1. If a key reason for the issur of stam yayyin is avoidance of intermarriage, why were not all 'party' drinks treated the same as wine? This applies especially to beer and spirits as they were and are so commonly drunk and beer was a basic drink even in the time of the Gemarah. Can you also indicate whether there were post Gemarah attempts to extend the ban? One might have thought the matter was of such concern over the last few centuries that there would have been.
2. What is the temperatures in degrees to make win deemed mevushal?
AK 1.11.04
1. There are hints in the Rishonim that although the Isur was enacted to avoid intermarriage, still it is related to the Isur of Yayin Nesech, which relates only to wine. In the times of the Gemara they wanted to extend the Isur to Shemen (olive oil) but found that it was a Gezeirah that the Tzibur could not keep.
2. Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l was of the opinion that Mevushal for wine is the same as any other Bishul, which is Yad Soledes Bo. L'Chumra he held that the Shi'ur of Yad Soledes Bo is 160 degrees Farhenheit. However, most authorities are Choshesh for the Shitah of the Ran, who says that unlike other Bishul, this Bishul needs bubbling. It is therefore accepted to be Makpid on 176 degrees F. (80 Celcius).
D. Zupnik