Weird question but what would you do with 10 demijohns of homemade wine and mead?

[WordInYourShellLike]

I know this sounds ridiculous and the answer seems blindingly obvious but hear me out. These were all made by my OH 15 or more years ago and have been mostly sitting undrunk ever since. They take up a stupid amount of space considering our house is very small. They've all moved house with us 2 or 3 times. Some have been filtered, most not. A lot of them haven't even been opened to see what they're like.

A major aspect of this is that he has ADHD and executive dysfunction and he seems completely unable to deal with the issue, just frozen with indecision. I do sympathise, I have traits of both of these too and our teenager has all of that and more so it's rare that things run smoothly in our household!

I don't drink so I can't help in that way. In all these years, he has barely drunk any of it either. A couple of demijohns of mead that turned out really nice were bottled and drunk or given away many many years ago but nothing has happened since. So he cannot decide what to do and therefore does nothing. He says it either has to be kept or thrown away. I asked could it not be given away but to be honest I don't really know how to go about this. You can't just offer alcohol up for free on community Facebook or WhatsApp groups or sell it on ebay or put it on Freegle! There's so bloody much of it but I hate waste so the idea of chucking the lot is painful 😟

It shouldn't be my problem to deal with but nothing I have said or done so far has made OH pull his finger out and make a decision and it's driving me mad! I would be very grateful for any helpful thoughts or advice!

Chuck it. Just do it. Offer the demijohns up
on freecycle if you want, but if they’re not gone within a week throw them in the recycling. You’ll be glad you’ve done it.

Get rid.

Throw a party with free booze.
Invite all the people you know who drink.

@RomeoMcFlourish I know you're probably right. It's painful to think of the cost of making it all though, especially the mead - all that honey!! And some of it might be really good! Aargh!

This but open at least one to taste test and make sure the invitees know it's home made...

@heldinadream Lol, I like that idea but it could be carnage!! As I said, we live in a very small house! 😅

Roughly whereabouts in the country are you OP?

It's more than likely we'll gone off by now. Just dump it and give the demijons away

Chuck it. It won’t be good and the costs are already sunk.

North West

Daft question but why can't it be put into bottles? What are the steps involved in that? Is it something you can help him do?

@Loopytiles @MyLadyTheKingsMother @Sapphire387 I'm sure you're all right. You can probably tell that I might just be a part of the problem too. I swear I never used to be so indecisive, I'm blaming OH for infecting me with it!

Another vote for chuck I'm afraid. It won't taste nice at this point (I don't think), you don't even drink and your dh hasn't drunk it in 15 years. Don't think about the money already spent on making it as that's already gone. Keeping it won't get your money back

The big question as to whether it is still good will be how airtight the demijohns are - rubber stoppered or still on airlocks? If air hasn't been getting in and they've not been stored in bright sunlight, there's every chance that some/all of it will be eminently drinkable. Especially the mead and anything already filtered I would imagine (although it's a bit weird to filter and not bottle at the same time).

Get enough bottles for one batch. Test the first batch. If it’s good bottle it, if it’s bad throw it away. Then repeat with the next batch.

I have had very variable results with ancient home made wine and mead - more than likely it should all be thrown away but you won’t know till you try. It’s much easier to make decisions when you know what you’re dealing with.

I'm not completely clear on the process but it would need to be filtered (for those demijohns that haven't been yet) then the cost of buying the bottles, there is equipment involved but not quite sure what. I could definitely help if he made a decision to try and bottle some of it. There definitely would be costs and time involved so it's down to whether it's worth it.

You don’t need to buy bottles, you reuse old ones.
You will need sterilising solution, corks and a thingy for banging the corks in. None of this is super expensive.

@WrigglyDonCat @TheCountessofFitzdotterel Thank you, that's good advice! They are all rubber-stoppered and been kept out of sunlight so that sounds more hopeful. Maybe there is a way forward with this!

Filter paper and a funnel also not expensive. Do you have a Boyes near you? They sell the kit. Otherwise try a hardware store, or online.

Just need a filter bag and holder (or similar) to filter (there are all kinds of options available and shouldn't cost more than £10-30 depending on what you go for), and a length of plastic hose to bottle (and a raised surface to enable a siphon.

But get someone with a palate for alcohol to draw some liquid off the top first and taste before committing to buying things. That would give a good idea of how worthwhile any endeavour would be.

We do have a Boyes nearby yes! And I think he does have some winemaking stuff somewhere, no idea where after the last house move but I'm fairly sure he didn't get rid of it. We don't have wine bottles knocking about but I guess we could ask around.

Oh my god I’d be getting rid.
Honestly you’ll buy the stuff and then it will continue to sit there for years more.
The money spent on the initial outlay is long gone.
Get rid of it and reclaim some space back.

I would just chuck it. You don’t drink and he doesn’t seem to drink much. So even if you bottle it you’ll have it sat around for ages again. The money is gone whatever you do so all you’ve got to gain is space in your house.

Thank you all for your range of opinions and advice, I feel a lot more positive about this now. We had reached an impasse and it was becoming increasingly difficult to have a useful conversation about it!

You could ask in your local Facebook group for empty wine bottles. Or maybe at a local pub or restaurant!