MADE WINES, &c.
A STRICT and attentive management in the making of these articles is the grand means by which they are to be brought to a proper state of perfection; and without which, labour, expense, and disrepute, will be the final, and disagreeable consequences. To prevent the last, and promote the first, let a due observance be paid to the following general rules: do not let such wines as require to be made with boiling water stand too long after drawn, before you get them cold, and be careful to put in your barm in due time, otherwise it will fret after being put into the cask, and can never be brought to that state of fineness it ought to be. Neither must you let it work too long in the butt, as it will be apt to take off the sweetness and flavour of the fruit or flowers from which it is made. Let your vessels be thoroughly clean and dry, and before you put in the wine, give them a rince with a little brandy. When the wine has done fermenting, bung it up close, and after being properly settled, it will draw to your wishes.
Raisin Wine.
PUT two hundred weight of raisins, with all their stalks into a large hogshead, and fill it up with water. Let them steep a fortnight, stirring them every day. Then pour off the liquor, and press the raisins. Put both liquors together into a nice clean vessel that will just hold it, for remember, it must be quite full. Let it stand till it is done hissing, or making the least noise, then stop it close, and let it stand six months. Then peg it, and if quite clear, rack it off into another vessel. Stop it again close, and let it stand three months longer. Then bottle it, and when wanted, rack it off into a decanter.
An excellent Wine from Smyrna Currants.
TO every gallon of water put two pounds and three quarters of brown sugar, and one pound and a half of Smyrna currants. Boil the sugar and water for half an hour, and fine it with whites of eggs; when near cold, put some fresh barm to it, and let it stand in the tub seven or eight days, stirring it once a day. Cut your currants a little with a chopping knife, then put them into a barrel, and pour the wine on them. Have ready some isinglass dissolved in a little of the wine, and put it into the barrels, stirring it every day for six or eight weeks, then close it up, and in about nine months it will be ready to bottle.
Currant Wine.
GATHER your fruit on a fine dry day, and when they are quite ripe. Strip them from the stalks, put them into a large pan, and bruise them with a wooden pestle. Let them lay twenty-four hours to ferment, then ran the liquor through a hair sieve, but do not let your hands touch it. To every gallon of liquor put two pounds and a half of white sugar, stir it well together, and put it into your vessel. To every six gallons put in a quart of brandy, and let it stand six weeks. If it is then fine, bottle it; but if not, draw it off as clear as you can into another vessel, or large bottles, and in a fortnight put it into smaller bottles, cork them close, and set it by for use.
Gooseberry Wine.
GATHER your gooseberries in dry weather, and at the time when they are about half ripe. Gather about a peck in quantity, and bruise them well in a clean tub. Then take a horse-hair cloth, and press them as much as possible without breaking the seeds. When you have squeezed out all the juice, put to every gallon three pounds of fine dry pounded sugar. Stir it all together till the sugar is dissolved, and then put it into a vessel or cask, which must be quite filled. If the quantity is ten or twelve gallons, let it stand a fortnight, but, if it is a twenty gallon cask, it must stand three weeks. Set it in a cool place; then draw it off from the lees, and pour in the clear liquor again. If it is a ten gallon cask, let it stand three months; if a twenty gallon cask, four mouths; then bottle it off, and it will draw clear and fine.
Mulberry Wine.
GATHER your mulberries when they are in the state of changing from red to black, and at that time of the day when they are dry from the dew having been taken off by the heat of the sun. Spread them loose on a cloth, or a clean floor, and let them lay twenty-four hours. Then put them into a convenient vessel for the purpose, squeeze out all the juice, and drain it from the seeds. Boil up a gallon of water to each gallon of juice you get out of them; then skim the water well, and add a little cinnamon slightly bruised. Put to each gallon six ounces of white sugar-candy finely beaten. Skim and strain the water, when it has been taked off, and is settled; and put to it some more juice of the mulberries. To every gallon of the liquor, add a pint of white or rhenish wine. Let it stand in a cask to purge or settle for five or six days, and then draw off the wine, and keep it in a cool place.
Raspberry Wine.
PICK some of the finest raspberries you can get, bruise them, and strain them through a flannel bag into a stone jar. To each quart of juice put a pound of double-refined sugar, then stir it well together, and cover it close. Let it stand three days, and then pour it off clear. To a quart of juice put two pints of white wine, and then bottle it off. In the course of a week it will be fit for use.
Damsom Wine.
AFTER you have gathered your damsons, which must be on a dry day, weigh them and then bruise them. Put them into a stein that has a tap in it, and to every eight pounds of fruit put a gallon of water. Boil the water, skim it, and pour it scalding hot on your fruit. When it has stood two days draw it off, and put it into a vessel, and to every gallon of liquor put two pounds and a half of fine sugar. Fill up the vessel and stop it close, and the longer it stands the better. When you draw it off, put a lump of sugar into every bottle.
Orange Wine.
BOIL six gallons of spring water three quarters of an hour, with twelve pounds of the best powder sugar, and the whites of eight or ten eggs well beaten. When it is cold, put it in six spoonsful of yeast. Take the juice of twelve lemons, which; being pared, must stand with about two pounds of white sugar in a tankard, and in the morning skim off the top, and put it in the water. Then add the juice and rinds of fifty oranges, but not the white parts of the rinds, and then let them work all together for forty-eight hours. Then add two quarts of Rhenish or white wine, and put it into your vessel.
Orange wine may be made with raisins, in which case proceed thus: take thirty pounds of new Malaga raisins picked clean, chop them small, and take twenty large Seville oranges, ten of which you must prepare as thin as for preserving. Boil about eight gallons of soft water till one third of it is wasted, and let it cool a little. Then put five gallons of it hot upon your raisins and orange-peel, stir it well together, cover it up, and when it is cold, let it stand five days, stirring it once or twice a day. Then pass it through a hair sieve, and with a spoon press it as dry as you can Put it in a rundlet fit for use, and put to it the rinds of the other ten oranges, cut as thin as the first. Then make a syrup of the juice of twenty oranges, with a pound of white sugar, which must be done the day before you tun the wine. Stir it well together, and stop it close. Let it stand two months to clear, and then bottle it off. This wine greatly improves by time, and will drink much better at the end of the third year than the first.
Lemon Wine.
PARE off the rinds of six large lemons, cut them, and squeeze out the juice. Steep the rinds in the juice, and put to it a quart of brandy. Let it stand three days in an earthen pot close stopped; then squeeze six more, and mix it with two quarts of spring water, and as much sugar as will sweeten the whole. Boil the water, lemons, and sugar together, and let it stand till it is cool. Then add a quart of white wine, mix them together, and run it through a flannel bag into some vessel. Let it stand three months, and then bottle it off. Cork your bottles well, keep it cool, and it will be fit to drink in a month or six weeks.
Lemon wine may be made to drink like citron water, the method of which is as follows: pare fine a dozen of lemons very thin, put the peels into five quarts of French brandy, and let them stand fourteen days. Then make the juice into a syrup with three pounds of single-refined sugar, and when the peels are ready, boil fifteen gallons of water with forty pounds of single-refined sugar for half an hour. Then put it into a tub, and when cool, add to it one spoonful of barm, and let it work two days. Then turn it, and put in the brandy, peels, and syrup. Stir them altogether, and close up your cask. Let it stand three months, then bottle it, and it will be as pale and fine as any citron water.
Grape Wine.
PUT a gallon of water to a gallon of grapes. Bruise the grapes well, let them stand a week without stirring, and then draw off the liquor. Put to a gallon of the wine three pounds of sugar, and then put it into a vessel, but do not fasten it up with your bung till it has done hissing. Let it stand two months, and it will draw clear and fine. If you think proper you may then bottle it, but remember your cork is quite close, and keep it in a good dry cellar.
Cherry Wine.
GATHER your cherries when they are quite ripe, pull them from the stalks, and press them through a hair-sieve. To every gallon of liquor put two pounds of lump sugar finely beaten, then stir it together, and put it into a vessel that will just contain it. When it has done working, and ceases to make any noise, stop it very close for three months, and then bottle it off for use.
Elder Wine.
PICK your elder-berries when they are full ripe, put them into a stone jar, and set them in the oven, or in a kettle of boiling water till the jar is hot through; then take them out, and strain them through a coarse sieve, wringing the berries, and put the juice into a clean kettle. To every quart of juice, put a pound of fine Lisbon sugar, let it boil, and skim it well. When it is clear and fine, pour it into a cask. To every ten gallons of wine, add an ounce of isinglass dissolved in cider, and six whole eggs. Close it up, let it stand six months, and then bottle it.
Apricot Wine.
PUT three pounds of sugar into three quarts of water, let them boil together, and skim it well. Then put in six pounds of apricots pared and stoned, and let them boil till they are tender. Take out the apricots, and when the liquor is cold, bottle it up. For present use the apricots will make good marmalade.
Quince Wine.
GATHER twenty large quinces, when they are dry and full ripe. Wipe them clean with a coarse cloth, and grate them with a large grate or rasp as near the cores as you can; but do not touch the cores. Boil a gallon of spring-water, throw in your quinces, and let them boil softly about a quarter of an hour. Then strain them well into an earthen pan on two pounds of double-refined sugar. Pare the peel of two large lemons, throw them in, and squeeze the juice through a sieve. Stir it about till it is very cold, and then toast a thin slice of bread very brown, rub a little yeast on it, and let the whole stand close covered twenty-four hours. Then take out the toast and lemon, put the wine in a cask, keep it three months, and then bottle it. If you make a twenty gallon cask, let it stand six months before you bottle it; and remember, when you strain your quinces, to wring them hard in a coarse cloth.
Blackberry Wine.
LET your berries be full ripe when you gather them for this purpose. Put them into a large vessel either of wood or stone, with a tap in it, and pour upon them as much boiling water as will cover them. As soon as the heat will permit you to put your hand into the vessel, bruise them well till all the berries are broken. Then let them stand covered till the berries begin to rise towards the top, which they will do in three or four days. Then draw off the clear into another vessel, and add to every ten quarts of this liquor one pound of sugar. Stir it well in, and let it stand to work a week or ten days in another vessel like the first. Then draw it off at the cork through a jelly-bag into a large vessel. Take four ounces of isinglass, and lay it to steep twelve hours in a pint of white wine. The next morning boil it upon a slow fire till it is all dissolved. Then take a gallon of your blackberry juice, put in the dissolved isinglass, give them a boil together, and pour all into the vessel. Let it stand a few days to purge and settle, then draw it off, and keep it in a cool place.
Turnip Wine.
TAKE what quantity of turnips you think proper, pare and slice them, put them into a cider-press, and squeeze out all the juice. To every gallon of juice put three pounds of lamp sugar, put both into a vessel just large enough to hold them, and add to every gallon of juice half a pint of brandy. Lay something over the bung for a week; and when you are sure it has done working, bung it down close. Let it stand three months, then draw it off into another vessel, and when it is fine, put it into bottles.
THIS wine must be made at that time of the year when the liquor from the birch-trees can be best procured. This is in the beginning of March, when the sap is rising, and before the leaves shoot out: for when the sap is coming forward, and the leaves appear, the juice, by being long digested in the bark, grows thick and coloured, which before was thin and clear. The method of procuring the juice is, by boring holes in the body of the tree, and putting fossets, which are usually made of the branches of elder, the pith being taken out. You may, without hurting the tree, if it is large, tap it in several places, four or five at a time, and by that means save, from a good many trees, several gallons every day. If you do not get enough in one day, the bottles in which it drops must be corked close, and rosined or waxed; however, make use of it as soon as you can. Take the sap, and boil it as long as any scum will rise, skimming it all the time. To every gallon of liquor put four pounds of good sugar and the thin peel of a lemon. Then boil it half an hour, and keep skimming it well. Pour it into a clean tub, and when it is almost cold, set it to work with yeast spread upon a toast. Let it stand five or six days, stirring it often. Then take a cask just large enough to hold all the liquor, fire a large match dipped in brimstone, and throw it into the cask, stop it close till the match is extinguished, then turn your wine, and lay the bung on lightly till you find it has done working. Stop it close, and, after three months, bottle it off.
Rose Wine.
PUT into a well-glazed earthen vessel three gallons of rose-water drawn with a cold still. Put into it a sufficient quantity of rose-leaves, cover it close, and set it for an hour in a kettle or copper of hot water, to to take out the whole strength and flavour of the roses. When it is cold, press the rose-leaves hard into the liquor, and steep fresh ones on it, repeating it till the liquor has got the full strength of the roses. To every gallon of liquor put three pounds of loaf sugar, and stir it well that it may melt and disperse in every part. Then put it into a cask, or other convenient vessel, to ferment, and throw into it a piece of bread toasted hard and covered with yeast. Let it stand a month, when it will be ripe, and have all the fine flavour and scent of the roses. If you add some wine and spices, it will be a considerable improvement. By the same mode of infusion, wines may be made from any other flowers that have an odoriferous scent, and grateful flavour.
Ginger Wine.
PUT seven pounds of Lisbon sugar into four gallons of spring water, boil them a quarter of an hour, and keep skimming it all the time. When the liquor is cold, squeeze in the juice of two lemons, and then boil the peels with two ounces of ginger, in three pints of water, for an hour. When it is cold, put it all together into a barrel, with two spoonsful of yeast, a quarter of an ounce of isinglass beat very thin, and two pounds of jar raisins. Then close it up, let it stand seven weeks, and then bottle it off.
Balm Wine.
BOIL forty pounds of sugar in nine gallons of water for two hours, skim it well, and put it into a tub to cool. Take two pounds and a half of the tops of balm, bruise them, and put them into a barrel with a little new yeast, and when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm. Mix it well together, and let it stand twenty-four hours, stirring it frequently during the time. Then close it up, and let it stand six weeks, at the expiration of which rack it off, and put a lump of sugar into every bottle. Cork it well, and it will be better the second year than the first.
Mead Wine.
THERE are different kinds of this wine; but those generally made are two, namely, sack-mead and cowslip-mead. Sack mead is made thus: to every gallon of water put four pounds of honey, and boil it three quarters of an hour, taking care properly to skim it. To each gallon add half an ounce of hops, then boil it half an hour, and let it stand till the next day. Then put it into your cask; and to thirteen gallons of the liquor add a quart of brandy or sack. Let it be tightly closed till the fermentation is over, and then stop it up very close. If you make as much as fills a large Cask, you must not bottle it off till it has stood a year.
To make cowslip-mead you must proceed thus: put thirty pounds of honey into fifteen gallons of water, and boil it till one gallon is wasted; skim it, take it off the fire, and have ready sixteen lemons cut in half. Take a gallon of the liquor, and put it to the lemons. Pour the rest of the liquor into a tub, with seven pecks of cowslips, and let them stand all night: then put in the liquor with the lemons, eight spoonsful of new yeast, and a handful of sweet-brier; stir all well together, and let it work three or four days. Then strain it, pour it into your cask, let it stand six months, and then bottle it off for use.
Raspberry Brandy.
MIX a pint of water with two quarts of brandy, and put them into a pitcher large enough to hold them, with four pints of raspberries. Put in half a pound of loaf-sugar, and let it remain for a week close covered. Then take a piece of flannel, with a piece of Holland over it, and let it run through by degrees. In about a week it will be perfectly fine, when you may rack it off; but be careful the bottles are well corked.
Orange Brandy.
PUT into three quarts of brandy the chips of eighteen Seville oranges, and let them steep a fortnight in a stone bottle close stopped. Boil two quarts of spring water, with a pound and a half of the finest sugar, near an hour very gently. Clarify the water and sugar with the white of an egg, then strain it through a jelly-bag, and boil it near half away. When it is cold, strain the brandy into the syrup.
MIX five quarts of water with one gallon of brandy; then take two dozen of lemons, two pounds of the best sugar, and three pints of milk. Pare the lemons very thin, and lay the peel to steep in the brandy twelve hours. Squeeze the lemons upon the sugar, then put the water to it, and mix all the ingredients together. Let it stand twenty-four hours, and then strain it.
Black Cherry Brandy.
STONE eight pounds of black cherries, and put on them a gallon of the best brandy. Bruise the stones in a mortar, and then put them into your brandy. Cover them up close, and let them stand a month or six weeks. Then pour it clear from the sediments, and bottle it. Morello cherries managed in this manner, make a fine rich cordial.