Rhubarb?

Lovely Bloke

I have a couple of Kilos of Rhubarb, one kilo is earmarked for preserve.

Can it be used to make an alcoholic beverage?

Khannie

You bet that baldy head it can. I have big plans for apple and rhubarb cider (with some very minor spices). Bulmers do a lovely apple and rhubarb cider so I'm going to try to emulate / surpass it. I presume you can make wine or whatever out of it too.

BeerNut

I absolutely hate rhubarb but every single rhubarb beer I've tasted has been amazing.

This thread made me smile. I grow rhubarb (planned to use it for chutney, but wine sounds like a great idea!).

Yesterday I was at our allotment, we've loads of parsnips still in the ground. I rang the wife and asked if we were going to eat them or not. She replied "Of course we are", to which I thought "Damn, there goes my plans for parsnip wine!"

fobster

I remember having rhubarb pie while drinking white wine and thinking it was damn good. This gave me an idea of making a sorbet from rhubarb and white wine... which never happened

... but in context, if it's beer you're making, an amber ale hopped with Nelson Sauvin with rhubarb added in the secondary fermentation could work.

tyler71

An amber ale with rhurbarb sounds fantastic - I've just been inspired! What's the best way to sanitise the rhubarb (or any fruit/vegetable) before adding to secondary - freeze it, or boil it in some water and add in the mixture?

c - 13

Made some rhubarb beer last year and it wasnt too bad at all. The only thing ill say is the natural sugars might be enough for the carbonation process, I primed the bottles and they ended up absolutely explosive !

fobster

tyler71 wrote: »

An amber ale with rhurbarb sounds fantastic - I've just been inspired! What's the best way to sanitise the rhubarb (or any fruit/vegetable) before adding to secondary - freeze it, or boil it in some water and add in the mixture?

I'd boil for 10 mins, cover then let it cool.

Skrynesaver

OK, so I'll have about 50 kilos of rhubarb in a couple of weeks, I like the odd rhubarb and ics cream event, but we produce more of the stuff than I can give away.

I'm thinking of borrowing a friend's apple press and trying a pure rhubarb and ginger fizz, the obvious problem is the tartness, suggestions to alleviate this would be appreciated.

Lovely Bloke

I think the only reliable way to counteract tartness/dryness in a homebrewed alcoholic beverage is to use artificial sweeteners like Splenda.

I mean you could filter and cool a brew until the yeast is dead, but then how do you carbonate it?

Skrynesaver

Skrynesaver wrote: »

OK, so I'll have about 50 kilos of rhubarb in a couple of weeks, I like the odd rhubarb and ics cream event, but we produce more of the stuff than I can give away.

I'm thinking of borrowing a friend's apple press and trying a pure rhubarb and ginger fizz, the obvious problem is the tartness, suggestions to alleviate this would be appreciated.

In Andy Hamilton's "Booze for Free", he suggests that cider can be made using up to 20% pears.

The same might go for a rhubarb brew? I'd imagine it'd add the requisite sweetness.

Druss.

Skrynesaver

Deleted User wrote: »

In Andy Hamilton's "Booze for Free", he suggests that cider can be made using up to 20% pears.

The same might go for a rhubarb brew? I'd imagine it'd add the requisite sweetness.

Druss.

Shame they're available in different seasons though.

I'd prefer not to use an artificial sweetener as I dislike the aftertaste.

Maybe the end of the parsnip actually might be a plan as it made a very sweet wine last time I tried it.

Khannie

Skrynesaver wrote: »

I'd prefer not to use an artificial sweetener as I dislike the aftertaste.

It's worth paying for splenda in that case. It's significantly better (as I understand it) from an aftertaste perspective.

Lovely Bloke

How much is splenda, and how much would be needed in 500ml of Cider?

I've Ginger Beer that I know is going to need sweetening later in May.

tyler71

Just tried my first bottle of rhubarb amber ale (three weeks carbonating and still a week or so to go to complete I'd say) and it's a decent ale but rather bitter , this may be due either to the rhubarb or to me using too much hops (I only used 1/2 oz at the start of the boil, but they were pretty high alpha acid content). Unfortunately, there isn't a detectable rhubarb flavour. I used 750g of rhubarb (four big stalks) for a 20L batch and I think that I might try doubling that for my next trial batch. I also might try steeping some crystal malts to add to the batch to sweeten the taste up a bit, I love rhubarb but it does need sweetening to really work.

beans

Rather than start a new Rhubarb thread...

I'm planning a rhubarb saison for my next beer, and before I dig into recipes on the web I thought I'd pop in here for people's opinions.

I was under the impression that the rhubarb should be added to the boil, but after seeing reference to adding it to secondary I'm now unsure. Anyone know the best way to handle it?

Part of me thinks baking some of it for a while to reduce the bitterness might work, part of me thinks that's a terrible idea. I presume the amount of bitter rhubarb will inform the hop schedule. Lots of questions!