# Forum More Stuff At the end of the day  Country wines

## Black Cat

The rhubarb crop this year has been ginormous and since i am back at work, living in a bedsit in the city and only home on weekends I decided to make some wine with it, instead of chutney, jam or whatever. So Monday before last I was out picking rhubarb at five am before heading down to the big smoke, chopping it into one inch bits and so forth and setting it up to start work. No yeast in the recipe - that came all by itself. 
The flaw to my plan of course was that on the weekends i am not there to stir it, but that does not seem to be a major problem. Last weekend it coped quite nicely. Thursday I added the rest of the sugar with some fairly exciting results and it is spending this weekend in the bathtub at the bedsit in case it gets carried away with the warmer weather. 
So with that under control I had a bit of a look around last weekend and spotted that the hawthorns were in blossom. Can you make hawthorn blossom wine? Check. So the plan this weekend was to do just that. But on the way home i realised that the broom is also in blossom (this could become habit-forming) so the broom was converted to wine must this afternoon, and I have decided to pick the hawthorn blossoms en route to work on Monday so I can get some champagne yeast to go with them for a bit of a change.  
That will make three different wines on the go - rhubarb with no added yeast, broom with bakers yeast and (hopefully) hawthorn flowers with champagne yeast. I should probably stop there as this is my first go at wine-making and there's no point getting carried away only to discover it all goes to vinegar ... 
So any other country-wine makers out there?

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## watson

That rhubarb recipe sounds exactly like the local farmer's wives recipe for what they call Rhubarb Champagne. When its ready to go, they put it in the freezer for 45 minutes, open it...and it sparkles away madly.
They also say.........."oh its not alcoholic".........He he hee...lying old buggers!!!

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## Black Cat

yes, the woman at the brewshop (has a degree in oenology) told me the same thing. Not sure I believe her what with the way it was fizzing up with all that yeast I failed to add. But she was not talking about something you stand for nine days, add more sugar, stand for nine more days, rack off into a demijohn and leave to bubble away for several more months before bottling ... 
They say it also goes fizzy in the following spring if you don't bottle it until then... Not sure one gallon will last long enough to find out though ...

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## Bedford

Does it have to be kept at a certain temperature while it's brewing?

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## Black Cat

Room temperature - around 65-75 degrees fahrenheit according to my little book of country wines. Not sure if I achieve that, and certainly the day I accidentally left the panel heater on in the bedsit it was off and racing, but it should be fine with the temperature range there at this time of year. Up here at home the temps will fluctuate more wildly so that is why (apart from the fact I spend more time there) they are in the bedsit and not here at home.

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## denaria

Vinegars good too, if one does form a vinegar mother you've another profession too. I wouldn't wish it on you when you're aiming for wine but it's one compensation, and a pretty classy christmas gift for friends.

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## The Administration Team

HAS REACHED   :Fireworks:  *1000*  :Fireworks:  *POSTS*  
and it doesn't even show    *WELL DONE BLACK CAT*   Regards,

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## Black Cat

This is true Denaria (send the bouquets to my bedsit so I get to enjoy the - thanks admin!!). Not sure what broomflower vinegar would be used for though ...

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## Ken-67

We made some rhubarb wine many years ago. I remember it tasted very nice, but I can't remember the recipe. I do remeber that . after a few days, we had to stand the bottles in the middle of a paddock, because they kept exploding.

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## Black Cat

Yes, I have been warned to use bottles designed for effervescent liquids, lol. Apparently plastic coke bottles are ideal as they are designed to cope and also you can see them going out of shape if the pressure gets too much so you can release it in time. 
Here is the broomflower wine before it went a nasty shade of brown:  The may flower wine will be decanted tomorrow night (into a flagon with airlock). The other two will be sitting and being stirred for a few more days prior to flagonning.

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