one-half gallons, and let it stand to cool. Then have in readiness
ten pounds of raisins of the sun well picked and rubbed in a cloth,
and hack them so as to cut them, but not too small; then put them in,
the water being cold, and let them stand nine days, stirring them two
or three times a day. Then have ready three pints of the juice of
elderberries full ripe, which must be infused in boiling water, or
baked three hours; then strain out the raisins, and when the elder
liquor is cold, mix that with it, but it is best to boil up the juice
to a syrup, one-half pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil and
skim it, and when cold mix it with your raisin liquor, and two or three
spoonfuls of good ale yeast. Stir it well together; then put it into a
vessel fit for it, let it stand in a warm place to work, and in your
cellar five or six months.
ELDER WINE, NO. 3
The quantity of fruit required is one gallon of ripe elderberries,
and one quart of damsons or sloes, for every two gallons of wine to
be produced. Boil them in water till the damsons burst, frequently
breaking them with a flat stick; then strain and return the liquor
to the copper. The quantity of liquor required for nine gallons
of wine will be ten gallons; therefore if the first liquor proves
short of this, add water to the pulp, rub it about and strain to the
rest. Boil two hours with twenty-three pounds of coarse moist sugar;
three-quarters of a pound of ginger bruised, one-half a pound of
allspice, and one ounce of cinnamon, loosely tied in a muslin bag, and
two or three ounces of hops. When quite cool work on the foregoing
plan, tun in two days, drop in the spice, and suspend the bag by a
string not long enough to let it touch the bottom of the cask; fill it
up for a fortnight, then paste over stiff brown paper. It will be fit
to tap in two months; will keep for years, but does not improve by age
like many other wines. It is never better than in the first year of its
age.
ELDER WINE (FLAVORED WITH HOPS)
The berries, which must be thoroughly ripe, are to be stripped from the
stalk, and squeezed to a pulp. Stir and squeeze this pulp every day for
four days; then separate the juice from the pulp by passing through a
cane sieve or basket. To every gallon of juice, add one-half gallon of
cold water. Boil four and one-half gallons with three ounces of hops
for one-half hour; then strain it and boil again, with one and one-half
pounds of sugar to the gallon, for about ten minutes, skimming all
the time; pour it into a cooler, and, while luke-warm, put a piece of
bread with a little balm on it to set it working. Put it into a cask as
soon as cold; when it has done working, cork it down, and leave it six
months before it is tapped. It is then drinkable, but improves with age
exceedingly.
TO MAKE ELDER WINE AT CHRISTMAS
Take five pounds of Malaga or Lipara raisins, rub them clean, and shred
them small. Then take five quarts of water, boil it an hour, and when
it is near cold put it in a tub with the raisins; let them steep ten
days, and stir them once or twice a day. Then strain it through a hair
sieve, and by infusion draw one pint of elder-juice, and one-quarter
of a pint of damson juice. Make the juice into a thin syrup, a pound
of sugar to a pint of juice, and not boil it much, but just enough to
keep. When you have strained out the raisin liquor, put that and the
syrup into a vessel fit for it, and one-half a pound of sugar. Stop the
bung with a cork till it gathers to a head, then open it, and let it
stand till it has done working; then put the cork in again, and stop
it very close, and let it stand in a warm place two or three months,
and then bottle it. Make the elder and damson juice into syrup in its
season, and keep it in a cool cellar till you have convenience to make
the wine.
TO MAKE ELDER-FLOWER WATER
Take two large handfuls of dried elder-flowers, and ten gallons of
spring-water; boil the water, and pour it scalding hot upon the
flowers. The next day put to every gallon of water five pounds of
Malaga raisins, the stalks being first picked off, but not washed; chop
them grossly with a chopping-knife, then put them into your boiled
water, and stir the water, raisins, and flowers well together, and so
do twice a day for twelve days. Then press out the juice clear, as long
as you can get any liquor out. Then put it in your barrel fit for it,
and stop it up two or three days till it works, and in a few days stop
it up close, and let it stand two or three months, till it is clear;
then bottle it.
ENGLISH FIG WINE
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white
wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather
in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs and let them
simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced to a kind of pulp.
Then strain out the water, pressing the pulp hard and pour it as hot as
possible on the figs that are imbrued in the wine. Let the quantities
be nearly equal, but the water somewhat more than the wine and figs.
Let them stand twenty-four hours, mash them well together, and draw
off what will run without squeezing. Then press the rest, and if not
sweet enough add a sufficient quantity of sugar to make it so. Let it
ferment, and add to it a little honey and sugar candy, then fine it
with white of eggs, and a little isinglass, and draw it off for use.
TO MAKE FRONTIGNAC WINE
Take three gallons of water, six pounds of white sugar, and three
pounds of raisins of the sun cut small; boil these together an hour.
Then take of the flowers of elder, when they are falling, and will
shake off, the quantity of half a peck; put them in the liquor when it
is almost cold. The next day put in three spoonfuls of syrup of lemons
and two spoonfuls of ale-yeast, and two days after put it in a vessel
that is fit for it, and when it has stood two months, bottle it off.
GINGER BEER
The proportions of this may vary. Loaf sugar is preferable to moist;
some say a pound to a gallon, others a pound and a half. Some allow
but half an ounce of ginger (sliced or bruised) to a gallon, others
an ounce. A lemon to a gallon is the usual proportion, to which some
add a quarter of an ounce or half an ounce of cream of tartar. The
white of an egg to each gallon is useful for clarifying, but not
absolutely necessary. Some people put a quarter of a pint of brandy
to four gallons of beer by way of keeping it; half an ounce of hops
boiled in it would answer the same purpose. Boil the sugar, and shaved
rind of lemons; let it boil half an hour. Clear the lemons of the
white pith and put them in the wine. When cool, stir in the yeast (two
tablespoonfuls to a gallon), put it in the barrel without straining,
and bung close. In a fortnight draw off and bottle. It will be ready
for use in another fortnight, and will keep longer than ginger pop. If
cream of tartar is used, pour the boiling liquor over it, but do not
boil it.
GINGER BEER, NO. 2
Seven pounds crushed white sugar, eight gallons water, one-half cup
of yeast, four ounces best powdered ginger, a few drops of essence
of lemon, one-half teaspoonful essence of cloves. To the ginger pour
one pint of boiling water and let it stand fifteen or twenty minutes.
Dissolve the sugar in two quarts of warm water, pour both into a barrel
half-filled with cold water, then add the essence and the yeast; let it
stand one-half hour, then fill up with cold water. Let it ferment six
to twelve hours and bottle.
GINGER WINE
Take four gallons of water, ten pounds of loaf sugar, one and
one-quarter pounds of bruised ginger, one ounce of hops, the shaved
rinds of five lemons or Seville oranges. Let these boil together for
two hours, carefully skimming. Pour it, without straining, on to
two pounds of raisins. When cool, put in the juice of the lemons or
oranges; rinse the pulp in a pint or two of the wine, and strain it
to the rest. Ferment it with yeast; mix one-half cup of solid yeast
with a pint or two of the wine, and with that work the rest. Next day
tun it, raisins, hops, ginger, and all together, and fill it up for
a fortnight either with wine or with good new beer; then dissolve one
ounce of isinglass in a little of the wine, and return it to the rest
to fine it. A few days afterward bung it close.
This wine will be in full perfection in six months. It may be bottled,
but is apt to fly; and if made exactly by the above directions, and
drawn from the cask, it will sparkle like champagne.
TO MAKE GOOSEBERRY WINE
Boil four gallons of water, and one-half pound of sugar an hour, skim
it well, and let it stand till it is cold. Then to every quart of that
water, allow one and one-half pounds of gooseberries, first beaten or
bruised very well; let it stand twenty-four hours. Then strain it out,
and to every gallon of this liquor put three pounds of sugar; let it
stand in the vat twelve hours. Then take the thick scum off, and put
the clear into a vessel fit for it, and let it stand a month; then draw
it off, and rinse the vessel with some of the liquor. Put it in again,
and let it stand four months, and bottle it.
GOOSEBERRY WINE
Take to every four pounds of gooseberries one and one-quarter pounds
of sugar, and one quart of fair water. Bruise the berries, and steep
them twenty-four hours in the water, stirring them often; then press
the liquor from them, and put your sugar to the liquor. Then put in a
vessel fit for it, and when it is done working stop it up, and let it
stand a month; then rack it off into another vessel, and let it stand
five or six weeks longer. Then bottle it out, putting a small lump of
sugar into every bottle; cork your bottles well, and three months’ end
it will be fit to drink. In the same manner is currant and raspberry
wine made; but cherry wine differs, for the cherries are not to be
bruised, but stoned, and put the sugar and water together, and give it
a boil and a skim, and then put in your fruit, letting it stew with a
gentle fire a quarter of an hour, and then let it run through a sieve
without pressing, and when it is cold put it in a vessel, and order it
as your gooseberry or currant wine. The only cherries for wine are the
great bearers, Murray cherries, Morelloes, Black Flanders, or the John
Treduskin cherries.
GOOSEBERRY WINE, NO. 2
Pick and bruise the gooseberries, and to every pound of berries put
one quart of cold spring water, and let it stand three days, stirring
it twice or thrice a day. Add to every gallon of juice three pounds
of loaf sugar. Fill the barrel, and when it is done working, add to
every ten quarts of liquor one pint of brandy and a little isinglass.
The gooseberries must be picked when they are just changing color. The
liquor ought to stand in the barrel six months. Taste it occasionally,
and bottle when the sweetness has gone off.
GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT WINE
The following method of making superior gooseberry and currant wines is
recommended in a French work.
For currant wine four pounds of honey, dissolved in seven gallons of
boiling water, to which, when clarified, is added the juice of four
pounds of red or white currants. It is then fermented for twenty-four
hours and one pound of sugar to every one gallon of water is added. The
preparation is afterward clarified with whites of eggs and cream of
tartar.
For gooseberry wine, the fruit is gathered dry when about half-ripe,
and then pounded in a mortar. The juice when properly strained is mixed
with sugar in the proportion of three pounds to every two gallons
of juice. It is then left in a quiet state for fifteen days, at the
expiration of which it is carefully poured off and left to ferment for
three months, when the quantity is under fifteen gallons, and five
months when double that quantity. It is then bottled and soon becomes
fit for drinking.
PEARL GOOSEBERRY WINE
Take as many as you please of the best gooseberries, bruise them,
and let them stand all night. The next morning press or squeeze them
out and let the liquor stand to settle seven or eight hours; then
pour off the clear from the settling, and measure it as you put it
into your vessel, adding to every three pints of liquor one pound of
double refined sugar. Break your sugar into fine lumps, and put it in
the vessel with a bit of isinglass, stop it up, and at three months’
end bottle it out, putting into every bottle a lump of double refined
sugar. This is the fine gooseberry wine.
RED GOOSEBERRY WINE
Take five gallons cold soft water, five and one-half gallons red
gooseberries, and ferment. Now mix eight pounds raw sugar, one pound
beet root sliced, one-half ounce red tartar in fine powder. Afterward
put in one-half pound sassafras chips, one-half gallon brandy or less.
This will make nine gallons.
RED AND WHITE GOOSEBERRY WINE
Take one and one-half gallons cold soft water, three quarts red
gooseberries, two quarts white gooseberries. Ferment. Now mix two and
one-half pounds raw sugar, three-quarters pound honey, one-half ounce
tartar in fine powder. Afterwards put in one ounce bitter almonds, a
small handful sweet briar, two quarts brandy or less.
WHITE GOOSEBERRY OR CHAMPAGNE WINE
Take four and one-half gallons cold soft water and fifteen quarts of
white gooseberries. Ferment. Now mix six pounds refined sugar, four
pounds honey, one ounce white tartar in fine powder. Put in one ounce
dry orange and lemon peel, or two ounces fresh, and add one-half gallon
white brandy. This will make nine gallons.
UNFERMENTED GRAPE JUICE
Wash and take from the stems ten pounds ripe Concord grapes. Add two
quarts water and bring them to a boil. Use a potato masher. When the
seeds separate, strain through double cheese-cloth. Add two pounds of
granulated sugar and strain again. Bring again to a boil and bottle
directly, boiling hot, cork and seal, or put into patent bottles. Serve
with cracked ice in the glass or diluted with about one-third ice water.
GRAPE WINE
Two quarts of grape juice, two quarts of water, four pounds of sugar.
Extract the juice of the grape in any simple way; if only a few quarts
are desired, we do it with a strainer and a pair of squeezers; if a
large quantity is desired, put the grapes into a cheese-press made
particularly clean, putting on sufficient weight to extract the juice
of a full hoop of grapes, being careful that none but perfect grapes
are used, perfectly ripe and free from blemish. After the first
pressing, put a little water with the pulp and press a second time,
using the juice of the second pressing with the water to be mixed with
the clear grape juice. If only a few quarts are made, place the wine as
soon as mixed into bottles, filling them even full, and allow to stand
in a warm place until it ferments, which will take about thirty-six
hours usually; then remove all the scum, cool, and put into a dark,
cool place. If a few gallons are desired, place in a keg, but the keg
must be even full, and after fermentation has taken place and the scum
removed, draw off and bottle, and cork tight.
GRAPE WINE, NO. 2
The larger the proportion of juice and the less of water, the nearer
it will approach to the strength and richness of foreign wine. There
ought not to be less than one-third juice pure. Squeeze the grapes in a
hair sieve, bruising them with the hand rather than any heavier press,
as it is better not to crush the stones. Soak the pulp in water until
a sufficient quantity is obtained to fill up the cask. As loaf sugar
is to be used for this wine, and it is not easily dissolved in cold
liquid, the best plan is to pour over the sugar, three pounds in every
gallon required, as much boiling water as will dissolve it, and stir
till it is dissolved. When cold, put it in the cask with the juice,
fill up from water in which the pulp has been steeped. To each gallon
of wine, put one-half ounce of bitter almonds, not blanched, but cut
small.
The fermentation will not be very great. When it subsides, proceed with
brandy and papering.
GRAPE WINE, NO. 3
Crush the grapes and let them stand one week. Drain off the juice,
strain; add one quart of water and three pounds of sugar to each
gallon. Put in a barrel or cask with a thin piece of muslin tacked over
the bung-hole, and let stand until fermentation stops. Put in a cask
and seal securely, and let stand six months. Then bottle and seal and
keep in cool place.
HOP BEER
Turn five quarts of water on six ounces of hops; boil three hours.
Strain off the liquor; turn on four quarts more of water, and twelve
spoonfuls of ginger, and boil the hops three hours longer. Strain and
mix it with the other liquor, and stir in two quarts of molasses.
Brown, very dry, one-half pound of bread, and put in,—rusked bread
is best. Pound it fine, and brown it in a pot, like coffee. After
cooling to be about luke-warm, add one pint of new yeast that is free
from salt. Keep the beer covered, in a temperate situation, till
fermentation has ceased, which is known by the settling of the froth;
then turn it into a keg or bottles, and keep it in a cool place.
JUNIPER-BERRY WINE
Take four and one-half gallons of cold soft water, seven pounds Malaga
or Smyrna raisins, two and one-quarter quarts juniper-berries, one-half
ounce red tartar, one-half handful wormwood, one-half handful sweet
marjoram, one pint whiskey or more. Ferment for ten or twelve days.
KOUMISS, A TARTAR WINE
Take a quantity of fresh mare’s milk, add to it one-sixth part water,
pour the mixture into a wooden bowl. Use as a ferment one-eighth part
of skimmed milk; but at any future preparation, a small portion of old
koumiss will answer better. Cover the vessel with a thick cloth and set
in a moderately warm place for twenty-four hours, at the end of which
time the milk will have become sour, and a thick substance gathered
at the top. Now, with a churn-staff, beat it till the thick substance
above mentioned be blended intimately with the adjacent fluid. Leave
it to rest twenty-four hours more; after which pour it into a higher
and narrower vessel resembling a churn, where the agitation must be
repeated as before. In this state it is called koumiss. The taste
should be a pleasant mixture of sweet and sour. It should always be
well shaken before used.
KOUMISS
Heat four cups milk; cool; when luke-warm, add one-fourth yeast cake
dissolved in one-fourth cup luke-warm water, and two tablespoons
sugar. Pour into bottles with patent stoppers, fill two-thirds full,
cork tightly. Shake; let stand in kitchen six hours, then on ice for
twenty-four hours; serve ice cold.
TO MAKE LEMON WINE
Take six large lemons, pare off the rind, and squeeze out the juice;
steep the rind in the juice, and put to it one quart of brandy. Let
it stand in an earthen pot close stopped three days, then squeeze six
more, and mix with two quarts of water, and as much sugar as will
sweeten the whole. Boil the water, lemons, and sugar together, letting
it stand till it is cool; then add one quart of white wine, and the
other lemon and brandy, and mix them together, and run it through a
flannel bag into some vessel. Let it stand three months and bottle it
off; cork your bottles very well, and keep it cool. It will be fit to
drink in a month or six weeks.
LEMON WINE, NO. 2
Four pounds sugar, one pound raisins (bruised), two gallons water.
Boil, then add one gallon cider. Ferment, and add one quart of spirits,
three-quarters ounce white tartar, a few drops essence of lemon.
Observe to shake the essence, with a little of the spirit, until it
becomes milky, before adding it to the wine.
MADEIRA WINE
To five gallons prepared cider, add one-half ounce tartaric acid,
one-half pint spirits, one-half pound loaf sugar. Let it stand ten
days, draw it off carefully, fine it down, and again rack it into
another cask.
MALT WINE, OR ENGLISH SHERRY
Take twelve pounds of good moist sugar, two gallons of water. Boil them
together two hours, skimming carefully. When the scum is all removed,
and the liquor looks clear, add one-half ounce of hops, which should
boil one-quarter hour or twenty minutes. When the liquor is quite
cold, add to it five quarts of strong beer in the height of working;
cover up and let it work forty-eight hours; then skim and tun. If none
remains for filling up, use new beer for that purpose. This method may
be adopted with all boiled wines, and will be found to improve their
strength and promote their keeping. In a fortnight or three weeks, when
the head begins to sink, add two and one-half pounds raisins (free
from stalks), one ounce of sugar candy, one ounce of bitter almonds,
one-half cup of the best brandy; brown paper, as in former articles. It
may be bottled in one year; but if left three years in the wood, and
then bottled, it will be found equal in strength and flavor to foreign
wine.
MEAD
The following is a good recipe for mead: On five pounds of honey pour
five quarts of boiling water; boil, and remove the scum as it rises;
add one-quarter ounce of best hops, and boil for ten minutes. Then pour
the liquor into a tub to cool; when all but cold, add a little yeast
spread upon a slice of toasted bread. Let it stand in a warm room. When
fermentation is finished, bung it down, leaving a peg-hole which can
afterwards be closed, and in less than a year it will be fit to bottle.
SMALL WHITE MEAD
Take three gallons of spring water, make it hot, and dissolve in it
three quarts of honey, and one pound of loaf sugar. Let it boil about
one-half hour, and skim it as long as any scum rises. Then pour it
out into a tub, and squeeze in the juice of four lemons, put in the
rinds but of two. Twenty cloves, two races of ginger, one top of sweet
briar, and one top of rosemary. Let it stand in a tub till it is but
blood-warm; then make a brown toast, and spread it with two or three
spoonfuls of ale yeast. Put it into a vessel fit for it, let it stand
four or five days, then bottle it out.
TO MAKE STRONG MEAD
Take of spring water what quantity you please, make it more than
blood-warm, and dissolve honey in it until it is strong enough to bear
an egg, the breadth of a shilling; then boil it gently, near an hour,
taking off the scum as it rises. Then put to nine or ten gallons seven
or eight large blades of mace, three nutmegs quartered, twenty cloves,
three or four sticks of cinnamon, two or three roots of ginger, and
one-quarter ounce of Jamaica pepper; put these spices into the kettle
to the honey and water, a whole lemon, with a sprig of sweet briar,
and a sprig of rosemary. Tie the briar and rosemary together, and when
they have boiled a little while, take them out and throw them away; but
let your liquor stand on the spice in a clear earthen pot till the next
day. Then strain it into a vessel that is fit for it, put the spice
in a bag, hang it in the vessel, stop it, and at three months draw it
into bottles. Be sure that it is fine when it is bottled. After it is
bottled six weeks it is fit to drink.
MEAD, METHEGLIN, OR HONEY WINE
Boil honey in water for an hour; the proportion is from three to four
pounds to each gallon. Half an ounce of hops will both refine and
preserve it, but is not commonly added. Skim carefully, draining the
skimmings through a hair sieve, and return what runs through. When of a
proper coolness, stir in yeast; one teacupful of solid yeast will serve
for nine gallons. Tun it, and let it work over, filling it up till the
fermentation subsides. Paste over brown paper and watch it. Rich mead
will keep seven years, and afford a brisk, nourishing, and pleasant
drink. Some people like to add the thinly shaved rind of a lemon to
each gallon while boiling, and put the fruit, free from pith, into the
tub. Others flavor it with spices and sweet herbs, and mix it with new
beer or sweet wort; it is then called Welsh Braggart.
METHEGLIN
Mix one and one-half barrels of water with as much honey as will cause
an egg to rise a little above the water; then boil the mixture to one
barrel, skimming off the surface. It will be a fine red or wine color,
and clear. Then remove from the fire, and when cold, put it into a
barrel, leaving the bung-hole open for several days, until fermentation
be over; then stop it close and put into a cold cellar.
MOLASSES BEER
One ounce hops, one gallon water. Boil for ten minutes, strain, add one
pound molasses, and when luke-warm, add one spoonful yeast. Ferment.
MORELLO WINE
Take the juice of Morello or tame cherries, and to each quart of the
juice, put three quarts of water, and four pounds of coarse brown
sugar. Let them ferment, and skim until worked clear. Then draw off,
avoiding the sediment at the bottom. Bung up or bottle, which is best
for all wines, letting the bottles lie always on the side, either for
wines or beers.
TO MAKE MORELLO CHERRY WINE