Life span of a wine kit

[FlamingoEmporium]

It’s working ! !



Ten Years After. Ha ha that’s a band us old farts are familiar with.

But 24 hours after pitching the reconstituted yeast it’s git a nice little cap and lot of fermentation going on. The little taste I got on my pinky finger yesterday was good.

So I guess when stored in cool conditions 10 years might actually work. Kind of like that jar of pickles you find on the shelf in grandmas root cellar.

We are back to Florida on Sunday, but looks like I might have my daughter hooked on the “hobby”

AND she has better equipment than I do now.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

And it was a very active ferment. Overflowed the bucket a tiny bit.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

OK. My daughter says that old kit is stuck at 1.000. Says it doesn’t taste like wine.

 

[winemaker81]

OK. My daughter says that old kit is stuck at 1.000. Says it doesn’t taste like wine.

It's 2 weeks old ... it's not gonna taste like wine. Use the "P" world.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

It's 2 weeks old ... it's not gonna taste like wine. Use the "P" world.

That’s twice in 3 days you’ve used the “p” word.

I told her to stir it and let it go

 

[winemaker81]

That’s twice in 3 days you’ve used the “p” word.

It's 3. You missed one!

Yes, I'm over quota.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

The 10 year old kit is doing super from what I can tell over facetime.

it’s getting it’s first racking from secondary tonight.
my daughter was going to stir it and add the fining packet but I said nope, don’t do it. There was maybe 3/4 an inch of lees on the bottom. It was not cloudy at all that i could see. It looked very dark,so hard to tell over zoom. It won’t be going into bottles any time soon so I assured her it will probably get clear all on its own (P-word) sitting in that carboy.
looked like final SG was 0.998 or 0.99
dont know how much gassing action there was. She hasn’t been checking on it at all and has one ofthose 3 piece bubbler that are harder to tell what going on.

so far a success.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Update - about 4 months in on the 10 year old kit. Daughter had to bottle half of the 6 gallons so she can use the carboy for the Syrah kit I bought her.

she said it wasn’t very “red” but more brownish. And it tasted “new” in her words. 3 gallons going back in bulk aging.

 

[GretchenR]

I'm about to start a Pinot Noir kit that's about five years old. Should I make it per instructions (using new yeast and other chemicals, of course) or should I try to compensate for any possible loss of flavor by adding, for example, zante currants in primary, as I do for cheap red wine kits?

 

[winemaker81]

I'm about to start a Pinot Noir kit that's about five years old. Should I make it per instructions (using new yeast and other chemicals, of course) or should I try to compensate for any possible loss of flavor by adding, for example, zante currants in primary, as I do for cheap red wine kits?

What brand is it? If it's a reputable brand (Winexpert, RJ Spagnols, etc.) I'd make it as-is.

If it was stored in good conditions, it should be fine.

 

[sour_grapes]

The most likely "flaw" is an oxidized taste. I don't know of anything to compensate, but you could adjust your expectations to include some "leather notes."

 

[suzyq2]

The most likely "flaw" is an oxidized taste. I don't know of anything to compensate, but you could adjust your expectations to include some "leather notes. Niece and

My niece and I went to a very small winery tasting in Portland and everything tasted like bandaids. My niece graciously inquired to the taste and the server said it was strong on leather. My question is Does oxidation cause this? I thought oxidation caused a Sherry like flavor. All 4 samples had a heavy rubber taste.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

My niece and I went to a very small winery tasting in Portland and everything tasted like bandaids. My niece graciously inquired to the taste and the server said it was strong on leather. My question is Does oxidation cause this? I thought oxidation caused a Sherry like flavor. All 4 samples had a heavy rubber taste.

I’m just sitting here in the hurricane Ian devastation that used to be my yard full of fruit trees wondering how someone knows what band aids taste like

 

[Jovimaple]

I’m just sitting here in the hurricane Ian devastation that used to be my yard full of fruit trees wondering how someone knows what band aids taste like

Did you lose ALL your trees?

 

[Jovimaple]

I made a watermelon wine cooler kit (shorted the water and added sugar to increase the flavor and the ABV) earlier this year that I bought last year, and after I bought it, I realized it was from 2019. The expiration date on the yeast and additives was May of 2022 (I started it in February) so I used them. The juice was brownish and didn't taste the best, but I went ahead anyway. After fermentation was complete, I added the flavor pack. It didn't taste very good at all. I contemplated dumping it, but decided to let it sit through its resting period, then sample before bottling.

At bottling time, I think the process of racking into the bottling bucket mixed the flavor pack in more thoroughly. It was pretty good! So I bottled it. And just last night, I got a text from a friend to whom I had given a bottle of it this weekend and she said it's her new favorite! My mom also loved it. That's always a win!

It's still a reddish brown color, so I do think some oxidation took place. But, hey, if it's good, it's good!

 

[suzyq2]

I’m just sitting here in the hurricane Ian devastation that used to be my yard full of fruit trees wondering how someone knows what band aids taste like

LOL. I'll ask my niece but yes she had a point. I'm so sorry for the loss of your trees but hopefully you and yours came out unscathed.

 

[hawkwing]

I’ve had old kits and even not so old where the clarifier pack had solidified. Never know the old yeast might work ok.

Perhaps if it’s oxidized you could turn it into a tawny port.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Did you lose ALL your trees?

They actually are still standing after the 2 mph shy of cat 5 storm but lost a whole lot of branches. I had to winch up a loquat tree, and passion fruit vines are shredded. Macadamia has one ratchet straps holing it up and loquat has 2 straps . I picked up a lot of green lemons from the grounding had to chop down a good bit of my dragon fruit cactus as well. Sometimes stress will make trees produce, so we will see in January.

But when I was scouting for that pork butt in the chest freezer I found out I have some frozen mango from 3 years ago that will be turning into wine soon.