Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 26th, 2009 | No Comments
I recently bottled a two-year old wine and shared some of it at a function of the San Antonio
Regional Wine Guild. The reviews were hugely positive, but my wife and a friend each said they
thought it was "too young." It isn't the pomegranate in the wine that they consider immature; it's
the elderberry. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 26th, 2009 | No Comments
A friend recently asked me to look at a sugar cane wine many, many months in secondary that still
had a noticeable haze. He thought it was pectin and had added pectic enzyme (pectinase) in stages
to no avail. Although sugar cane is quite fibrous, I could not imagine pectin being the problem.
Also, having researched making sugar cane wine, I remember reading that one of the problems
encountered when processing sugar cane juice to clarity is the presence of starch. Although I did
not bookmark where I found this, I did bookmark an article on problems of starch hydrolysis. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 13th, 2009 | No Comments
Last Sunday the San Antonio Regional Wine Guild met at our home in Pleasanton, Texas. I slow-cooked a brisket overnight, glazed during the last hour-and-a-half with a chipotle-honey concoction I whipped up the night before. After a social hour of drinking and another of eating, we had a short business meeting and a two-event program. Martin Benke showed off his redesigned Carboy Lifter and then I administered a 28-question quiz. I thought I'd repeat the quiz here for your benefit, with minor editing. Good luck. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 13th, 2009 | No Comments
At the last couple of SARWG meetings I've been having sidebars with other members about bottle closures. There is only one synthetic cork I really like and I cannot find it anywhere except in certain commercial wine bottles. I had a dealer bring one to a trade show to try to find it for me, to no avail. Otherwise, I tend to prefer natural cork, although I have a few cases of bottles sealed with screwcaps. There are other alternatives, but I still prefer natural cork. And that brought up the subject of 2,4,6-Tricloroanisole (TCA) spoilage, or "corked" wine. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 13th, 2009 | No Comments
This is the tale of all four of my websites disappearing late Saturday night and not reappearing until 9:26 a.m. today. If you are not interested in this tale, please skip it. But there are at least two lessons to be learned from it. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJul 13th, 2009 | No Comments
Several months back a reader asked about barbecue sauces and suggested I publish recipes every now and them. I requested reader input but received minimal replies and only one reader-submitted recipe until now. This one actually came as a package containing a recycled barbecue sauce bottle, a letter, and the recipe. I tried the sauce last night and it is very good. Read more....
