Got an old wine kit for free... Is it even worth brewing?

I picked up a Sangiovese wine kit from a friend who wanted to make wine but never got around to it... It is from LA Collection FC. It is "sterile Grape must Mosto Italiano" and is 100% Grape juice. But the problem is the kit is dated Oct 2009!!!

I was thinking about making a port or just a regular Sangiovese out of it but if the wine must is already bad than i would rather just feed it to the worms and chop it up as a nice gesture from a friend.

Heck, I'd give it a try! It might be a bit old but it might taste pretty good too. The only thing you'd be out is a fresh pack of yeast for under $1.

Its almost 3 years old. Is there any steps i can take to make sure its not oxidized?

O-ya, i an thinking about making it into a port and picking up some port yeast. Either way im still getting new yeasties... They had 2 Merlot, a Chardonnay and a gewurztraminer. I may even pick up a Merlot just for the heck of it.

JoeBronco said:

Its almost 3 years old. Is there any steps i can take to make sure its not oxidized?

O-ya, i an thinking about making it into a port and picking up some port yeast. Either way im still getting new yeasties... They had 2 Merlot, a Chardonnay and a gewurztraminer. I may even pick up a Merlot just for the heck of it.

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The juice is in a metallic covered plastic bag, usually, or at least in a plastic bag so it may not be bad at all! Even if it's slightly stale, it would be more of a condensed juice flavor than actually oxidized, I think.

Yooper said:

The juice is in a metallic covered plastic bag, usually, or at least in a plastic bag so it may not be bad at all! Even if it's slightly stale, it would be more of a condensed juice flavor than actually oxidized, I think.

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That wouldnt be so bad if i try to keep it sweet rather than keep it to style...

Thanks Yooper

It might be stale, but it should be fermentable, .. One of the reasons they make juice concentrates (besides saving on shipping by not shipping water) is that at a high enough concentration, the juice prevents bacteria growth - like honey (which prevents bacteria growth).

Obviously new yeast. As for going 'off script' with the ingredients, that could be interesting...

I doubt there is anything wrong with it. The juice is in a bag inside of a box. There are likely older kits sitting on a dusty homebrew shops shelf somewhere.

Well its one of the kits WITH water already added. It comes in a 7.5 gallon bucket. Yes the juice is in a bag and so are all the other ingredients.

If it smells sweet and good should be ok. I would think it would smell bad if it is bad.

Have to agree with yooper. Buy a new packet of wine yeast and let 'r rip!

Well this will be my first experience with wine making. I think i'm going to rack it to secondary over melted chocolate and cherries with an everclear brandy mix to fortify it.

I'm not familiar with the type of kit you are talking about but I still think it will be just fine as long as the integrity of the kit has not been damaged. The melted chocolate and the everclear on the other hand does not sound so good.

How else would you fortify a Port style wine? Just the brandy itself is not strong enough to kill off all Yeast. A bit of everclear in the brandy will knock up the ABV. Racking onto Choclate and Cherries seems to be a common thing in ports. What else would you do?

I wouldn't say a port wine or brandy would be my favorite but brandy seems the obvious choice to fortify. Are you familiar with everclear? Even in small amounts it is digusting. I think I have a half bottle floating around somewhere to use for cleaning or extracting. If it's for an extract I still let the alcohol evaporate off to reduce the amount. The odds of me putting it in something to drink go from none to gunpoint.

I understand your skepticism on the wine kit and desire to do something with it though. If you gave me the wine kit I would make it in the morning and that afternoon I would go out and get a decent bottle of bourbon, vanilla pod and some oak. Chop up the vanilla throw that and the oak in the bottle after taking a big swig. Let it sit while the wine ferments. When it comes time to secondary toss the bottle of bourbon and maybe some cherries into the mix.

I use the term everclear lightly. I have a "Friend" that distills. He has tasteless spirits that are upwards of 190 proof. He makes brandy that is about 150 proof. Chances are i would use the Neutral spirit and mix with store bought brandy. that mixed with chocolate and cherries would be my "fortification" mixture.

Any Port from juice recipes you could point me in the direction of?

If you plan to add a gallon or more of liquor the must would benefit from extra fermentables. I've seen recommendations of adding one gal to three gal liquor, depending on strength, to a five gal batch. Adding quite a bit of fruit to the must and extra sugar would help balance the flavor when the liquor is added. What alcohol % are you shooting for?

18%-20% Is what im shooting for.

You can get into that range with ec-1118. what is the starting gravity of the kit?

It dosent say on the kit what the starting gravity is. Im going to use the Wyeast Port style yeast.

I'm not familiar with that yeast. What does it ferment to?
You planning to up the gravity from the get go with fruit or anything?

The yeast is sensitive to abv fluctuation and it a 14% Tolerance. It has a Low-Med Flocculation. 60 to 90 Degree tolerance.

Not sure about the fruit. Instead of racking onto cherries, i may add a lbs or two of cherries to fermentation for the sugar.

The flocking shouldn't be a problem since you plan to fortify. Personally I would add more sugars than you think the yeast will be able to ferment because of the added alc additions. This is coming from someone who does not like sweet wines. If you want a sweeter outcome you might have to really amp it up. There wasn't any mention of projected alcohol content from the kit?

If the Oct 2009 date on the kit is the expiration date, the kit might be 4+ years old. Still, if the juice tastes good then it will probably ferment out ok. But, since this is your first time making a kit wine I suggest not tampering with the recipe. In any case I'd let the wine age for a year before fortifying it, and then do so gradually to taste rather than just dumping a quantity of booze into it.

I agree with brewingmeister that the kit may be too weak to make a decent port without adding additional fruit solids, and that brandy is a better choice over something like everclear.


A couple years ago I picked up a winexpert kit as a freebie in a craigslist deal for a champagne corker I bought. The seller said the kit was about 3 years old but the date code revealed it was actually 8 years old. I went ahead and made the kit with fresh yeast because the juice still tasted good. All went well, the wine finished and cleared but it turned out ruined with some defect that gave it a distinct celery flavor and odor. Don't know what it was but it was undrinkable, and the only kit wine I ever dumped. Another reason not to throw money (chocolate & alcohol) into it before you know whether the wine is any good.

I still think im going to make it into a port. the booze and choclate are free anyway. i dont drink much wine so its for the family (if its good) i do agree with sweetening it up a bit. maby a lbs or two of corn sugar and some cherries will do the trick.

I was also thinking about splitting the batch (two three gallon) batches and try it that way. Since i have to add so much brandy to fortify it. maby do one regular and one port style? I have fresh yeast to add and am waiting on the port yeast from the brew shop. at least this way i can see what sg im looking at.

This is going to be my plan...

3 Gallons of Regular Wine (because 3 gallons of Brandy is kinda much to ask for) Going to stick to the Recipe on this one.

3 Gallons of Port - After Fortification it will be about 4.6 Gallons. Bottled in smaller bottles.

Im Shooting for a 19% on the port. Adding Fruit sugar, Corn sugar and Cherries to the must. Port Wine yeast. Chocolate added at time of Fortification. Ruby Vintage style and aged on the bottle.