Hi
I made wine from crushed grapes Zinfendel, its 2+ years old with an air lock. Would have thought it impossible to get mold but there it was and I personally can taste it.
5 gallons is 30liters which is a lot to waste, but dont want to get sick
2007-08-13 05:20:33 · 6 answers · asked by jean_has_cats 2 in Food & Drink ➔ Beer, Wine & Spirits
Are you SURE it is mold? If the alcohol developed properly I agree with you that it should not be possible, especially if you have kept the airlock filled. How many times has it been racked? Did you rack it recently? If so, you may have a bit of yeast floating or some very fine bubbles have formed on top. I thought bubbles were mold on one of my batches of beer.
Bert
2007-08-13 05:52:49 · answer #1 · answered by Bert C 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you used yeast other than wine yeast, it may not have made sufficient alcohol to stop bacterial growth. Also, crushed grapes have natural bacteria on them and the juice is usually boiled and sterilized and has some sulfates added.
If you used bakers yeast, it is possible for it to mold and the alcohol content wouldn't be much more than beer if that much.
If the wine was ready for storage and had been racked several times and filtered, it still may go to vinegar over that long of a period. If it tastes bad to you, I would dump it and start a different batch. Fool proof kits are available and the wine is ready to drink in 4 weeks.
Even if it was a fool proof kit, any wine I make is usually consumed within a year.
2007-08-13 13:51:23 · answer #2 · answered by Ret. Sgt. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you do have mold and it has imparted off flavors to the wine, there is nothing you can do. You will have to discard it or turn it into brandy. To distill it, you will have to find a friend with a still and watch out for the revenuers since distilling is illegal in many places (all of the US). The government always wants its take.
If you have a ropy/mucousy substance in the wine and it tastes acidic, it may have turned to vinegar. (The ropy stuff is Acetobacter.) Taste a tiny bit to find out.
It is unlikely to be yeast at this point - your fermentation should have been complete within a week or so, depending on your temperature and technique.
To avoid this in the future, make sure the wine has fermented below 0 degrees Brix (specific gravity < 1.0, or less than 0% sugar). That should ensure at least 12% alcohol by volume, which should prevent most nasty stuff from growing. Also, make sure your air lock remains full of sulfite solution at all times. If the airlock went dry, you have a pretty oxidized wine (sherry-like characters).
2007-08-13 08:11:41 · answer #3 · answered by Dr. Gregg 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
wine making 5 gal carboy touch mold top saved
2016-02-02 10:15:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't have an answer for you, but I think it's really cool you can make your own wine. Is it hard to do?? take a lot of supplies?
2007-08-13 05:31:53 · answer #5 · answered by bbmecum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry I have only made Hard Cider.
sound like you should siphon the (? mash ?? I forgot the name) off into a new sterile carboy
why 2 years is it still active
you should have racked it by now
I really don't know
Go to :
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com
2007-08-13 06:24:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋