CIDER. 149 



hair is best, but very expensive) it must be clean from 

 rust; for there is no liquor which more readily imbibes 

 and betrays offensive taste than cider. Too hard 

 pressing on the cheese, before it is sufficiently closed, 

 presses out the pulp with the must, and it is in all cases 

 necessary to return the first running on to the cheese, 

 until you you perceive it free from pulp. If you 

 choose a pale cider, the pomace must be pressed as 

 soon as possible from the mill : the colour is raised by 

 exposing it longer, and in greater surfaces to the air. 

 The aptness in cider to imbibe foreign tastes, renders 

 an exact attention to your vessels of great importance. 

 New vessels, made of seasoned oak, do very well ; 

 but those that have been used are better, provided 

 they be kept sweet and clean. The must, or juice of 

 the apple being obtained, the first object is to clear it 

 of pumice : the second, to produce a fermentation to 

 your palate and purpose. 



" The most expeditious mode of doing the first in 

 the great way, is by putting the must in large open 

 vessels, there to stand until the first appearance of 

 fermentation.* This comes on sooner or later, from 

 circumstances too various for our present considera- 

 tion at large. It may serve the purpose to consider 

 the operation, as dependent on the degree of heat in 

 the air at the time: perhaps sixty hours is long 

 enough to be wished for. During that time the heav- 

 iest of the pulp sinks to the bottom ; the larger and 

 lighter parts rise to the surface, where it remains 

 until the fermentation begins ; but the fermentation 

 would involve a great part of the pulp, both from 

 above and below, into the body of the liquor, and in- 



^Hogsheads, or even barrels, answer very well with a head 

 out, where there are plenty of casks ; but it is as well done in 

 the casks you intend to ferment in, provided you attend to the 

 first appearance of fermentation at the bung-hole, and remove 

 the pulp entirely out of the cask. 



