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Hi all, We're having home-brew trials!
We've made home made wine on and off for years, and always end up going off of it because it almost always ends up with a musty taste - Sometimes this is our fault for not racking it off quickly enough (ie months later) but it does also happen even when we follow the letter of the wine making law!!
Any ideas why this is, or what we can do to avoid it? We rarely have to throw the stuff away, but praps thats just because we're hard-core - but it's not always the best wine around!
Cheers, Rach

Maybe a sterilising problem?

Pumpy could well be right. Or you could be getting your racking wrong - introducing oxygen without the use of metabisulphite? Oxygenation and late racking (so the wine lies on the lees for a long time) is guaranteed to give you off-tastes and smells.

There are two times when you have to be really careful. When you first start it off, it's crucial that every micro-organism is killed BEFORE you introduce yeast. They're not necessarily harmful, but can introduce interesting flavours. Boiling water or metabisulphite are your friends here. Later on, there's a significant amount of alcohol in your wine - and alcohol is a wonder when it comes to extracting flavours, even from things you don't want to extract flavour from.

So, make sure that your ingredients and equipment are sterile to begin with and, afterwards, get the wine off the lees early - but gently (and, if you are of the persuasion, with the use of metabisulphite) so as to avoid oxidation. No bugs, no oxygen - you won't get off-flavours.

Ah thanks guys,
We're really strict about steralising, we usually use milton baby stuff, but it could well be more to do with the oxidation while we're racking off... will try again and see if it helps matters!
R