Old Kits

I was given three WE kits from someone who bought them then decided they didn't want to make it after all... So these kits are 2-3 years old (maybe older). I already started the peach icewine (2012 release) 2 days ago and the yeast seems to be taking off well. I just started the port tonight and I also have a chocolate raspberry port kit but I can't start that one until I have room since I only have 2 3 gallon carboys.

There were no off smells but the color seems strange to me... but maybe the peach is supposed to start off a little brown? I figure it won't hurt to try it (especially since they were given to me because she was just going to throw them away).

Has anyone else had experience working with an older wine kit?

I did a Vintners Reserve white that was about 2 years old at the time. It had started to turn a little dark but the must tasted fine. Read an article about curing wine faults that suggested dosing the must with Kmeta and using a fining agent before fermenting to try to lighten the color. It did lighten the color but it seemed to hurt the taste. If I had it to do over again I would have just left it dark.

The biggest problem you are likely to face isn't getting the fermentation to start, it is getting it to finish. The two that you mentioned by name are both high alcohol desert wines that push the yeast to their limits. Google stuck fermentation and you will find that the chocolate raspberry port is the poster child. As the fermentation is getting close to finishing the environment becomes very hostile for the yeast. The high CO2 levels and high alcohol levels are both toxic to the yeast which makes them more sensitive to things that wouldn't bother a typical ABV wine. If I were you I think I would add another pack of fresh yeast as soon as possible to get as healthy of a culture as I could. Then keep the wine warm (upper 70's) and avoid fluctuations in temperature. Even swings of a few degrees can be enough to stop the fermentation especially if they are rapid swings from something like a space heater. When you get ready for the captalization, divide the sugar pack into thirds. Add the first third take an SG reading. Wait a day or two and take another SG. If it is falling add the next third and repeat until all the sugar is added. If the SG doesn't drop don't add any more sugar. There are two advantages to this 1) Adding all the sugar at once can overwhelm the yeast and cause it to give up. 2) If you add all the sugar at once and it gets stuck, you end up with a lot of extra sugar and a very sweet wine. If you only add a third and it gets stuck there is less extra sugar. If worst comes to worst and it get stuck don't go to heroic measures to try to restart it. You will only hurt the taste of the wine. Just accept what the wine gives you. You can always fortify with brandy or Everclear if you want a higher alcohol content.

One important factor use nutrients such as Fermaid-K to get through the fermentation.

On these old kits I would use fresh yeast and throw away any chemicals in the kit and also start fresh. potassium sorbate has only a one year shelf life for example.

the browning will drop out once you use the clarifier.

Thanks! So far so good. I love the sound of fermentation bubbling in the basement. I'll be sure to ask if I have any more issues with this. I've never made a port before so this will be interesting and at least it was FREE!

The port is stuck... Started at 1.13 at 72* 6 days ago and it was vigorously fermenting for the first 2-3 days... Now there is only some light fizz ONLY when I stir it and it's been stuck for 3 days at 1.05 (I'm supposed to get it down to 1.015 before chaptalisation). I've been stirring with a drill whip 2x a day. Since it's not moving I don't want to let it sit long. I have never made a port. What should I do?

Daisy317 said:

The port is stuck... Started at 1.13 at 72* 6 days ago and it was vigorously fermenting for the first 2-3 days... Now there is only some light fizz ONLY when I stir it and it's been stuck for 3 days at 1.05 (I'm supposed to get it down to 1.015 before chaptalisation). I've been stirring with a drill whip 2x a day. Since it's not moving I don't want to let it sit long. I have never made a port. What should I do?

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Add more yeast.

Daisy if it was fizzing a lil when stirring it's still fermenting although lightly. Make sure it's warm enough mid 70s and make sure it's at this temp when adding new yeast good luck and no more drill! Your releasing all the protective co2 again good luck

barbiek said:

Daisy if it was fizzing a lil when stirring it's still fermenting although lightly. Make sure it's warm enough mid 70s and make sure it's at this temp when adding new yeast good luck and no more drill! Your releasing all the protective co2 again good luck

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I only used it the last few days when it didn't seem to be doing anything. I won't do it anymore. It's been around 73*. I can move it to warm it up and see if that does anything.

Sounds like the old yeast may not have been able to establish a colony that was large enough and healthy enough to get the job done. I would get two packages of whatever yeast came with the kit ( probably Red Star Premier Cuvee). I would then warm it up to something like 78F and keep it there. It's best to maintain the temp as stable as you can. Putting the bucket in a water bath with an aquarium heater would be a good approach. Next I would stir the wine to drive off some of the CO2 and introduce some oxygen. You don't need to do a thorough degassing. Just getting rid of some of theCO2 in the wine and the CO2 blanket on top will help. CO2 is poisonous to yeast plus the yeast will need oxygen to reproduce and form a strong colony. The short amount of time that surface will be exposed to the air before the yeast reestablish themselves are start producing CO2 again is not likely to do much damage. Once you get to the point where you can rack to a carboy with an airlock, it would be a good idea to gently rock the carboy a couple of time a day or stir with a spoon (not a drill) to try and drive out some of the CO2. At that point the yeast will be fighting for their life so getting rid of some of the CO2 might just help them last long enough to finish the fermentation. Good luck.

I'm going to be making a raspberry choc port and I did a search and found this thread. I've heard about the kits stalling out and being very difficult to finish to dry. I don't think you had an unusual ferment from what I've read on other threads. Just wondering how this one turned out. Did you finally get it to finish the ferment? How did the finished wine end up tasting?