AMERICAN METHOD 01- FERMENTATION. 6 1 



The American Method of Fermentation, as described 

 by Downing, consists in placing the newly filled casks, with their 

 bungs out, either in a cool cellar, or in the open air, and as the 

 scum works out the barrel is kept filled with some of the same 

 "must" kept for this purpose. In two or three days the rising 

 will commonly cease, and then the first fermentation is over. The 

 bung is now closed, and in two or three days driven in firmly, leav- 

 ing a small vent hole open, and this also should be stopped in a few 

 days. The clear liquor is now racked off by syphon into a clean 

 cask, and if in a few days it is found to remain quiet, a gill of finely 

 powdered charcoal is added to each barrel, when it is closed and left 

 until spring. In March they rack again, and if the Cider is not quite 

 bright, they add three-quarters of an ounce of isinglass, previously 

 dissolved, to each barrel. In a few days it will be fit for bottling, 

 and this may be done at any time up to May. 



The French Method of Fermentation is as follows : — 

 The "must" is removed at once from the press into large oak casks 

 well cleaned and prepared for it. They are filled to within three 

 or four inches of the brim, and placed in rows in a cellar with a 

 minimum temperature of 12° centigrade (or 53° Fahrenheit). If 

 the fermentation is slow, they increase the heat to 25° centigrade 

 (or 77° Fahrenheit), by movable stoves. When active effervesence 

 begins to subside and the Cider is "between the two lees," the 

 density of the fluid will be found to have decreased from 1067 to 

 1035. This is the proper time to rack it, which they do by syphon 

 into casks which have been well cleansed, and are quite free from 

 any bad smell or taste. The oxygen of the air is previously ex- 

 hausted by burning a little spirit in the cask, or if its condition is 

 the least doubtful, it is sulphured. Sometimes a small portion of 

 alcohol is now added to each cask, and almost invariably, they also 

 add eight ounces of Catechu, previously dissolved in cold water, 

 to every 100 gallons of Cider. They then fill up, and lightly bung 

 the casks. When the density of the liquor is reduced to 1022, the 

 bungs are to be tightly closed, an " ullage " of one or two inches 

 being allowed to each cask. 



The Jersey and Channel Islands method is to let the 

 active fermentation take place in open vessels, covered only by 



