CIDER. 



CIDER. 



is past, and while sufficient warmth yet re- 

 mains to enable the fermentation to progress 

 slowly, as it ought. 



The fruit should be gathered by hand, or 

 shaken from the tree in dry weather, when it 

 is at perfect maturity; arid the ground should 

 be covered with coarse cloths or Russia mats 

 beneath, to prevent bruising, and consequent 

 rottenness, before the grinding commences. 

 Unripe fruit should be laid in large masses, 

 protected from dews and rain, to siveat and 

 hurry on its maturity, when the suitable time 

 for making approaches. The earlier fruits 

 should be laid in thin layers on stagings, to 

 preserve them to the suitable period for mak- 

 ing, protected alike from rain and dews, and 

 where they may be benefited by currents of 

 cool, dry air. 



Each variety should be kept separate, that 

 those ripening at the same period may be 

 ground together. 



In grinding, the most perfect machinery 

 should be used to reduce the whole fruit, skin, 

 and seeds to a fine pulp. This should, if pos- 

 sible, be performed in cool weather. The late 

 Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey, has observed 

 emphatically, that " the longer a cheese lies after 

 being ground, before pressing, the better for the 

 cider, provided it escapes fermentation until the 

 pressing is completed ,-" and he further observes, 

 " that a sour apple, after being bruised on one 

 side, becomes rich and sweet after it has 

 changed to a brown colour, while it yet re- 

 tains its acid taste on the opposite side." 

 When the pomace united to the juice is thus 

 suffered for a time to remain, it undergoes a 

 chemical change ; the saccharine principle is 

 developed ; it will be found rich and sweet ; 

 sugar is in this case produced by the prolonged 

 union of the bruised pulp and juice, which 

 could never have been formed in that quantity 

 had they been sooner separated. 



Mr. Jonathan Rice, of Marlborough, who 

 made the premium cider so much admired at 

 Concord, Massachusetts, appears so sensible 

 of the important effects of mature or fully ripe 

 fruit, that, provided this is the case, he is 

 willing even to forego the disadvantage of 

 having a portion of them quite rotten. Let 

 me observe, that this rottenness must be the 

 effect, in part, of bruises by improper modes 

 of gathering, or by improper mixtures of ripe 

 and unripe fruit. He always chooses cool 

 weather for the operation of grinding; and, in- 

 stead of suffering the pomace to remain but 

 twenty-four or forty-eight hours at most before 

 pressing, as others have directed, he suffers it 

 to remain from a week to ten days, provided the 

 weather will admit, stirring the mass daily till 

 it is put to the press. See his communication 

 . vii. p. 123, N. E. Farmer. 



The first fermentation in cider is termed the 

 vinous ; in this the sugar is decomposed, and 

 loses its sweetness, and is converted into alco- 

 hol; if the fermentation goes on too rapidly, 

 the cider is injured ; a portion of alcohol passes 

 off with the carbonic acid. 



The design of frequent rackings is princi- 

 pally to restrain the fermentation ; but it seems 

 to be generally acknowledged that it weakens 

 Ihe liquor. It is not generally practised, al- 

 .128 



though the finest cider is often produced by 

 this mode. 



Various other modes are adopted with the 

 view of restraining fermentation, one of which 

 is the following. After a few gallons of cider 

 are poured into the hogshead into which the 

 cider is to be placed when racked off, a rag six 

 inches long, previously dipped in melted brim- 

 stone, is attached by a wire to a very long, 

 tapering bung; on the match being lighted the 

 bung is loosely inserted; after this is con- 

 sumed, the cask is rolled or tumbled till the 

 liquor has imbibed the gas, and then filled 

 with the liquid. This checks the fermentation. 

 Yet the French writers assure us that the effect 

 of much sulphuring must necessarily render 

 such liquors unwholesome. 



Black oxide of manganese has a similar 

 effect ; the crude oxide is rendered friable by 

 being repeatedly heated red hot, and as often 

 suddenly cooled by immersion in cold water. 

 When finely pulverised, it is exposed for a 

 while to the atmosphere, till it has imbibed 

 again the oxygen which had been expelled by 

 fire. An ounce of powder is deemed sufficient 

 for a barrel. If the cider is desired to be very 

 sweet, it must be added before fermentation, 

 otherwise not till afterwards. Mr. Knight, from 

 his long experience and observation in a coun- 

 try (Herefordshire, England) famous for its 

 cider, has lately, in a letter to the Hon. John 

 Lowell, stated that the acetous fermentation 

 generally takes place during the progress of 

 the vinous, and that the liquor from the com- 

 mencement is imbibing oxygen at its surface. 

 He highly recommends that new charcoal, in a 

 finely pulverized state, be added to the liquor 

 as it comes from the press, in the proportion of 

 eight pounds to the hogshead, to be intimately 

 incorporated; "this makes the liquor at first 

 as black as ink, but it finally becomes remark- 

 ably fine." 



Dr. Darwin has recommended that the liquor, 

 as soon as the pulp has risen, should be placed 

 in a cool situation, in casks of remarkable 

 strength, and the liquor closely confined from 

 the beginning. The experiment has been tried 

 with good success ; the fermentation goes on 

 slowly, and an excellent cider is generally the 

 result. 



A handful of well-powdered clay to a barrel 

 is said to check the fermentation. This is 

 stated by Dr. Mease. And with the view of 

 preventing the escape of the carbonic acid, and 

 to prevent the liquid from imbibing oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, a pint of olive oil has 

 been recommended to each hogshead. The 

 excellent cider exhibited by Mr. Rice was pre- 

 pared by adding two gallons of New England 

 rum to each barrel when first made. In Feb- 

 ruary or March it was racked off in clear wea- 

 ther, and two quarts more of New England 

 rum added to each barrel. Cider well ferment- 

 ed may be frozen down to any requisite degree 

 of strength. In freezing, the watery parts are 

 separated and freeze first, and the stronger 

 parts are drawn off from the centre. I finish 

 by adding the following general rules ; they 

 will answer for all general purposes ; they are 

 the conclusions from what is previously stated: 

 1. Gather the fruit according to the foregoing 



