Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
I have exchanged several emails over two months with a gentleman in Indonesia who asked for a conversion chart for volume measurements, both dry and liquid, so that he might better use my recipes. At first I simply pointed him to my conversions page, but he wrote back saying it did not cover all the measurements some of my recipes used and also he did not own a computer. He used one in a shop where you can rent computer time and maintain an email account, and he desired one or two charts he could print. After several exchanges, each a week or two apart, I understood his needs and circumstances and tested the waters with the following chart that he loved. Thank you, Hamzah, for your patience. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
The first time I encountered sugar beets I was driving near Fort Collins, Colorado when I encountered a bunch of grapefruit-sized, conical, whitish-gray things on the highway I thought were huge parsnips that obviously had fallen off a truck. I stopped and picked up one, examined it and had no idea what it was. I collected perhaps a dozen, maybe 15, and tossed them in the very small trunk well of my Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta (oh, what fond memories!). When I next stopped for gas I showed the attendant one (they still pumped your gas and cleaned your windows for you back then) and he identified it – was even a little amused I didn't know what it was. All of this came back to me when I read a recent Guest Book entry requesting a sugar beet wine recipe. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
Yes, another mead! I normally make no more than two meads a year, but over the past three years I have made quite a few. I did so because I considered them a distinct challenge to be mastered. I think I have gotten it (except for Show Mead as redefined in my October 17th, 2009 entry). Anyway, here is a metheglin I only recently tasted. This calls for the five traditional Asian spices and a Celestial Seasonings herbal blend containing Chamomile, orange peel, natural honey and vanilla flavors with licorice, roasted chicory and West Indian lemongrass. This is so good I'd like to patent it but copyright will have to do. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
The single word "medicinal" is often used to describe a variety of individual smells, each of which is more specific and offers clues as to what may be the cause. Knowing the cause does not mean the offensive smell can be removed or prevented, but often it does. Any number of other, more specific terms might be used synonomously with "medicinal," and include iodine, band-aids, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, ethyl phenol, cork taint, ether, nail polish remover, peroxide, mouthwash, a doctor's office, a dentist's office, menthol, and anesthesia. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
The wild Fall Grape, Winter Grape, Little Mountain Grape, Spanish Grape, and Uña Cimarrona – different names for the same grape – is known by old-timers as "Vitis berlandieri" but correctly as "Vitis cinerea var. helleri." It is currently ripe and ready to be made into wine. It is acidic until it ripens and then is sweet and quite delicious but too small for convenient eating and not quite sweet enough to make a decent wine without a little sugar being added. It is small (1/5 to 1/3 inch) with 30 to 70 berries per cluster. The clusters are loose and open, the pedicels (stems) long. The skin is thin, the pulp juicy when ripe, usually with one or two seeds of a coffee color. Ripe berries retain enough acid to make a balanced wine. Their small size makes crushing difficult but not at all impossible, so freezing/thawing and pectic enzyme will help extract the juice. Destemming by hand takes a while, but is necessary due to the astringent tannins in the stems. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
An off-topic preface is called for. The senseless wounding and loss of life two days ago at Fort Hood, Texas, where I served back during the late '70s with a unit called "Red Thrust," sliced through the military establishment like a hot knife through soft butter. They are calling it a massacre. By definition, the word fits. It was also the scene of some very selfless comradery, heroic confrontation and exemplary improvised first aid. All in the previous sentence is expected of our well-trained and highly motivated soldiers. What they were reacting to was neither expected nor should it have been allowed to occur. Still, I am not sure it could have been prevented in a free society. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
Sur lie aging is aging the wine on the fine – not the gross – lees. It is necessarity accompanied by lees stirring, an activity known as bâtonnage in French. As yeast cells die and break down, they gradually release a host of compounds into the wine that otherwise would be absent. These offer several physiological as well as sensory benefits to a wine but do so at a small risk. Risk, however, can be managed and greatly minimalized, but not eliminated altogether. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
It is not easy to transition from reflections on Veterans Day to winemaking, but I will try. Last week I got to thinking that I wanted to start a wine on Veterans Day to drink the following year. I wanted something that was uniquely American but could think of none. In the end, I decided upon a blueberry mead. I purchased two 64-ounce bottles of R.W. Knudsen unsweetened "Just Blueberries" and began the yeast starter solution yesterday morning before going to work. Last night I mixed the juice and other constituents in the primary, including sulfites. I woke up at 5:34 this morning and pitched the yeast. Four hours later I could see evidence that the yeast like the must, which is how it should be. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
I was planning on writing an article for "WineMaker" magazine on sugars, but my concept was to do a photo essay and they wouldn't pay for my photographer so I didn't do it. I understand budgets so I'm not villanizing them for it, but it would have been a valuable and memorable article. But while I was planning it I collected 33 different kinds of sugar or natural sweetner and four different liquid sweetners. One of the liquid sweetners I collected and have used is agave nectar. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherJan 31st, 2010 | No Comments
John Culverson has an excellent memory to recall that many years ago I posted a list of plum varieties on a use group. Now he says he cannot find the list in the archives and thinks it might have been lost. All he is interested in are the Japanese-American hybrids. Well, it so happens I am researching plums and other stone fruit for an article for "WineMaker" magazine, so I can comment on a few varieties. There are actually hundreds of plum cultivars, so I have concentrated on what I consider to be better or more interesting ones. Because there are so many, even after drastic culling I have a considerable list, so I will post them in two entries. Read more....
