What’s the shelf life on Bottled Island Mist Kits?? 🤔

[WinoDave]

I have a few different varieties of Island Mist Kit wines that’s been in the bottle now for 18 months ago or so and they seem to have lost their flavor and turning a little sour. Do these sweet wines need to be drank by the year mark?? I make them per instructions and add a 4 pound bag of sugar to them to up the gravity some. Just wondering if it’s me or are they just that way. Thank You for any responses and your time.

 

[Johnd]

I have a few different varieties of Island Mist Kit wines that’s been in the bottle now for 18 months ago or so and they seem to have lost their flavor and turning a little sour. Do these sweet wines need to be drank by the year mark?? I make them per instructions and add a 4 pound bag of sugar to them to up the gravity some. Just wondering if it’s me or are they just that way. Thank You for any responses and your time.

I’ve kept them well past two years, even three, without any issues. If you’ve got decent corks, had good sanitation, properly sulfite, and relatively good storage arrangements, no reason why yours shouldn’t last.

 

[WinoDave]

I’ve kept them well past two years, even three, without any issues. If you’ve got decent corks, had good sanitation, properly sulfite, and relatively good storage arrangements, no reason why yours shouldn’t last.

thanks, I called my wine supply store and talked to the owner about it. She said she’s had problems with their cork supplier selling her defective corks around the time I-made those kits so that could be the reason why. I have noticed on some of the bottles I open the cork brea. I do add 1/4 teaspoon of sulphite before bottling and my bottles are Stored in my basement where it’s 60-65 degrees.Probably the corks then. Thank You for your reply.

 

[Johnd]

thanks, I called my wine supply store and talked to the owner about it. She said she’s had problems with their cork supplier selling her defective corks around the time I-made those kits so that could be the reason why. I have noticed on some of the bottles I open the cork brea. I do add 1/4 teaspoon of sulphite before bottling and my bottles are Stored in my basement where it’s 60-65 degrees.Probably the corks then. Thank You for your reply.

Thats.a bummer if you got some bad corks As far as the sulfite management, the best thing to do is to adjust sulfite to the recommended level (based on pH) right before bottling. That said, if you don’t test for sulfite, and use the good old 1/4 tsp per 6 gal. carboy every three months, just stick with that. If you don’t happen to bottle shortly after your 3 month adjustment, adjust your sulfite based on the last time you did it. For instance, if it was a month and a half ago, cut the 1/4 tsp in half, to 1/8, and hit it with that. If it’s been 2 months, take 1/4 tsp, cut into thirds (pretty easy in a smooth table with a credit card), and use 2/3 to add. Good luck!!!

 

[winemaker81]

@WinoDave, made according to the directions, fun wine kits come in at ~7% ABV and don't have a long shelf life. However, you chaptalized yours to the level I do (10% to 11% ABV) so the shelf life should be like a normal wine. I've had one last 7 years.

It sounds like the corks may be the problem, especially since it's across several batches. If they are tanking, there's not much you can do to correct it at this point. You could try re-corking the wines with good corks -- that may slow the deterioration, but it won't improve the wines. Keep them as cold as you can, above freezing, to slow deterioration as well.

Beyond that? Use 'em up! If you don't cook with wine, it's time to start!

I mean putting the wine in the food as well as in the cook .....

 

[WinoDave]

@WinoDave, made according to the directions, fun wine kits come in at ~7% ABV and don't have a long shelf life. However, you chaptalized yours to the level I do (10% to 11% ABV) so the shelf life should be like a normal wine. I've had one last 7 years.

It sounds like the corks may be the problem, especially since it's across several batches. If they are tanking, there's not much you can do to correct it at this point. You could try re-corking the wines with good corks -- that may slow the deterioration, but it won't improve the wines. Keep them as cold as you can, above freezing, to slow deterioration as well.

Beyond that? Use 'em up! If you don't cook with wine, it's time to start!

I mean putting the wine in the food as well as in the cook .....

Thank You for the reply, when I think about it, I have a few bottles of the Eclipse Wine Kits also that I bottled around the same too with those corks, so should I definitely re cork those bottles? I now use the synthetic rubber corks, been using those for the past year or so.
I opened a few bottles of the island mist yesterday to taste test them, seemed only a few bottles have been bad while most are still ok.

 

[WinoDave]

Thats.a bummer if you got some bad corks As far as the sulfite management, the best thing to do is to adjust sulfite to the recommended level (based on pH) right before bottling. That said, if you don’t test for sulfite, and use the good old 1/4 tsp per 6 gal. carboy every three months, just stick with that. If you don’t happen to bottle shortly after your 3 month adjustment, adjust your sulfite based on the last time you did it. For instance, if it was a month and a half ago, cut the 1/4 tsp in half, to 1/8, and hit it with that. If it’s been 2 months, take 1/4 tsp, cut into thirds (pretty easy in a smooth table with a credit card), and use 2/3 to add. Good luck!!!

thank you for the suggestion. Think I’ll sulphite for now on, on the day of bottling also. I normally sulphite, let the wine sit another month, then bottle.

 

[Johnd]

thank you for the suggestion. Think I’ll sulphite for now on, on the day of bottling also. I normally sulphite, let the wine sit another month, then bottle.

Honestly, it's probably just fine to bottle a month after adding sulfite. The 1/4 tsp rule is a little heavy handed in my experience, though it seems to keep your wine well below the "ability to taste" threshold.

 

[winemaker81]

I opened a few bottles of the island mist yesterday to taste test them, seemed only a few bottles have been bad while most are still ok.

I would re-cork, as it's protecting your investment. Pick a batch, start pulling corks and tasting. Put the good bottles in one area and the not-so-good in another. Clean your wine thief between uses so you don't infect good wine with bad. The tasting will consume some wine, so you'll need to "sacrifice" a good bottle to top up the other good bottles. [the wine is going where it belongs, in you, so it's not so much a sacrifice as an immediate consumption]

The bad ones? It depends on how bad they are. If they are drinkable, just not optimal, I'd put them in screwcaps and use them up sooner than later. Depending on how fast you use them, I might consolidate in larger jugs. If I could avoid using more corks on them, I would. 'Cuz I'm cheap.

I have 3 or 4 cases of clean screwcap bottles that I use for various purposes (plus I had NO idea just how many I had cleaned until I organized my empty bottles), so I'd go the screwcap route. Crank the cap tight, then turn upside down to see if it leaks. If the bottle leaks, move the wine to another bottle and recycle the leaking one.

On a normal basis I don't advocate using screwcaps as the cap will fail and leak at some point, although it may be 5 or 6 uses.