Ribena wine... what yeast to use?

[JohnBoy27]

Happy weekend everyone

I'm fancying starting a wee brew while I'm off work this week.

As a newbie I'm looking for a bit of advice with making Ribena wine since it sounds amazing! I saw a bottle 1.5 L bottle on offer in Aldi and decided why not! I have some white wine yeast kicking about in a box that I keep my home brew stuff in. I'm wondering if I could use the white wine yeast to make Ribena wine? Has anyone tried white wine yeasts or should I just order yeast for a red wine or country wine?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

My advice DONT DO IT!

Joking aside if the Ribena has preservative (see below) in it save yourself a load of grief and don't use it, the preservative will slowly kill the yeast and after a very long fermentation (many weeks) it will finish early leaving an undrinkable sweet juice with little alcohol , I tried to make it and it did what i have described it was awful (there are several threads about it in the forum) some member say boiling it gets rid of the preservative, believe me it doesn't.

Ingredients
Water, Blackcurrant Juice from Concentrate (32%), Sugar, Thickener (Polydextrose), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Gluconate), Acid (Citric Acid), Vitamin C, Extracts of (Carrot and Hibiscus), Flavourings, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Bisulphite), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose)


If you want to make some cheap, quick and great tasting wine try this -
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/supermarket-juice-wine-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/

 

[johncrobinson]

I belive it USED to be possible many moons ago (Before the recipe was changed).
The preservitive in modern Ribena makes it a bit of a non starter.
Chippys right:- Dont do it.!!!!!

Its the sorbate that ruins the game.
When choosing juice for wine look for pure juice NO PRESERVATIVES.

Check the ingrediants then check again.

 

[JohnBoy27]

Thanks guys for the advice I really do appreciate it.

I've picked up myself some apple juice and cranberry juice which have no preservatives so going to attempt to make an apple and cranberry rose wine tomorrow!

Thanks again guys.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Keep us posted

 

[Bando]

Sorry but I'd like to correct you all here even though I'm an inexperienced brewer and I'm only 20 but I regularly make ribena and vimto wine for my family and it ferments out to about 1.000 easily, since preservatives are measured to keep yhe bottle quantity safe, when diluted for a wine must it is very ineffective just use a decent yeast starter thats a few hours old getting to business into your boiled and cooled down to 30C mixture I've had no problems this way my recipes use around 1 part vimto or ribena to about 3 parts water and makes a fine wine

 

[jof]

I taught my teenagers how to make this and I think the truth is somewhere in between.
Fermentation times are long compared to wine made from juice.
You must add some kind of nutrients for the yeast (tried Young's wine nutrient & latest batch had a bag of frozen blackberries added)
Even then, it will be out quite sweet at the end.

So, if you want to make it, treat it as a fun experiment and don't rely on it for your main brew

 

[Bando]

It is sweet tasting but not overly sweet id say about medium, all the sugar will ferment down its the sweetners that make it sweet at the end not the fermentation stopping, mine usually takes just under 2 weeks to hit 1.000 from about 1.095 I think not too bad plenty of other wines can slow ferment longer id say its definitely worth trying for johnboy since he's already bought the bottle

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sorry but I'd like to correct you all here even though I'm an inexperienced brewer and I'm only 20 but I regularly make ribena and vimto wine for my family and it ferments out to about 1.000 easily,

Mine died at 1010 and was sickly sweet .1000 may be OK if you like a sweet wine we found it undrinkable.

since preservatives are measured to keep yhe bottle quantity safe, when diluted for a wine must it is very ineffective just use a decent yeast starter thats a few hours old getting to business into your boiled and cooled down to 30C mixture I've had no problems this way my recipes use around 1 part vimto or ribena to about 3 parts water and makes a fine wine

I boiled mine and used youngs super wine yeast compound it struggled for several weeks and a i said above died at .1010, compare that to supermarket juice wine using the same yeast that goes from ingredients to fully fermented wine bottled in two weeks.

I am not saying people shouldn't use juice with preservatives in it but i would hate new members to try this first and be put off by something you end up pouring down the sink as i did because its way too sweet, there is no guarantee it will finish at .1000 so it could easily be a lot sweeter.

As one of the older members told me when i was having problems with my Ribena wine "When it comes to Ribena and wine making the best place for it is on the supermarket shelf" after my fail i must say i couldn't agree more.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/supermarket-juice-wine-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/

 

[Bando]

Yeah thats well said for beginners and as you or someone said don't use it for your main brew, but if someone's already bought the ribena I'd encourage to try it its very cheap wine win or lose, if sickly sweet might pair well half and half with something that's tongue curlingly dry

 

[JohnBoy27]

It is sweet tasting but not overly sweet id say about medium, all the sugar will ferment down its the sweetners that make it sweet at the end not the fermentation stopping, mine usually takes just under 2 weeks to hit 1.000 from about 1.095 I think not too bad plenty of other wines can slow ferment longer id say its definitely worth trying for johnboy since he's already bought the bottle

It appears Ribena is splitting opinions! I quite like Ribena anyway so it would never go to waste...

Bando how long do you boil the Ribena for and would that not allow the boiling off of essential oils/flavours that make Ribena, Ribena?

 

[Bando]

It appears Ribena is splitting opinions! I quite like Ribena anyway so it would never go to waste...

Bando how long do you boil the Ribena for and would that not allow the boiling off of essential oils/flavours that make Ribena, Ribena?

Just once ots boiling let it do so for 2-3 minutes, don't know whether it helps but people sometimes say half an hour and tbats definatly not needed.. some people say boiling does nothing, but I've always let it boil for a couple minutes regardless flavour is in tact afterwards cant say the same for people boiling it for half an hour tho

 

[Bando]

I believe boiling is supposed to break down the molecules of preservatives or something to defeat some of their properties but I dont know what truth there is to it

 

[johncrobinson]

20yrs old and making wine.

I like that.

I used to help my own father back in the 1960s to make wine.I learned a lot but learned even more by experimenting.
Just go for it.

 

[johncrobinson]

Their is much better things to make wine out of
The countryside is flush with ingediants to make wine out of
Problem is fruit picking seems to have gone out of fashion.

 

[Bando]

Their is much better things to make wine out of
The countryside is flush with ingediants to make wine out of
Problem is fruit picking seems to have gone out of fashion.

I have made so far
Strawberry
Raspberry
Banana and raisin
Grapefruit
Mint and lime
Pino grigio
Rosé
Asda red grape juice red wine no water added
Sweet spiced ginger
Spiced apple
Apple
Parsnip
Blackberry
Teaco wonky mixed berry medley red wine
Cherry
Lemon and lavender
Lemon
Vimto
Ribena
Various mead
Pineapple
Tropical
Cranberry
Coffee
Plain dry ginger
Aniseed
Pear
If I think of more I will add
, I started 7 months ago

 

[Bando]

Some pictures as maybe you won't believe me for my age haha

 

[JohnBoy27]

Some pictures as maybe you won't believe me for my age haha

Thats a mighty fine collection of wine!

 

[Bando]

Thats a mighty fine collection of wine!

Thankyou, probably 300 litres all together i reckon, most stored in 25 litre drums at my dads maturing I'm hoping to acquire an alcohol licence soon and open my own little shop as a way of income, but many recipes to perfect first!

 

[Bando]

Thats a mighty fine collection of wine!

I make rum and vodka also but only just learning the ins and outs of it, also it is not legal for me to do so sadly even slower progression