Has it gone bad, and how does one know?

May 16, 2008 6 Replies

Alas, I am sure this may be a "stupid question," but I am not educated enough on the subject of making wine to know if it is even a valid question or not, let alone know the answer.



In October I started my first batch of wine, using Concorde Grape juice. All went well as far as I could tell: fermentation was robust and protracted, and eventually it ceased after a month or so. I have kept the air lock on, and it has sat still ever since after one racking at the end of October.



Now I wish to know--- how does one know if the wine is good or bad? That is, how does one know if it has turned to vinegar? I have no idea what it is supposed to taste like. I can tell it is alcoholic, and that all of the sugar is gone (it is "dry" as far as I can tell), though I do not know the alcohol content (I broke my hydrometer in October) nor do I know if it tastes the way it should.



I will probably bottle it in a day or two and take a sample to the "Yeast Herder's Gatherum" at Dragonfest in August and ask someone to taste it for me.



I followed what I believe to be the correct steps, as I have outlined in my two videos:



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Simple answer- do you like the way it tastes? If you do, then it probably tastes the way it should.

If it was vinegar, it would be obvious to the taste.

Is it drinkable? Do YOU like it?

Dry Concord wine is an aquired taste that I will never aquire. It's just not typical; normally Concord is sweetened to taste. I doubt it is bad, if it smells grapey it's probably fine.

Joe

That is a great idea.... why didn't I think of that? I do not recall ever seeing Concord wine in stores, but surely it's there if I look for it. Thank you.

Unfortunately I didn't know what I was doing when I made it--- I was supposed to add sugar; otch, well.... perhaps I'll make another batch. I must buy another hydrometer. Thank you for the reply.

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