Vineco Shelf life\expiry date for Mist kits???

[sideways2]

Greetings!!

So a buddy who tried his hand at wine making and failed, passed along a Niagara Mist kit that he had sitting for a while...my question is, do these kits have an expiry date??

I can't see nothing on the box and I'm guessing it's been sitting for at least a year!!

Should I go ahead and give it a go??

Thanks!!!

Dave

 

[diggerdan17]

I just Started a mist kit that was 15 months old and it smelled great when i opened the juice bag.The yeast was still good and it took off ferociously.

The only thing that was showing signs of age was the flavor reserve pack, it had started to crystallize some.It will probably turn out just fine if you went ahead and pitched the yeast.

Good luck.

Digger

 

[sideways2]

Fantastic...thanks!!!

I actually found a date code on the yeast...06/11...so I should be good to go!!

I'll start it tonight after work!!!

Cheers!!

 

[cpfan]

Fantastic...thanks!!!

I actually found a date code on the yeast...06/11...so I should be good to go!!

I'll start it tonight after work!!!

Cheers!!

With yeast that old, the kit is probably older.

See Wade's post here for the date code info.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3340

Which NM kit is it? I don't have experience with old NM kits, but a red might be OK. Not sure about blushes. But I'm thinking a white might be quite oxidized.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I once got an old kit from someone. It was a Gewurztraminer and the juice had oxidized to the point that it had a light brown hue. It smelled OK though. I went ahead and made the kit with the addition of some crab apples. The tart apples covered the light prune taste of oxidation. The only thing that now indicated oxidation was the light brown tint. I added a couple of tea bags to the batch; this added some tannin and accounted for the color; it's now a Gewerz-Crabapple-Tea desert wine. It turned out quite nice.

 

[sideways2]

The kit is a Wildberry White Zinfandel...

I just mixed it up...here's a pic...

 

[sideways2]

k...so checked that date code...

My box says 9020...so it's from 2009...

Should I even have bothered??

 

[cpfan]

k...so checked that date code...

My box says 9020...so it's from 2009...

Should I even have bothered??

January 20 2009, so it's over 2 years old. Hard to tell (for me anyway) in the pic if the wine is oxidized. You've gone this far, so might as well keep going. The Wildberry flavour should be strong enough to mask some oxidized flavour.

I was told a few years ago that an oxidized White Zin can be yellowish. I haven't seen this though, and I'm not sure that I believe it.

Hope you have success with this, Steve

 

[sideways2]

Thanks!!

Well...yeast is starting to work...it's foaming!!!

For the little effort I'll keep it going...who knows...may turn out great!!!

Cheers

 

[sideways2]

OMG!!!

Looks awful and smells worst...yeast all clumped...tossed it LOL!!!

I guess a 2 year old kit was pushing it

Cheers!!