Hello everyone!
I am an avid beer brewer, but was recently given a free WineExpert White Zinfandel wine kit, 6 gallon carboy and a white plastic fermenter along with some other goodies that come with your standard wine kits.
Here's the catch...the wine kit (not the fermenting equipment but the actual grape concentrate/wine kit) was 3 years old. I was told wine kits have an 18 month shelf life, but I decided to try it anyways. Knowing the yeast was probably dead, I threw it out and bought a new packet of Red Star wine yeast.
Everything seems to be going good, and the wine actually tastes pretty decent even though it's still fermenting and tastes bubbly, almost carbonated. My concern is the color of the wine...I know it's going to appear darker in the carboy as opposed to a wine glass, but the wine is a brownish color...I can post pics if requested. Shouldn't a white zinfandel be pink? Also, when I transferred the wine from the bucket to the carboy the sediment left at the bottom was black. I'm used to beer sediment being white/grayish...I was really surprised that it was black. Could this just be because the wine kit was so old?
Thanks for any responses!
I am an avid beer brewer, but was recently given a free WineExpert White Zinfandel wine kit, 6 gallon carboy and a white plastic fermenter along with some other goodies that come with your standard wine kits.
Here's the catch...the wine kit (not the fermenting equipment but the actual grape concentrate/wine kit) was 3 years old. I was told wine kits have an 18 month shelf life, but I decided to try it anyways. Knowing the yeast was probably dead, I threw it out and bought a new packet of Red Star wine yeast.
Everything seems to be going good, and the wine actually tastes pretty decent even though it's still fermenting and tastes bubbly, almost carbonated. My concern is the color of the wine...I know it's going to appear darker in the carboy as opposed to a wine glass, but the wine is a brownish color...I can post pics if requested. Shouldn't a white zinfandel be pink? Also, when I transferred the wine from the bucket to the carboy the sediment left at the bottom was black. I'm used to beer sediment being white/grayish...I was really surprised that it was black. Could this just be because the wine kit was so old?
Thanks for any responses!