Vin Bon Juice--Wine?

On June 16th I posted the message below expressing my doubts about Vin Bon Juice and the fact it had been prefermented. I let it ferment as best I could and 3 months later bottled it to find out that it is terrible-undrinkable, sweet, and there appears to be no alcohol content at all. The must was supposely inocculated with yeast, and it came right out of the pail at

1.01--and only went down to 1.005. Obviously something is very wrong and I have only a few choices Throw it all out ,keep it as marinade (and I can't be bothered doing that for 24 bottles) or try and salvage it.

Would it be worth throwing it all back into a primary, adding some sugar and refermenting by adding yeast? If I could salvage anything out of it, I wouldn't mind keeping it as back up low quality wine...If anyone thinks this might work, let me know, and roughly how much sugar one should ad (19 litres of juice)

Thanks

_________________________________________ Has anyone here made wine with Vin Bon juices?

In the past I have always used kits, but moving to Ontario decided to try one of these which are available locally (lots of Italians where I live). I assumed when I bought it that it was straight juice, but turns out it already has yeast and yeast nutrient already added to the juice--it's almost as if it is 90% primary fermented when you buy it, which seems strange to me. The SG is already 1.01 right out of the pail.I rechecked the store and they confirmed add no yeast...just continue the fermentation. The pail ingredients clearly state must, yeast, yeast nutrient, S02.

Anyone else try this sort of juice? For now I will still let it primary ferment a week and then put it in a Carboy and see what happens.

Any hints or tips appreciated.

Reply to
Insprucegrove
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My first wine was made from similar pails however my experience was different... though yeast had been added it was kept too cold to ferment, so when I brought it home and warmed it up it fermented fine and made a more than drinkable wine. Althought this wasn't Vin-Bon brand juice. Though I will also say that I bottled mine after 9 months in bulk aging.

What kind of wine did you buy? I did an alicante, and I added plenty of oak chips to it and let it bulk age with those for at least 6 months without raking... if it's a red this is the route I'd go. If the SG is still 1.005 you could try making a starter with some EC-1118 and then adding that to the must, keeping in mind a warmer temperature if you have a red. HTH

Reply to
Charles

My first experience with Vin Bon was when I ordered two batches of wine (Chablis and Merlot) to make "on premices". Both turned undrinkable. Massive sediment in merlot, very unpleasant smell in chablis... I've got my money back. But, seems I didn't learn. I bought a pail of juice from the same guy and tried to make the wine by myself. Same situation happened - it fermentet a while, then stopped. I tried all known ways to restart fermentation. Every time the juice started to ferment, but after a while stopped again. I gave up at 1.020. The taste was sour and bitter with no smell of juice or wine. I threw it away...

Reply to
Igor P

Well, I guess I will give it one shot at restarting the fermentation, but your post doesn't make me too optimistic. I just hate throwing it away, especially when every other kit/juice I have used has turned out perfect. Even the cheapest one I ever made is far better than this Vin Bon stuff.

Makes you wonder how they stay in business. The sulphur smell alone from the juice/must makes me wonder...Mine is Merlot as well, but you would never recongnize it as even wine, never mind Merlot!

I'll give in another 4 weeks, but if it's still crap, down the sink it goes. I need those bottles for other purposes

Reply to
Insprucegrove

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