[gregmcalister]

I've very recently decided to start home brewing and winemaking with all the produce from my allotment that usually goes to waste. So at the weekend I made a start on some rhubarb wine. As this is my first attempt I was looking for some advice...

So far I've picked and chopped 8 1/2 lbs of rhubarb and let it sit with the same amount of sugar for 24 hrs to extract the juice. All equipment has been sterilised.  Then I've added 3 gallons of warm water, concentrated grape juice, pectolase, yeast and yeast nutrient and sealed everything up. This morning it's bubbling away so I know there's at least going to be something alcoholic at the end of it!

Really what I'm wondering is whether I should leave the wine to ferment with the rhubarb (to extract more flavour and colour) or should I strain it into another fermentation bin just now? I would be straining it anyway in a week or two prior to transferring the wine into demijohns.

[flatcap]

we have been known to leave the sugar on the rhubarb a lot longer than book says ,never come to any harm .

we use a different recipe to you we dont use pectolose and reduce the sugar when using grape concentate

i cant see a problem with leaving rhubarb in .we normally freeze the rhubarb 1st to get more juice out