Rhubarb Wine

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861
Source
The Book of Household Management
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (6)
For the wine base
For sweetening and flavoring
Optional for color
Instructions (18)
  1. Gather the rhubarb about the middle of May.
  2. Wipe the rhubarb with a wet cloth.
  3. Bruise the rhubarb in a large wooden tub or other convenient means until reduced to a pulp.
  4. Weigh the pulp and add 1 gallon of cold spring water for every 5 lbs. of pulp.
  5. Let the mixture remain for 3 days, stirring 3 or 4 times a day.
  6. On the fourth day, press the pulp through a hair sieve.
  7. Put the liquor into a tub.
  8. Add 3 lbs. of loaf sugar for every gallon of liquor and stir until dissolved.
  9. Add the lemon rind.
  10. Let the liquor remain.
  11. When fermentation begins to subside (in 4, 5, or 6 days), skim off the crust or head, or draw the liquor from it when the crust begins to crack or separate.
  12. Put the wine into a cask.
  13. If the wine ferments after racking, rack it off into another cask.
  14. Stop the cask down in a fortnight.
  15. If the wine has lost sweetness, add a little more loaf sugar, ensuring the cask is full.
  16. Bottle the wine off in February or March.
  17. The wine should be fit to drink in the summer and will improve greatly by keeping.
  18. If a very brilliant color is desired, add a little currant-juice.
Original Text
RHUBARB WINE. 1829. INGREDIENTS.—To every 5 lbs. of rhubarb pulp allow 1 gallon of cold spring water; to every gallon of liquor allow 3 lbs. of loaf sugar, 1/2 oz. of isinglass, the rind of 1 lemon. Mode.—Gather the rhubarb about the middle of May; wipe it with a wet cloth, and, with a mallet, bruise it in a large wooden tub or other convenient means. When reduced to a pulp, weigh it, and to every 5 lbs. add 1 gallon of cold spring water; let these remain for 3 days, stirring 3 or 4 times a day; and, on the fourth day, press the pulp through a hair sieve; put the liquor into a tub, and to every gallon put 3 lbs. of loaf sugar; stir in the sugar until it is quite dissolved, and add the lemon-rind; let the liquor remain, and, in 4, 5, or 6 days, the fermentation will begin to subside, and a crust or head will be formed, which should be skimmed off, or the liquor drawn from it, when the crust begins to crack or separate. Put the wine into a cask, and if, after that, it ferments, rack it off into another cask, and in a fortnight stop it down. If the wine should have lost any of its original sweetness, add a little more loaf sugar, taking care that the cask is full. Bottle it off in February or March, and in the summer it should be fit to drink. It will improve greatly by keeping; and, should a very brilliant colour be desired, add a little currant-juice. Seasonable.—Make this about the middle of May.
Notes
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