Ribena Wine

[Porkbeast]

Here is my recipe for 5 gallon of Ribena Wine. Its half price at my local co-op at the moment so the price came to £3.

First buy two liters of Ribena (make sure it is the real stuff and not the sweetener added juice drinks).

Pour the syrup into a pan and heat to 80 degrees for 10 mins to drive off the sulphites which will inhibit fermentation.

Add 7 kilo of sugar dissolved in a gallon of boiling water.

One cup of strong tea made with two tea bags and the Juice of three large lemons.

Pour the Ribena juice, sugar water, tea and lemon juice into a 5 gallon bucket.

Add 5 tsp of yeat nutient and a starter culture of yeast and ferment for a week or so until the frothing dies down.

This took a bit of getting going untill I put it next to the radiator. I dont know if all the sulphites were driven off but its going ok now.

I will keep you posted.

Porky...

Snort!

 

[adrianmole72]

That looks great !

 

[Kyral210]

Ribena wine :wha:

 

[Porkbeast]

Ribena wine :wha:

Well Blackcurrent cheat wine really....

 

[metalmickey]

whats in the DJ on the windasil

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

whats in the DJ on the windasil

And, more importantly, why is it on the windowsill?

 

[Porkbeast]

whats in the DJ on the windasil

Rosehip.

Its a south facing (double glazed) window and gets nice and warm in this room as well as being the right height for racking easily.

I have never been convinced that even temperatures are critical to a good brew as I have done both many times and never been able to tell the difference - although many recommend an even ferment. Like obsessive cleanliness, I think some hobbyists just create work for the sake of it. As a gardener I know this is true. I have never bothered washing a pot when transplanting seedlings as recommended and nothing has ever gone wrong. I think a lot of these ideas come from industry where obsessive cleanliness is more essential and the greater volume means more chance of contamination. Also the industry has a vested interest in getting you to consume product. Of course sterilisation is important in brewing but can be taken to extremes imho. Is there any science to back the even temperature ferment baring in mind that taste is subjective?

Another brewing "myth" I reckon is the idea that they should be fermented out of sunlight. Fine if you want to "preserve the colour" of a dark wine but then I use a brown DJ. I like watching my brews work especially with the sun behind them. Yeast is a plant and as a gardener I know plants like light so why not yeast? They seem to like it and get an extra hit of heat from the sun too...

Porky

Snort!

 

[Porkbeast]

I forgot to add that while uneven temperatures are not that crucial in my opinion they certainly are if they stray outside of the 18-25 celsius sweet spot!

Porky

Snort!

 

[greencheapsk8]

You mean the 0-64'C spot

 

[andy_hardy5]

I'm thinking of making this myself so am following your posts, but I just wondered whether the tomato puree was there by accident or will you be using it later on?

 

[Mark1964]

looks splendid :)

 

[Porkbeast]

The tom puree is yeast nutrient. About a table spoon.

 

[andy_hardy5]

I never realised you could use tomato puree as nutrient, glad I asked the question now, thanks

 

[andy_hardy5]

Just put a couple of gallons of this on. I split it down as don't have an empty 25ltr FV at the moment.

For each gallon I used:

500ml Ribena
1250g Sugar
Juice of half a Lemon
1tsp Youngs Wine Yeast
1tsp Nutrient
1 Strong Cup of Tea
1tsp Glycerin

Hidden away under the stairs for a few weeks.

Thanks Porkbeast :thumb:

 

[Deadmonty]

Any update on this? Would be interested to know how it turned out.

 

[hedgerow pete]

its a lovely wine but if you want to be evil to all the idiots we meet trying to get free bottle use a high alc yeast and take it up towards the mid 20's i did it once gave a bottle to a scrounger, he ended up getting greedy thought he could handle it and ended up mowing his living room carpet before passing out in his shed, lol

 

[magnerslover]

its a lovely wine but if you want to be evil to all the idiots we meet trying to get free bottle use a high alc yeast and take it up towards the mid 20's i did it once gave a bottle to a scrounger, he ended up getting greedy thought he could handle it and ended up mowing his living room carpet before passing out in his shed, lol

PMSL thanks for the tip......... :party:

 

[ingypingy2]

if making this, would I need to add a stabiliser or campden tab, and what would the ideal hydrometer reading be?

Cheers

 

[Moley]

All depends upon how you like your wine.

As I would suggest that this probably works best as a medium wine, then best practice would be to let it ferment out into the low 0.99s, then rack + CT + sorbate and back-sweeten to taste.

Much of the fruity flavour is going to be lost during the fermentation process, so if you want to give it a full kick of blackcurrant, use more cordial to sweeten it.

 

[ingypingy2]

fantastic, thanks for the advice :) will have to get some on the go when there's room in the airing cupboard :) gonna have a bash at the raspberryade too, they both sound yummy :)