to 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



plj'ing the extractive principle to the liquor ; 

 the same juices, therclbre, which would ler- 

 menl very well in wood would scarcely ferment 

 at till in glass or carlhenware. 



The extractive matter and the sugar are sel- 

 dom completely destroyed in any wines ; the 

 existence or the former is evinced hy the skinny 

 matter frequently deposited upon the inside of 

 the wine bottles ; the latter may be detected by 

 a nice palate, iu the very di'iest of our 

 wines ; its predominance indicates an inferior 

 wine. 



From the preceding observations, my read- 

 ers have probably anticipated my opinion of 

 himey in loiiie making. I regai'd it merely as a 

 mbsftiivtefor sugar ; and to those who approve 

 of Its flavor I recommend the following direc- 

 tionfi, which I have successlully followed for 

 several years, having my home-made wines en- 

 riched with a considerable portion of foreign 

 flavor : Dissolve an ounce of cream of tartar in 

 five gallons of boiling water ; pour the solution 

 off clear u,poii twenty pounds of fine honey, 

 boil them logetlier, and remove the scum as it 

 rises. Toward the end of tlie boiling add an 

 ounce of fine hops ; about ten minutes after- 

 wards put the liquor in a tub to cool ; when re- 

 duced to the temperature ot 70^ or 80^ of Fah- 

 renheit, according to the season, add a slice of 

 bread toasted and smeared over with a very 

 little yeast ; the smaller the quantity the bettre, 

 for yeast invariably spoils the flaoor of wines, 

 and where there is a sufficiency of extractive 

 matter in the ingredients employed, it should 

 never be introduced : if fermented iu wooden 

 vessels, none is required. The liquor should 

 uow stand in a warm room, and bestirred occa- 

 sionally. As soon as it begins to carry a liead 

 it should be tunned, and the cask filled up from 

 time to time from tlie reserve, till the fermen- 

 tation has nearly subsided. It should now be 

 bunged down, leaving open a small peg-hole ; 

 in a few days this may also be closed, and in 

 about twelve months the wine will be fit to 

 bottle. 



The ancients were accustomed to boil their 

 mead for a considerable time, until the liquor 

 would buoy up a fresh egg, allowing it to rise 

 above the surface, about tlie size of a shilling, 

 the criterion by whiah they judged that the 

 process of boiling might be discontinued. 



Many makers of both wine and cider have 

 been unconsciously benefited from the acquisi- 

 tion of tartar by their liciuor, it being a frequent 

 practice to tun into an empty foreign wine-cask, 

 whose incvusted sides have supplied their wine 

 or their cider with a portion of that necessary 

 ingredient for perfect vinification. 



It is a practice with some to add spices to 

 their mead during the fermentation, such as 

 ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, lemon-peel, 

 &c. This is bad economy ; a much smaller quan- 

 tity will communicate the required flavor if the 

 addition be made after the fermentation has 

 ceased. 



A common beverage is sometimes made, by 

 simply washing the refuse honey-combs in water, 

 after extracting from them as much of the ho- 

 ney as will run, and then boiling it for a few 



minutes : this liquor will not require tartar or 

 yeast: it should be tunned as soon as cool, 

 bunged down in three or four days, and drank 

 in a few weeks. In some parts of^ Wales the 

 reJush-combs are brewed with malt, spices, &c., 

 and the produce is called B/aggol, a name de- 

 rived from the old British words brag and gols, 

 the former signifying malt, the latter honeycomb. 



Simple hydromel is made either with honey 

 which has become acid, or with honey and 

 acidulated water ; it is not fermented, but used 

 extemporaneously as a summer beverage. 



Feburier recommends one part of honey to 

 be mixed with three parts of water, which he 

 says, will begin to ferment in about eighteen 

 days, and throw off lees for six weeks or two 

 months. 



A knowledge of the principles of fermenta- 

 tion will enuble the wine-maker to regulate its 

 process. Thus, if a dry wme be desired, and 

 fermentation be suspended, it may be renewed 

 by a restoration of the separated leaven, or the 

 addition of fresh ; or by agitation, and a remix- 

 ture of the lees. It is upon the latter principle, 

 called "-feeding on the lees,^'' that some Ibreigrt 

 wines are improved by long voyages ; but this 

 treatment, so serviceable to Madeira and other 

 Spanish tcines, and also to some of the French 

 wines, would destroy Burgundy ; the high 

 aroma for which this wine is so much prized 

 being obtained at the expense of some of its 

 vinous attributes. If there he an excess of fer- 

 mentation the scientific operator will regulate, 

 check, or suspend it, by skimming, racking, 

 fining. If skimming and racking do not suc- 

 ceed, recourse must be had to fining, which 

 may be effected by isinglass, in the proportion 

 of about an ounce to 100 gallons. The isinglass 

 must be beaten, for a few days, with a whisk in 

 a small quantity of the wine, till completely at- 

 tenuated. This solution must then be well 

 stiired into the cask of wine, which in about a 

 week will become fine, and fit for being racked 

 off. This fining is accomplished by the union 

 of the isinglass with what is called the tannin 

 of the wine. Fining may also be eflected by 

 stumming, i. e. by burning in a close vessel, con- 

 taining a small part of the wine, a brimstone rag, 

 at the rate of a drachm of sulphur to thirty gal- 

 lons ; and when consumed rolling the cask 

 about for a quarter of an hour, that the wine 

 may absorb as much as possible of the sulphuric 

 acid gas. This being done, the cask is to be 

 filled up with the remainder of the wine, and 

 bunged down. In this process the sulphuric 

 acid, or its oxygen, unites with the extractive 

 matter or soluble leaven, which, being thereby 

 rendered insoluble, is precipitated to the bottom, 

 as I before observed. If wines be perfectly fer- 

 mented, they do not require the addition of any 

 brandy, as a sufficiency of spirit is generated 

 during the process. 



The best temperature for carrying on a fer- 

 mentation is about 54° Fahrenheit. Its perfec- 

 tion depends iu some degree upon the volume 

 of the liquor ; the larger the quantity, the longer 

 the fermentation will continue, and the stronger 

 and pleasanter will be the wine. There are, 

 however, exceptions to this rule. The peculiai 



