Take gooseberries, when full ripe, mash them in a tub or marble mortar,
and to every quart of the mashed fruit, put three quarts of water, stir
the pulp well together, let it stand 24 hours, and press it through a
coarse bag. To every gallon of the strained liquor add four pounds of
brown sugar, or four pounds and a half of honey, the latter is
preferable; put the mixture into a barrel, which it should fill about
three fourths, and add to eight or nine gallons of it one pint of good
ale yeast; cover the bung hole of the cask with a slate, to exclude
dust, and place the barrel in the sun in summer, or a little away from
a fire in winter. The mixture will soon begin to ferment; keep up the
fermentation by keeping the liquor at the same temperature, till the
taste and odour indicate that the vinegar is complete. When the liquor
has become perfectly clear, draw it off into bottles. It will keep much
better if it be heated nearly to the boiling point, which is best
accomplished by putting the bottles containing it in a saucepan with
water, and causing the water to boil for about one quarter of an hour.
When this has been done, remove the bottles, and when quite cold cork
them. Earthenware bottles are much less liable to crack, during this
process, than glass bottles.