wine to long in primary

I think most of us would like to be soooo busy that we forget about our wine. Most of us work on being patient enough to leave it sit. If it were me, I would rack it and go ahead with the next step in the process. Darlene

Procrastination is probably a better word. I would forget about it for a couple days, and when I would remember I would say "I'll do it tomorrow". Then forget a couple days again and cycle continued until now.

David

If the yeast were stressed at the very end of fermentation a long time on the lees could result in H2S production. If this kit was from sterile must or other clean concentrate you may have just made a sur lie style wine.

Well then, procrastination...whatever...maybe not a bad habit when winemaking. I don't do wine kits (just fruit/veggie/herb wines), but from everything I've read on here, they seem to be set up for success, so I wouldn't give up on it. I have read that sometimes leaving the wine on gross lees for an extended period of time may not be the best, but it is okay on fine lees. I'd hang in there, rack it, and wait and see. Darlene

You said it was left in primary. Do you mean a bucket covered with a towel or do you mean a carboy sealed with an airlock?

Ray

Good point Ray, I didn't catch that. Darlene

Don't give up on it!

I made a 1-gallon batch of peach a few years ago, and racked it into a small carboy for secondary. Within a week I started putting up 5-gallon batches like crazy, and this little 1-gallon container got shoved into a corner and forgotten. It was a very dark and isolated corner, too, as I found it again two years later. The airlock had gone dry LONG before, and it had been sitting on the lees for all this time. I was sure it was ruined and was about to dump it, but something made me slosh a little into a glass and taste it. QUITE good, possibly one of my top 5 best fruit wines ever. Instead of dumping it, I did a few rackings and bottled it. I have one bottle remaining, and the wine gets better the longer it ages.

The moral? Don't give up on the wine!

It was in a bucket with a covered towel until primary fermentation was complete. I bunged the bucket with an airlock as soon as primary was complete. I did this thinking I would rack in a few days because I was busy. I never racked it but it was air locked. So the major thing is that it was left on the initial lees for so long and that it was in plastic for over a month.

David

In those circumstances I would be more worried about oxidation - 1) bucket has way too much airspace even if you have an airlock, and 2) the bucket lids with airlocks are generally not airtight. Rack it as soon as you can but you might have accidentally started a sherry.

Pp