Part 33

=Wine, and Miscellaneous Drinks.=--Fruits intended for making wine must be perfectly ripe and sound, and gathered in dry weather. The most convenient sized cask is 10 gal. All utensils must always be scoured and scalded, and set out of doors to sweeten the day before being used. The tub in which the liquor is put to settle should have a tap within 3 in. of the bottom, so that the wine may be drawn, instead of poured off, without disturbing the lees or sediment; which must not on any account be put into the cask until it has been filtered well. The sieves and flannel strainers should be kept perfectly sweet, and exposed to the fresh air, and nothing of brass or copper used.

Never add the yeast for fermentation until the liquor is cool enough to receive it: 85° F. is about the proper temperature. Stir the liquor well occasionally, and cover the vessel close in cold weather. When liquor is working in a cask, it must be kept quite full to allow it to work out, or the wine will not be clear; keep a tile over the bung-hole that the froth may escape, or put the bung on lightly. Fermentation will be accelerated by mixing the yeast with 2 qt. of the liquor in a jar for 10 minutes, and then adding it to the whole quantity.

Wines made from raspberries, mulberries, elderberries, blackberries, and all such fruits as produce much sediment, should always be filtered through flannel bags into the cask, as this saves much trouble in fining and racking. Wines never “feed” on the lees, but, on the contrary, fret; and if not made strong, frequently go sour.

When the liquor is ready for putting into the cask, draw it off as long only as it runs clear; then filter the lees more than once, if necessary, and fill completely. Put any overplus into bottles, with a small quantity of brandy, as a reserve for filling up in future. When brandy is to be added, take out 3 qt. of the wine, pour in the spirit, and then fill up. Never add water to wines when casked; should there by accident be a deficiency of the liquor, add foreign wine mixed with brandy.

Racking off is best performed by drawing the wine off into a clean vessel as long as it runs perfectly clear, then put in a cork, and turn the lees out in a separate tub, and filter it well. Next return all that is bright into the same cask; add what is recommended, and stop it up again securely. This should be done in cool weather, or early in the morning.

When bottling take care that your bottles are clean and not specked, or they will leak; fill them so that the wine will just come in contact with the cork when driven home. Use the best corks, and dip each in some of the wine, or in brandy, which is better. Seal the corks of such white wines as require caution when ripe, with green wax to distinguish them, and fasten them with wire. All newly-made wines should be kept in cool, dry, dark cellars. When casks are emptied, stop all the holes to prevent their becoming musty or foul.

Bins are formed of brickwork, board, or iron. Place some fine dry sand over the bottom of each bin, and make it quite level. On this lay down 2 or 3 laths, so that the necks of the first layer of bottles may rest on them, and at the same time be quite level. They are usually placed in rows two deep, and in laying them down, be careful the shoulders of one row do not touch those of the opposite one, or they will break from the pressure. Be sure that the bottom rows are perfectly secure, as upon these depends the safety of the whole pile. Upon the first layers of bottles place a lath, to support the necks of those in the second row, the bottoms of which should rest on the laths placed over the necks of the first in the intervals between each bottle neck. Continue in this way until the piles are 3 or 4 ft. high.

All the bins that contain wine should be labelled, to specify the kind of wine and the date of their being bottled.

To cool wine, swathe the bottle or decanter in a wet bandage, and stand it in the full heat of the sun; when the bandage is nearly dry the wine will be found as cool as if iced.

_Apple Wine._--Cut up 1 lb. of apples into quarters, add ½ lb. sugar, and then pour over them ½ gal. boiling water. Let it get cold, and then pulp the apples. Pour the fluid over the pulp, let it stand an hour, and then strain. This forms an agreeable drink, the acid of the apple blending with the sweet of the sugar pleasantly, so as to be grateful to a parched palate.

_Apricot Wine._--Boil 10 gal. river water ½ hour, and set it to cool in a clean vessel. Cut 45 lb. ripe apricots into thick slices, and put them, with their juice, into the water, adding 25 lb. best loaf sugar, and stir them well; then cover the vessel closely, and let them steep until the day following. Boil the liquor and fruit together, stir in the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, and take off the scum as it rises. When the liquor is clear, and the fruit is reduced to a pulp, press, and strain it through a fine sieve, into a cooler, add the stones broken, and stir well. Spread good yeast on both sides of a toast, and when the liquor is at its proper warmth, work it well 2 days, and strain it through a jelly-bag into the cask, put on the bung lightly, and let it work over, keeping the cask full, and when it has done fermenting, add to it 2 qt. French brandy, and 2 oz. white sugar-candy. Then put in the bung, and secure it well, keep it 12 months, and then bottle it. It must remain in bottle a year or more, for it is a very rich wine, and will improve greatly by age.

_Badminton._--(_a_) 1 bot. vin ordinaire, 2 bot. soda water, 1 small glass pale brandy; add lemon peel, sugar, and ice.

(_b_) 1 bot. light claret, 1 or 1½ glass sherry, 1 bot. soda water, crushed sugar to taste.

(_c_) Put the parings of half a cucumber in a cup with white sugar; pour on 1 bot. claret, and let stand ½ hour in ice; add 1 bot. soda water.

_Balm Wine._--Into 8 gal. water put 20 lb. moist sugar; boil for 2 hours, skimming thoroughly; then pour into a tub to cool; place 2½ lb. balm tops, bruised, into a barrel with a little new yeast; when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm; stir it well together, and let it stand 24 hours, stirring it frequently; then close it up tightly at first, and more securely after fermentation has quite ceased; when it has stood 2 months, bottle off, putting a lump of sugar into each bottle; cork down well, and keep in bottle at least a year.

_Barley Water._--Wash the barley well, add a few strips of lemon-peel, very thin, and pour on the water boiling. The juice of the lemon should be squeezed in fresh just before it is served. Robinson’s patent barley is best (see p. 775).

_Beetroot Beer._--Having well cleansed and scraped the roots, removing the discoloured portion near the set of the leaves, cut them into pieces of an inch or so in thickness, fill the copper with them, and then put in as much water as will just cover them. Boil for about 5 hours, place them lightly in a wicker basket or sieve to drain, but do not put any pressure upon them. Then put the liquor back into the boiler, and to every 7 pails liquor put 3 lb. hops; boil together for 2 hours, and then strain through the sieve. When cool work it with yeast, the same as other beer. The scum which rises should be removed before casking. Beetroot may be substituted for malt if deprived of the greater part of its juice by pressure, then dried and treated in the same manner as the grain intended for brewing. The beer made from beetroot has been found perfectly wholesome and palatable, and little inferior to that prepared from malt.

_Bilberry Wine._--The fruit should be picked on a very dry day, when it is quite ripe. The leaves and stalks must be carefully removed from the berries and the fruit, then weighed. To 4 gal. fruit allow either 6 gal. cold water or 3 gal. water and 3 of cider, and 10 lb. good moist sugar; let all these ingredients ferment in an open tub until working is over; then add ½ gal. brandy, a handful of lavender and rosemary leaves mixed, 2 oz. powdered ginger, and 2 oz. powdered tartar; let the liquor rest after this addition for 48 hours, then strain very carefully through a hair sieve into a perfectly clean cask, laying the bung lightly on the bung-hole until the working is quite over, and no hissing sound is heard; then close down quite tightly, and bottle off at the end of 3 months; keep 6-8 months in bottle before use.

_Birch Wine._--(_a_) Take 11 gal. of the sap of a healthy birch tree, fresh as you can get it, boil it gently as long as any scum rises, which must be carefully taken off to avoid wasting it. Add to the clear liquor 25 lb. best loaf sugar, boil it again 20 minutes with the whites of 10 eggs beaten to a froth, and skim frequently until it is beautifully bright. Set it in a clean vessel to cool, and when at 96° F. put into it a toast well spread on both sides with thick fresh ale yeast, and keep it closely covered up, 6 or 7 days, stirring daily. Rinse a sweet 10 gal. cask with a pint of old raisin wine, filter the liquor into it, add the thin yellow rinds of 2 lemons and 3 Seville oranges, and 3 qt. French brandy, put in the bung, and secure it with paper and sand. Set it in a cool cellar, and bottle it in 2 years; fasten the corks down with wire, and seal with wax. A year later it will be in perfection.

(_b_) Boil 9 gal. healthy birch sap with 2 lb. clarified honey ½ hour, skimming it well. Beat 9 whites of eggs up with ½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a cupful of cold water, and put in 20 lb. loaf sugar broken small. Mix this well with the liquor when cool, and boil it ½ hour longer, skimming and stirring until it is quite clear. Put it into a tub, and when milk warm stir well into it ¼ pint of strong yeast; let it work 3 days in the tub, then put it into your cask, add the rinds of 6 lemons and 2 lb. best raisins, and keep the bung out until the fermentation has ceased. Put to the wine a bottle of old Madeira and 1 qt. the best brandy; stop the cask up safely, and let it stand 6 months. Draw off the wine into a clean vessel as long as it runs clear, then filter the dregs through 3 folds of flannel, and put all back again into the same cask; fasten the bung in well, and put clay over it. In 6 months you may bottle it; seal and wire the corks to prevent accidents, for it is a lively wine, and should be kept in a cool cellar. When it has been bottled 6 months it will be fit for use.

_Bishop._--Make several incisions in the rind of a lemon; stick cloves in the holes and roast the lemon at a slow fire. Put small but equal quantities of cinnamon, cloves, mace, and allspice into a saucepan, with ½ pint of water; let it boil until it is reduced one-half. Boil a bottle of port wine; burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a lighted paper to the saucepan. Put the roasted lemon and spice into the wine; stir it up well, and let it stand near the fire 10 minutes. Rub a few knobs of sugar to taste on the rind of a lemon, put the sugar into a bowl or jug, with the juice of half a lemon (not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate some nutmeg into it, sweeten it to your taste, and serve it up with the lemon and spice floating in it. Oranges are sometimes introduced instead of lemons.

_Blackberry Wine._--Mix 45 qt. ripe blackberries, well picked and pressed, with 10 lb. good honey, and 26 lb. strong, bright, moist sugar; boil it with 12 gal. soft water and the whites of 12 eggs, well beaten, until it is reduced to 10 gal., skimming it until perfectly clear. Strain it into a tub, and let it stand until the next day, then pour it clear off the lees, and boil it again ¾ hour, adding the lees filtered twice, and 2 oz. isinglass dissolved in 1 qt. water. Skim well, and put in 2 oz. Jamaica pepper, cloves, and best ginger, all bruised, and tied loosely in a piece of muslin. Put into your cooler the thin rinds of 6 Seville oranges and 1 pint lemon juice; strain the liquor upon them, stir well, and when cool enough, work it with 1 pint fresh yeast stirred well into 1 gal. of the liquor. Cover it up close, and let it work 5 or 6 days, taking off the top scum and stirring twice daily; then strain, and filter it into the cask, put on the bung lightly, keep the cask well filled up, and when it has ceased fermenting, let a day elapse, and add 2 qt. French brandy, and 1½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a little water, and mix with 1 gal. of the wine 10 minutes, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and slit, and 6 oz. sugar candy broken small. Stop up the bung, paste strong white paper over it, or coarse linen, and place plenty of sand over all, wetted a little. Keep it 2 years in a cool cellar, then bottle it; seal the corks, and keep in bottle 2 years; then use it. If allowed greater age, it will still improve.

_Bucellas._--Press the pulp and juice out of 30 lb. Lisbon grapes, add 6 gal. cold soft water that has been well boiled; stir well, and covering the vessel close, let it stand 24 hours; add 30 lb. bright, strong, moist sugar, stir well until it is dissolved, and in 3 days more strain the liquor into your cask upon the thin rinds of 8 lemons and 1 oz. bitter almonds, blanched, and beaten with a spoonful of water in a stone mortar. When you have filled the cask, cover the bung-hole with a tile, and let the liquor work over; when it has ceased fermenting, pour in 3 pints French brandy and 4 oz. sugar candy, and stop it up for a year; then bottle it, seal the corks, and keep it 12 months.

_Burgundy Cup._--(_a_) 1 bot. ordinary Burgundy, ½ gill ordinary brandy; 4 fresh black currant leaves or buds, steeped in the brandy 2 hours; sweeten with 1 oz. powdered sugar candy; when all well blended, strain the leaves; add bottle of aerated lemonade, and, just before serving, 1 lb. ice, in small lumps.

(_b_) Peel and juice of 2 lemons; 1 qt. seltzer water; 2 bot. Burgundy; sugar to taste; when well iced, draw out the peel and serve.

_Buttered Jack._--Take a brass pan, put in ½ lb. lump sugar, 1 glass sherry, and 1 lb. fresh butter to melt; beat up 6 fresh eggs well with a little sherry, and having moderately cooled the pan with 2 bot. light dinner sherry, add the eggs while gently stirring, and place on the hob till quite hot, taking care not to let it boil; sweeten to taste. The pan must not be too hot when pouring in the eggs, or they will curdle.

_Cardinal._--The same as Bishop. Substitute claret for port wine.

_Chablis Cup._--(_a_) Dissolve 5 lumps sugar in 1 pint boiling water; add a little thin lemon peel; when cool, add wineglass of dry sherry, 1 bot. Chablis, and 1 lb. ice.

(_b_) Put 1 bot. Chablis and a liqueur glass of chartreuse, maraschino, or noyeau, into a jug embedded in ice; add a lump of ice; immediately before serving add a bottle of seltzer water.

_Champagne Cup._--(_a_) 1 qt. bot. champagne, 2 bot. soda water, 1 liqueur glass of brandy or curaçao, 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, 1 lb. pounded ice, and a sprig of green borage.

(_b_) 1 bot. champagne (iced); 1 gill Amontillado; liqueur glass of citronelle or maraschino; juice and paring of a Seville orange or lemon, rubbed on sugar; verbena and cucumber; sugar to taste; 1 bot. seltzer water.

(_c_) 1 bot. sparkling champagne (iced), 1 bot. soda water (iced), 2 oz. powdered loaf sugar, sprig of borage and balm, juice and thin peel of one lemon; pour the champagne on the lemon, sugar, and herbs; cover the vessel, which is in ice, till the sugar is dissolved; add the soda water.

_Cherry Brandy._--(_a_) Take ripe black geans (Scotch wild cherries); pick off the stalks, and pick over the fruit as for a tart, but do not wash them. Half fill large wide-mouthed bottles with layers of fruit and pounded white sugar, weight for weight; fill up with good French brandy; cork well, and the longer it stands the finer it is. Bruise a few of the fruit, so as to crack the stones. It is useless to attempt to make good liqueurs with anything but French brandy, and that of the best. If you cannot procure black geans, use fine Morella cherries, each of which must be wiped and pricked with a bone stiletto or knitting needle. In this case the cherries are a good dessert dish.

(_b_) Get the largest Morella cherries, cut off half the stalk, pricking each cherry with a needle, and putting them into a wide-mouthed bottle. Add ¾ of the weight of the cherries in white candy sugar bruised, between the layers of the cherries, until full; add a gill of noyeau, and then fill up with French brandy; cork tight, and tie a bladder over the bottle.

(_c_) Having cut off half the stalks of some Morella cherries, put them very gently in and ¾ fill a wide-mouthed glass bottle that contains 1 qt. Add 4 oz. white sugar candy finely powdered, fill close up with the best brandy, adding one clove, 2 dr. dried Seville orange peel, and 1 dr. cinnamon. The three last ingredients to be taken out in 14 days; then fill up the vacant space with brandy, and cork carefully.

_Cider._--Bottling.--Cider or perry, when bottled in hot weather, should be left a day or two uncorked, that it may get flat; but if too flat in the cask, and soon wanted for use, put into each bottle a small lump or two of sugar candy, or four or five raisins. Cider should be well corked and waxed, and the bottles put upright in a cool place.

Restoring Flavour.--(_a_) Cider, 1 hhd.; rum, weak flavoured, 2 gal.; alum, dissolved, 1 lb.; honey, or coarse sugar, 15 lb.; bitter almonds, ½ lb.; cloves, ½ lb. Mix, and after a few days fine it down with isinglass.

(_b_) To fine and improve the flavour of 1 hhd., take ½ oz. cochineal, 1 lb. alum, and 3 lb. sugar candy; bruise them all well in a mortar, and infuse them in 1 gal. good French brandy for a day or two; then mix the whole with the cider and stop it close for 5 or 6 months. After which, if fine, bottle it off.

_Cider Cup._--(_a_) 1 bot. cider, 1 bot. soda water, 2 glasses sherry, powdered sugar, sprig of borage.

(_b_) 2 bot. sparkling cider, ½ gill curaçao, ½ gill brown brandy, ¼ lb. sugar; the juice, strained, and the peel of one lemon, rubbed on sugar; slice of cucumber; pour ½ pint boiling water on the sugar; when dissolved and cool, add the brandy, cucumber, liqueur, and juice; in a few minutes add the cider and 1 qt. shaven ice; use immediately.

(_c_) Grate into a cup some nutmeg and a little ginger; add a well-browned toast, a glass or two of sherry, sugar to taste; add a bottle of cider, poured on slowly. It may be drunk at once.

_Claret Cup._--(_a_) 1 bot. claret, 1 bot. soda water, ½ lb. pounded ice, 4 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1 liqueur glass maraschino, and a sprig of green borage.

(_b_) To 1 bot. ordinary claret add 1 bot. soda water, a glass of sherry or curaçao, the peel of a lemon cut very thin, powdered sugar according to taste. Let the whole remain an hour or two before serving, and then add some lumps of clear ice.

(_c_) To (_b_) add a few slices of cucumber, or some sprigs of borage instead of the cucumber.

(_d_) As (_b_), except the lemon peel, for which substitute, when in season, a pint of ripe raspberries or 4 or 5 peaches or nectarines, cut in slices.

(_e_) 2 bot. claret, 1 of sparkling champagne, wine glass of maraschino or citronelle; borage, balm, and sugar to the flavour required; ice well, and before serving add 2 bot. seltzer water.

(_f_) 2 bot. claret, 1 pint dry sherry, ½ gill brandy, 1 bot. champagne (iced); ½ gill noyeau; infuse some borage and balm leaves in the sherry; when sufficiently herbed, strain; add this to the claret, sweeten to taste, add the noyeau and spirit, ice up; just before serving, add 2 bot. iced potash water, 1 pint shaven ice, and the champagne; serve immediately.

(_g_) Peel one lemon fine, cover with pounded sugar, pour over a glass of sherry; add 1 bot. claret, sprig of verbena, and bottle of iced soda water.

_Clary Wine._--Mix 9 gal. cold soft water with 6 lb. honey, 30 lb. best loaf sugar, and the whites of 12 eggs beaten to a froth; boil 1½ hour, skimming and stirring nearly the whole time. Put the liquor into a cooler, and add 14 qt. clary tops in flower; work it at the proper temperature with good fresh ale yeast, keeping it closely covered, and stirred well. Pick, stone, and cut in pieces, 14 lb. good Malaga raisins, pour on them 3 gal. lukewarm water, that has been well boiled; stir well, and let steep 5 days; then press the fruit in a hair bag, strain the liquor, and put it into a sweet 10 gal. cask; strain the liquor from the flowers, add to it the rinds of 10 lemons pared thin, and their juice strained, and put this into the cask, filling up, and keep it open 3 or 4 days, until the fermentation has entirely ceased. Then add 2 qt. French brandy, and stop it up for 3 months, after which rack it off into a clean vessel, filter the lees, and fill the same cask again, adding 6 oz. sugar candy bruised, and 1 oz. isinglass dissolved in 2 qt. of the wine. Stop it up securely, and keep it 18 months in a cool dry cellar; then bottle it, seal the corks, and in a year more it will be fit for use.

_Coltsfoot Wine._--Boil 1 gal. water with 2½ lb. moist sugar and the beaten white of an egg, for ¾ hour; pour the boiling liquor on ¼ peck of fresh-gathered coltsfoot flowers and 1 lb. raisins stoned and cut small. Cover the vessel close, and let the ingredients infuse for 3 days, stirring thrice daily; then add a tablespoonful of yeast, keep it well mixed and covered close until it has worked freely; then strain into a cask upon ½ oz. best bruised ginger and the rind of half a Seville orange; let it remain open, covering the bung-hole with a tile until it has ceased fermenting; add a gill of French brandy, stop it up securely, and keep it for 12 months, then bottle it and use it 6 months later.

_Corn Beer._--5 gal. water, 2 qt. molasses, 1 qt. sound corn. Put all into a keg and shake well; in a few days fermentation will have been brought on as nicely as with yeast. Keep it bunged tight. It may be flavoured with oil of lemon, &c. The corn will last five or six makings. If it gets too sour, add more molasses and water in the above proportions. This drink is cheap, healthy, and there is no better with yeast.

_Cottage Beer._-½ pint good wheat bran, 3 handfuls hops, 2 tablespoons yeast, 10 gal. water, 2 qt. molasses. Boil bran and hops in the water until both sink to the bottom; strain through a hair sieve; when lukewarm put in the molasses and stir till it is melted. Put in a cask; bung up, and it will be ready for use in a few days.

_Cowslip Syrup._--Take of fresh cowslip flowers, 12 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint: infuse for 24 hours, strain, and then add ½ lb. white sugar; boil it gently until it attains the consistence of a syrup. The cowslip was at one time very highly celebrated for its narcotic virtues; and cowslip water and infusion of cowslip have been much recommended. The infusion is made in the following manner: ½ oz. dried cowslip flowers, or 1 oz. fresh, must be put to stand in a close vessel with 1½ pints boiling water for ½ hour, when it may be drunk in the same manner as tea.

_Cowslip Wine._--(a) To 2 gal. water add 2½ lb. powdered sugar; boil them ½ hour, and take off the scum as it rises; then pour it into a tub to cool with the rinds of 2 lemons; when cold add 4 qt. cowslip flowers to the liquor with the juice of 2 lemons. Let it stand in the tub 2 days, stirring it every 2 or 3 hours, and then put it in the barrel. Let it stand a month; bottle it, and put a lump of sugar into each bottle. It makes the best wine to have only the tops of the peeps.