Other Old wine kit

[eelgerg]

I got a free wine kit. It's about 10 years old but I'm assuming it is a concentrate. Was stored in a cold room.

Any concerns? Or give'ER and see how it turns out? What's the worst that can happen? Make bad wine?

 

[Putterrr]

nothing to lose but your time. you will need new chemicals and yeast for sure. you could also smell/taste the juice before you begin. i have made kits that were 3 years old but never 10.

cheers

 

[geek]

Wow, 10 years old??
Which exact kit is it? Just curiosity.

 

[bkisel]

Without any real knowledge my guess is the worst that can happen is you get food poisoning.

Personally, even if it had been frozen for 10 years I'd not use it for making wine.

 

[Mismost]

Without any real knowledge my guess is the worst that can happen is you get food poisoning.

Personally, even if it had been frozen for 10 years I'd not use it for making wine.

dang Bill....aren't you the guy that hangs meat in his cellar for months and then eats it??

I would at least set up and pour it in a bucket, give a sniff and a snort....if I didn't gag or puke, I would pitch some yeast and see what happened.

 

[winojoe]

Check out the concentrate. If it is brown, flush it down!

10 years is an awfully long time. My bet is on it being bad.

 

[Ajmassa]

Curiosity would force me to at least open and try and justify to pitch yeast. But for perspective :
I found an unopened carton of Tropicana fruit punch in my basement. The basement is cooler than the rest of the house. But it says 'best if used by May 2007'. Think the kids would notice??

 

[Smokin_Paul]

Well I bought an old white wine kit I was told was 2 years old. Got a super deal. I added PVPP just incase there was any oxidation.

Before that kit was finished I was picking up bottles from the same store. I mentioned I might try another old kit. The store owner said you don't want those kits there over 5 years old. Hmm? So when I get home I decode the product number only to find out the kit isn't 2 years old, isn't 5 years old... it was 7 years old!

It was a Gewurztraminer and it actually turned out OK. It's flavor didn't pop like it should but it was pretty good. I ended up playing around with flavors and turned most of it into a Walnut wine. Walnut, Carmel and streusel flavoring with some sweetener and it's pretty awesome if you like candied Walnuts.

Get some PVPP to reduce any oxidation. Get some tannins to help it out during fermentation and after. If its a red it might turn out OK. You have nothing to lose.

 

[winojoe]

I love a success story!

 

[MSLISAJ]

I was given a 10 year old wine kit of French Cabernet. All the chemicals and yeast were bad but the sealed juice was okay. There was some oxidation but the wine came out very drinkable. Interesting side note is the longer it "aged" in the bottle the better it got. It turned out to be one of the best wines I have ever made. So I would definitely make and enjoy it.

Lisa

 

[BOB21801]

I just bought a bunch of supplies from an older couple who aren't making much wine nowadays. Some brand new items and some older and in need of a good cleaning. I paid about 25% of the cost if I bought everything new from a shop. The best item is probably the Ferrari Floor Corker I was thrilled to get. Also included 2 old Wine Expert Kits - Green Apple Riesling, and Mango Citrus Symphony - I think they're close to 10 years old too. I'll definitely give them a try. I'll use new yeast and additives of course. I really think they'll be ok. I'll do the mango first because I have a (new) Green Apple kit in a carboy already. Fingers crossed and optimistic.

Bob

 

[eelgerg]

This is the wine kit. Assume it is > 7 yrs old

 

[BOB21801]

This is the wine kit. Assume it is > 7 yrs old

You haven't started it yet? It ain't gonna get any younger. lol. I'm definitely not one of the more experienced winemakers here, but I say go for it now - nothing to lose but some time, and if nothing else, you'll gain an experience to learn something from.

I started my old Mango/Citrus kit about 11 days ago - just got it into the secondary fermenter tonight. I used new yeast, 1/2 the F-pack and a couple cups of sugar to kick the ABV up a bit, so it was bubbling well extra long. The must is a mango color, but quite murky. I've not done one of these kits before, so I don't have much to compare to, but I think it might be bit oxidized. No funky odors and it tastes fair so I'll keep at it. Depending on how well it clears up, I might allow it to age and clear quite a bit longer than normal for a Wine Expert kit. I figure at worse, I'll drink some very mediocre wine and learn something from the experience. And it might surprise me and turn out very good too. I'm willing to find out. I have a couple other batches of wine going, as well as a small batch of cranberry/blood orange mead and a crazy hippie stinging nettle, dandelion, kava beer experiment. It all keeps life interesting and fun.

Bob

 

[Evan_J]

I have used kits up to about 5 - 6 years old. As far as I could tell, they were fine. There was no oxidized color or flavor. But I did not make the same kit from new juice, in order to compare directly. More expensive kits have larger volume of juice, which probably requires heavier and less permeable bags, so they may stay fresh longer than cheap kits. There is no danger of food poisoning, as long as the bag was sealed. The additives, if unopened, are probably fine, except the yeast will be dead. Most kits are packed with Lalvin 1118 to assure complete fermentation, but you may wish to choose something else, if you think it might yield a tastier wine.

FYI, aging before fermentation does not equal aging after fermentation. If the wine from an old kit does not taste good, let it age in the carboy or in bottles, for about a year. There will usually be a huge difference (improvement). That's also true for fresh kits.