valpolicella grape juice

The fermentation is now in progress inside a large plastic bucket.  The bucket has a loosely fitting lid which allows the carbon dioxide gas to bleed out.  Because of this small amount of gas escaping, the room has a background of fruity/bakery sorts of aromas.  The home office always smells nice when something is fermenting.

A little peek under the lid to see the primary fermentation (day 3).

Rhubarb Wine - The Final Result

I bottled the batch of rhubarb wine about 10 days ago.  The clarification step and the bottling were completed without incident. 

Since bottling, I had the pleasure of serving the rhubarb wine to visitors.  They seemed to enjoy it.  Not only did they finish their glasses, but they filled them up for a second round.  I think that qualifies as a success, especially considering the wine's undrinkable state after fermentation.

Chilled rhubarb wine on the deck.  It's perfect for
a hot summer afternoon on the Canadian prairies.

If I could compare this wine to anything, it would be cider.  The wine has good legs, there is a bit of tartness, but it's easy to drink.  The rhubarb flavour is mild and pleasant.  Have it with a slice of apple pie and ice cream and you know you are living the good life.

Cheers!

Sweetening the Rhubarb Wine

 A few days ago, I picked up two bottles of Sweet Reserve from +Jim Miller at the St. Albert Wine Kitz store.  He also offered some thoughts about rhubarb wine and it's extreme acidity.  I learned that it can be advisable to add chalk to the must, just to neutralize the acid.  (Now, why have I never seen that in any posted recipes for rhubarb wine?)

Sweetening the rhubarb wine.  Carboy, bottle of sweet reserve,
wine glasses with different amounts of reserve (sweeter from
left to right), measuring spoon, and notebook)

This morning, I got to work on sweetening my rhubarb wine, which was too dry and acidic to enjoy.  Using a wine thief, I removed approximately 250 mL of wine and placed it in a measuring bowl.  Then I poured out 1/4 cup (62.5 mL) into each of four wine glasses.  Using a 1/2 tsp (2.5mL) measuring spoon, I added different amounts of sweet reserve to each glass, stirred each, and then tasted them all.  Here are the results:

 

Glass #2 was the winner.  The addition of 5 mL per 62.5 mL of wine is a 0.08 added volume equivalent.  Using some algebra, I determined that I needed to remove 840 mL of wine from the full carboy, and replace it with an 840 mL of sweet reserve.  This step went smoothly.  I stirred up the new mixture with my plastic mixing 'stick', and sealed the carboy with an air lock.  My plan is to let it sit for a few days just to make sure it's stable, and then I will clarify it.

Just for fun, after sweetening, the specific gravity was 1.010.  (I haven't worked it the exact amount yet, but this was a LOT of added sugar.)

Happy Canada Day!