Vinegar and oxidation have nothing in common other than for a wine to turn
to vinegar it must have contact with air. The vinegar requires it. That
said, do not use vinegar for anything near your wine.

I think you are going to have to look elsewhere for your taste problem.

Ray

"Adam Preble" > wrote in message
...
> I've become a more proficient taster since I've starting the hobbies of
> winemaking and homebrewing. Awhile back, I made a batch of Chilean Merlot
> from a kit. I've since decided the wine had oxidized noticeably, although
> it's still quite drinkable. I also tried making white wine from Jack
> Keller's recipe, although I added more grape juice in the middle of
> secondary in order to get something strong and fizzy. This tasted
> oxidized too, but I had a lot going on there. I wanted to make sure my
> taste is on, and then figure out what to do to save my butt from this
> happening again.
>
> The reason I think it was oxidized is due to washing with some vinegar.
> The wine certainly didn't taste like vinegar, but in diluted amounts the
> presence was about right. The smell of the wine takes on the smell of,
> say, a tablespoon of vinegar in a small pot. I was washing something
> peculiar out of a pot using some vinegar and I caught a wiff of it. The
> smell was familiar and I figured out it was from the wine I made.
>
> I have glass carboys and a manual pump for racking. I can't recall what
> procedure I followed when I racked from primary to secondary.
> Specifically, I can't remember if I let the must plop out from the top of
> the carboy. I know now that's a big no-no, and I had experience doing
> this with beer later--it had made me nervous.
>
> I think bottling is where I'm more concerned. The procedure we followed
> for the wine was to fill all the bottles until the carboy was empty, and
> then cork. I'm trying to think of an alternative arrangement where I
> could lightly tap corks in as I go, preventing the bottles from being open
> to the wild for long.
>
> My impression has been that the wine oxidized quicker than I would have
> expected, and I want to make sure that a second batch isn't so vulnerable.