Jack Keller's WineBlog

Deep Fried Twinkies

If you read my tweets, you know I read Katy Vine's article in Texas Monthly entitled, "I Believe I Can Fry." It is the story of Abel Gonzales, Jr., the undisputed high priest of deep fried everything. His throne room is the Texas State Fair, and what he introduces annually quickly becomes the rage throughout fairs across the country. We're talking about deep fried Coca-Cola, deep fried cookie dough, deep fried butter, deep fried pineapple rings, and deep fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches. He has even deep fried beer! Read more....

Novel Wines

When I am asked what my most novel wines were, I immediately say Bermuda Grass Clipping Wine, then Sand Burr Wine, and then Chickweed Wine. And they all fooled blind tasters and they all won ribbons. But here are two more traditional yet novel wines anyone can make with a little forethought that will not draw judgmental glances or questioning stares. And they are both fabulous wines. Read more....

Raisins vs. Concentrates for Adding Body to Country Wines

In a forum discussion 2-3 weeks ago, a winemaker mentioned using raisins for adding body to a wine made from blackberry jam. I felt compelled to comment on this. Quite a few of my older recipes call for using raisins, but in all honesty I haven't used them in years. Here then are my reasons why. Oh, and he also asked the difference between using jams, jellies and preserves, which I also felt compelled to answer. Read more....

Why Use Pectic Enzyme?

A winemaker wrote an a forum that he was out of pectinase and starting a mango wine. He wanted to know if pectic enzyme is purely a clearing agent and if there is any benefit to flavor or yeast health using pectic enzymes before fermentation, or will it do the same thing after fermentation? Good questions, so I tried to give him good answers. Read more....

What Percent [of Alcohol] is Too Much?

This was a great question, asked casually at a wine tasting in Alamo Heights, an incorporated area surrounded by San Antonio. The gentleman tasted a Pinot Grigio, made a face denoting displeasure, picked up the bottle and announced "Too much alcohol" while scanning the label. "Ah," he said, "14.6% – too much." His companion asked, "What percent is too much?" His response was both illuminating and totally correct. Read more....

Dried Tart Cherry Wine

I recently had a "come to Jesus" moment regarding a long-held assumption I had about dried cherries. I had always assumed that 1 pound of dried tart cherries equaled about 4 pounds of fresh and 1 1/4 pounds of dried sweet cherries equaled about 4 pounds fresh. I discovered that 1 pound of dried (either tart or sweet) equaled 6 to 8 pounds of fresh, depending on the size of the cherries and their pits. I also discovered the sugar content of the dried, approximately 68%, was much higher than I had assumed. This drastically changed my outlook on making dried cherry wine. Read more....

Minimizing Oxidation

A fellow on a forum wrote about consistency between wines. He had made two wines from canned concentrate and questioned why one is very pink and the other has an amber tint to it. Also, the flavors are not the same. After a shortened version of 20 questions, it was probable that the second wine was starting to oxidize early. I offered seven reasons this might occur. I thought you might like to read them. Read more....

Deep Fried Coca-Cola

This has nothing to do with wine, but was just too good not to share. A friend sent me this recipe (thank you, Pete) and I had to read it through twice to make sure it wasn't a put-on. I found it on-line just to be sure, and finally I said, "Okay, I've got to try this." This is basically a funnel cake recipe and is being served at county and state fairs all over the country. I ran to the store to get some Coca-Cola, whipped cream and Coca-Cola Syrup. It turns out you can't buy Coca-Cola Syrup in Pleasanton, Texas, so I used a method I found on-line to make some. If you cannot find it either and have to make it, by all means make it up before you start on the funnel cakes. Read more....

Back Pain and the Carboy Lifter

In 1977 I picked up a stack of bricks, lifted them just above waist-high, and leaned back to center the weight over my hips. While doing this, the disc was compressed between my L2 and L3 vertebrae and the cortical rims met and actually snipped off a piece of the outer disc called the annulus fibrosis, allowing the jelly-like center (the nucleus pulposus) to escape. I was in spinal traction for three weeks while the pulposus retracted into the disc and it healed just enough for me to be released from traction in a corset. Luckily, there are no surviving photographs of me and my corset. But, I have had a "bad back" ever since and lifting more than 40 pounds often puts me in pain. My recent bout of lower back pain has made Martin Benke's Carboy Lifter a Godsend once again. I had to rack seven carboys over the weekend and the Lifter made it easy. Just crank the carboy up to about 30 inches and rack in place. Simple. Read more....

Mango Wine

Approximately half of all tropical fruit grown commercially are mangoes. It is, without question, the most consumed fruit in the world. It also makes a delightful wine that goes down well with most meals and over ice. I have made mango wines over the years and have had two great recipes sent to me from Australia and Florida. Recently, I noticed some Ataulfo mangoes that were shriveling. I knew this was a sign of ripeness, but they looked bad and people weren't buying them. I called the produce manager over and offered him half price for the lot. For reasons known only to him, he took my offer and I bought 18 mangoes for $4.50. The combined weight of the peeled, deseeded flesh was 6 1/4 pounds, just enough to make two gallons of wine. In an act of daring, I decided to make just one. Read more....

When Can We Call It Wine, Revisited

Back on May 27th I asked the question, "When can we call it wine?" I've received several replies worthy of note. One answered another question I asked in that entry and I concede his point. A second offered a point of his own that I also conceded. A third dug up a California regulation to offer a legal view of when we can call it wine. Read more....

Making Mustang Wine

The mustang grapes are ripening all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. I've received a number of emails, snail mails and phone calls concerning making this wine. The most common questions this year, as in many years in the past, have to do with (1) how much juice does "x" pounds of mustang grapes yield and (2) why does one dilute the juice to reduce acidity and then add acid blend to the must? Read more....

Website Housecleaning

I took down the counter on my "Winemaking Home Page". This may not seem like a big deal to you but it was to me. I agonized over it for weeks. When I discovered the "big discrepancy" I started looking for another counter that provided the service I expected (at a minimum, the ability to reset the count from time to time when it proved inaccurate). Read more....