Wines and SpiritsMaking Wine From Ribena
In following directions for how to homemade wine It is important to note that Ribena is a perfect syrup which is famous for fermenting must made from fruits.Ҡ In knowing the how to homemade wine, wine makers use this to get extra special results. The rate to add it would be one to two bottles per gallon. When making wines from dried fruits, adding one or two bottles of Ribena per gallon would all the more improve the flavor and quality of the wine.Ҡ Similarly, when making wines from fresh fruits that give a red wine, one or two bottles or Ribena could be added to make up for other fruits. This way, you may disregard the SO2 preservative because the amount in the Ribena will not be enough to stop fermentation, but it would be best to add it at the vigorous fermentation stage-during the first ten days.
If you recommend to use Ribena in your how to homemade wine recipes, bear in mind that each bottle contains approximately eight ounces of sugar, so you should reduce accordingly the amount of sugar in whichever recipes you are using.Ҡ Undiluted Ribena is not readily fermentable, because it contains just over seven pounds of sugar per gallon and is preserved with 350 parts per million SO2-either of which is capable of preventing fermentation.
Obviously, our aim when following the how to homemade wine directions Ҡwith Ribena will be to reduce the amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon, by using halfҠ Ribena and halfҠ water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative to around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent fermentation, though it could do so.
***All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed to cool naturally.
STAGE 1
Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a nucleus was added and the mixture allowed to ferment for ten days.
STAGE 2
After ten days" fermentation, two bottles ofҠ Ribena and oneҠ bottle of water were added and the mixture allowed to ferment for a further ten days.
STAGE 3
After a total of twenty days" fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one more bottle of water were added. Fermentation was then allowed to carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants.
At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have been driven off during fermentation by adding those last two bottles, it was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million. Fearing that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage, it was decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising the temperature of the to 70 deg. C.
If you want to include this in your how to homemade wine recipes Ҡand have no suitable thermometer, stand the bottles in a saucepan of water and during your how to homemade wine endeavor, slowly raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at once. The caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.