Joe Sallustio wrote:
> It was not from corking, I do them all at once too. I fill bottles
> with the siphon tube completely submerged.
>
> Oxidation and vinegar infection are not the same thing.

I was told they were rather similar at one point. This is nice to know,
since I was trying to reconcile "cardboard-like" with "vinegar-like."

>
> Did you use citric acid to bump up the acid pre ferment? That can
> cause increased amounts of vinegar.

This was from a kit. There were some additives but I wouldn't be able
to tell you if there was citric acid. The kit's long gone anyway so I
wouldn't be able to tell.

> You need the presence of vinegar (usually) to get that type of
> infection. Don't do anything with 'live' vinegar near wine.

I was doing this at a friend's house, who didn't have a drop in vinegar
in that place, nor for the half year he had lived there. But by "live"
do you mean making vinegar?

> Were these real corks and are you sure you did not have a corky bottle
> rather than a vinegar problem? Corkiness is more of a musty, woody
> taste but it can be a horrid smell too... I really hate it when that
> happens. All that work for nothing.

They were real corks. I don't have an association to cork when I taste
the wine. Some oak chips came with the kit to try to impart the flavor
of aging in a barrel. As far as taste, I can't tell that is there.

>
> Joe
>