VANILLA WINE

Just 4 u

Ingredients:
6 lb. rhubarb 4 lb. white sugar
1 gallon cold water 2 lemons
1 gallon hawthorn blossom Yeast and nutrient

Method:
When boiling water is used in the making of rhubarb wine jellification is often
caused later, during fermentation. It is safer, therefore, to employ a cold water method.
If cold water is used, of course, the natural yeasts present in quantity (the bloom on the
rhubarb) may complicate your ferment if you are using a wine yeast and it is therefore
best to add a little sulphite (one Campden tablet per gallon) at the outset. Alternatively
you may care in this case to ferment with the natural yeast (in this case, since there is so
much of it present, the method usually works quite well). If you do, omit the Campden
tablet, and add no yeast.
Cut the rhubarb into small pieces, cover with the cold water, and add the hawthorn
flowers and the juice and rind of the two lemons, excluding any white pith. Add also one
crushed Campden tablet. Keep the pan closely covered (not in a warm place) and stir
daily for ten days. Strain on to 2 lb. sugar, stir thoroughly until all sugar is dissolved, and
add yeast. Keep in a warm place, closely covered. After four to five days add the
remainder of the sugar, stirring thoroughly, then transfer the liquor to fermenting jar and
fit trap. Siphon off the lees after three months, and again three months later, when the
wine may be bottled. At the second racking it will be vastly improved by the addition of
¼ to ½ pint of glycerine, to counter any over-acidity.