[Rhys]

Hey folks.
I'm after a bit of advice regarding old wine.
My late father used to love making wine from hois produce off the allotment. It must be 3 years now since he passed away. I've got one of his demijohns full of homemade wine still, with water trap still in place. I tried putting finings in it to clear it, but then left. it. I've just decanted it through coffee filters into another demijohn and I have to say it still smells ok.


Would it be worth trying to do anything else to it, or would it be best to just chuck it all down the drain.. In a way I'm hoping it would be really nice, but it's Schrodinger's cat I guess..


Cheers, Rhys

[Growster...]

Could well be pretty good, Rhys, so the best test is to take a quick slurp - it shouldn't hurt...

As for anything to do with cats, Shrodinger's or any other moggie, that may well be the result of the test, so just try a little!

If you don't reply, we'll of course know what happened...

[Rhys]

Hmm, it's still cloudy and I've already had a bout of liquid manure. I may well have to try finings again.

[grinling]

You said a water trap was in use, has it always had water in it and has it been changed in this time.Thinking bacteria, which may be a problem, which at this time is not good.
I use stoppers in mine for storage.
I personally would not risk it.

[Rhys]

Yes, it's always had a water trap in and I've always made sure it had water in. I put a fresh one on when I filtered the sediment out. It smelt very plummy and not a hint of vinegar. I think it's worth trying to salvage it just to finish what my dad started in a way. There's no mould or anything else on it, it just looks a bit murky.

[hasbeans]

If it's murky try putting it somewhere cold (not freezing) for a few days might help any sediment drop to the bottom and allow you to syphon off the booze.  I'd also either clean the trap and replace the water with vodka or replace the trap with a (sanitised) solid bung.

I've found with any homebrew if it smells ok it won't usually hurt you (cept the hangover)...perhaps the dose you had was something else or you imbibed too much yeast.  Cold crashing and syphoning should solve this.  Do sanitise everything that touches the wine during transfer.