Scheming to make a Rhubarb hard cider.

[ehpower2]

So i have been mulling this around all winter and i have a few ideas that i want to run past you.

My intention is to make a semi sweet hard cider that stays around a FG of 1.010 with an abv around 6 to 7%. I want it some what sweet to balance out the sour of the rhubarb but at the same time i want enough of that sour kick like still eating a fresh stalk.

This will be Kegged

Plan A:

I plan on taking 3 gallons of apple cider and adjust the OG to provide the desired ABV % i am looking for. To this point i plan on using WLP775 cider yeast to ferment to as low as it will go. After Primary i plan on racking to secondary to age a month or two. After that i will have in the mean time prepared the Rhubarb by placing 3 lbs to a gallon of juice into freezer bags to be frozen to extract the Rhubarb juice. Once it is time to back sweeten i will make a simple syrup and use that and the rhubarb juice as a way to flavor to what i want. Then kegged...

Plan B:

Its the same as plan A except during primary i add an extra Pound of rhubarb processed to ferment with the apple cider then back sweeten with rhubarb juice and simple syrup.



What i am wondering is how does my thinking sound. Yes i am familiar with the popular rhubarb while recipe but i am looking to see if my plan will meet what i am looking for. Also any advice would be greatly appreciated on making something like this.

E.H.

 

[buMbLeB]

Plan B sounds more rhubarb-y. Also, ginger maybe?

 

[ericbw]

I think A. I bet fermented rhubarb is nasty. Any sugar would be gone, leaving only tart, vegetable flavor.

The syrup to backsweeten sounds good. I would flavor done fresh apple juice with rhubarb so it's tart and strong, backsweeten with that.

The cider you make with 775 will be strong and thin. It also produces some sulfur. But it makes it very smooth and mellow after backsweetening.

 

[CKuhns]

Agree with Erics thought. Would love to hear what you did and how this turns out.

 

[ehpower2]

Sure I can keep this up to date. I plan on running a 5 gallon batch to see how it goes. Should start making the cider portion this weekend.

 

[ehpower2]

Well i am off to the races with this project. Started out with 5 gallons of Indian summer apple cider and upped the OG to 1.060. Did usual cider additions such as pectic enzyme and other additives but left out the potassium metabi out of the mix as the juice is pasteurized. I did decide to go after Plan A. so far the cider stock i am creating is fermenting at a constant 64 degrees. Should finish at about 8,2 percent abv before i back sweeten.

 

[katzgejm]

i'll be doing a similar rhubarb cider come may. i think i'll be fermenting a little rhubarb in the primary just to give the whole thing a nice, integrated rhubarb bent. might include some strawberry in the backsweetening syrup...

 

[josey12]

Hi, I am brand new to cider making and the forum. I have three started, playing only with juices and yeasts. However, now I have a bumper crop of rhubarb and was wondering about a rhubarb (apple) cider.

Ehpower2, any update on how yours is coming along?

 

[buMbLeB]

I'm going to be harvesting rhubarb from my Dad's garden for this very purpose, interested in any updates you may have.

 

[Firewalker11]

I have never used rhubarb in a cider before but I was wondering if stewing the rhubarb and sweetening it in the pot then using that in the cider would add a nice rhubarb taste without all the vegetable?

 

[ehpower2]

It took longer than normal for my fermentation( 5 weeks) but i was also running another experiment running a cooler fermentation temps to make a smoother base with a particular yeast strain. The rhubarb is up to height but is rather spindly so i was going to check this weekend and see how my plants are coming as normally we get pretty massive healthy stalks of rhubarb. But next up i plan on getting them juiced via the freezing method and then creating a sugar syrup to mix in with the flavoring to taste soon. As of 5/13 my gravity readings went from an OG of 1.060 to an FG of .998 and i plan on making about a gallon of flavoring to add to the base which should drop the abv to around 6 to 7%

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Bear in mind if you're adding more fementable sugars in the mix you might get bottle bombs if it's not in the right proportions. If you're kegging and want some residual sugar, I highly recommend potassium sorbate at kegging and letting it sit a while before drinking (let it carb nice and slow at serving psi for a week or two). Good luck!

 

[josey12]

Any comments on how to go about it? I would rather like to keep it simple. So I was thinking adding either raw rhubarb or cooking it slow/low heat to break it down a bit. I would add either right at the beginning of the fermentation.

 

[katzgejm]

I just received 40L pure, fresh rhubarb juice. Thinking I'll add about 20L to 400L apple juice, ferment that out, and then backsweeten with the remaining 20L of juice with sugar added to bring the total residual to around 25g/L.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[madscientist451]

I did a Rhubarb cider last year. I used a base cider that was pressed in the fall of 2014; by June 2015 the cider had aged 3-4 months after fermentation had stopped. I chopped up the Rhubarb and froze it , then racked 3 gallons of cider on to 3 lbs of Rhubarb. The fermentation didn't kick off too much, seems there isn't much ferment-able sugar in Rhubarb. I left the cider on the Rhubarb about 3 weeks, then racked off.
I got a decent Rhubarb tartness/flavor but it needed to be sweetened for my taste. It was just too tart.
So some I back sweetened with a frozen strawberry/apple juice concentrate and it was consumed pretty fast in the hot summer weather.
I held back a gallon and it has aged nicely, will probably blend it and backsweeten and get it used up this summer.