1819.] Rev. J. Venables on Cyder Making. 2:3 



immature apples of a country which, compared with others, 

 enjoys so little of the sun, the quantity of malic acid must 

 evidently be excessive. In what way this may be best diminished 

 and a part of it neutralized, I trust some of your chemical friends 

 will be so obliging as to inform me. 



2. We are told by chemists that a certain portion of vegetable 

 mucilage is necessaiy to a perfect fermentation ; but if the 

 quantity be too great, the fermentation also will be excessive, 

 and convert the sugar not into spirit, but into acid. The great 

 desideratum, therefore, in cyder making, I consider to be some 

 proper method of fining the liquor before the fermentation 

 begins, some process to bring it to make an early deposit of the 

 vegetable mucilage or pulpy matter, which makes it so muddy 

 upon leaving the press. If the juices could be extracted from 

 the apple in a more pure and unmixed state, the fermentation 

 would be moderate, and almost imperceptible, and the sweetness, 

 richness, and flavour of the cyder preserved. But when the 

 fruit has been well ground in the mill, and is afterwards submit- 

 ted to the press, it seems impossible to prevent a superabundant 

 quantity of vegetable matter from being expressed with the 

 juices. It is this which causes the excessive fermentation at 

 first, and when set afloat afterwards by the least agitation of the 

 cask, or even change of weather, continues the fermenting pro- 

 cess till the whole of the saccharine principle is converted into 

 acid, and the cyder changed into that harsh and unpleasant 

 beverage of which we have so often reason to complain. 



Much of the pulpy deposit may be separated from the liquor 

 by racking it daily before the fermentation begins, and, perhaps, 

 the commencement of the fermentation may be delayed, and 

 sufficient time obtained for the complete accomplishment of the 

 object in view, if the deficiency occasioned by racking were 

 made up by the frequent addition of old cyder of the preceding 

 year. To rack cyder, as it is commonly done, in its turbid 

 state, during the violence of the fermentation, when every 

 particle of previous sediment is again set in motion, I consider 

 perfectly useless, if not injurious and absurd. But for the best 

 method of precipitating the pulpy matter, and obtaining an 

 immediate deposit of those impurities, which are hurtful to the 

 liquor, I must again solicit the advice of the practical and expe- 

 rienced chemist. 



3. During the process of fermentation, a great quantity of 

 carbonic acid gas is evolved ; but the moment the fermentation 

 ceases, the cyder begins to absorb oxygen from the atmosphere, 

 and if freely exposed after it has ceased to ferment would quickly 

 turn sour. In order, therefore, to permit the carbonic acid gas 

 tu escape, and to prevent the absorption of oxygen, which is the 

 principle of acidity, I have generally filled the casks nearly full, 

 and closed them with bungs fitted with safety valves. But here 

 ■J*o I would defer to the superior judgment of the chemist. 



