THE GEx*^SEE FARMER. 



337 



casks perfectly clean and sweet, bnriff tight, and 

 immediately place in a tolerably cool, dry cellar, 

 wliere the temperature is from 60° to 65° F. — not 

 over 68''. Remove the bun^', and till up with cider 

 to the surface. Fermentation will soon commence, 

 and throw off the lighter particles in froth over 

 tlie side of the cask. Care must be taken to keep 

 the cask full, to enable the impurities to pass off 

 more freely. When the froth or scum ceases. to 

 flow, and the fermentation becomes a little lan- 

 ^ui<l — vvhicli may be known by the diminution of 

 the hissing noise — the bung is to be driven in, and 

 a small hole bored by its side, into which a wooden 

 peg is to be iitted. Tliis peg may be drawn once 

 or twice i^i two or three days, fur a few minutes, 

 to let the fixed air which lias been generated 

 e-=cape, and in about three weeks it mny be perma- 

 nently driven in tight, if the fermentation should 

 continue, «and tiiere should appear any danger of 

 the sweetness vanishing altogether, it may be 

 racked into another cask, which has been fumiga- 

 ted witii sidpliur, and the fermentation checked by 

 fining, as follows: Draw otf one or two gallons of 

 the cider from a barrel; then take one quart of 

 new milk immediately from the cow after milking, 

 and before any separation takes i)lace, and mix it 

 wii^h tlie cider drawn, and pour it into your cask 

 and stir it well; leave the bung loose for about 

 twelve hour?, and then drive it tight, and in from 

 twenty to thirty days it will be beautifully fine, 

 and bright, and ready for use. * * * * 



"The jireat secret in the manufacture of cider, 

 is the s^par.'ition of the pomace froin the liquor be- 

 fore the second fermentation commences; and this 

 may be done by straining the juice as it comes 

 friim the press through coarse cloths into casks 

 standing on end — the upper head removed — with 

 a tap or faucet inserted in the side, say two or 

 three inches from tlie bottom. The casks should 

 be covered with one or more blankets, to confine 

 the heat and h'isfen fermentation, as well as to 

 protect it from files, &o. The pomace and lightei- 

 particles commence rising to the top, and continue 

 to rise juid ferment for two or three days. When 

 the vinous fermentation moderates, which may be 

 known by tlie cracking of the froth or crust, it 

 should he carefully removed with a fine skimmer. 

 Oare should be taken not tC' jar or shake the cask 

 during the operation, or the scum will mi.^ with 

 the clear li(|nor. Draw off the liquor by the fau- 

 cet, as long as it will run clear, the heavier parti- 

 cles reniainimr undi-^turbed at the bottom. If the 

 liquor is not sufficiently clear, or indications ap- 

 pear of the acetous fermentation havirg com- 

 menced, the cider should be fined either witli milk, 

 eggs, isinglass, <>v sulphite of Hme. After the first 

 racking the cask should be bunged close, and fur- 

 ther racking be avoided if possible, as every rack- 

 ing renders the strength less, and much of the 

 spirit escapes with carbonic gas which is evolved 

 in the fei-menting process. Tlie oxygen of the at- 

 mospheie, besides, increases the vinous or vinegar 

 fermentation. But if these methods fail, resort 

 may be had to the means of impeding the natural 

 operations of the mucilage, or vegetable yea>t. 

 This may be done by drawing a gallon or so of the 

 cider, in which dissolve six ounces of sulphite of 

 lime to the barrel of thirty-two gallons; pour it 

 into the barrel, and stir the same thoroughly by 



shaking; or it may be done by filling the barrel 

 half full and burning a rag saturated with brim- 

 stone in the cask into which the' liquor is to be de- 

 canted, after it has been partially filled, and rolling 

 it so as to completely incorporate the liquor with 

 the gas; or by putting a drachm or.two of sulphite 

 of lime into e.ach barrel, which will precipitate and 

 render insoluble the remaining leaven or yeast. If 

 the fruit is good and properly managed and ground, 

 and the cider racked from'tho fermenting casks at 

 a jiroper time, almost all the subsequent operations 

 will be suiierceded. ****** 

 " We consider the following points of importance 

 in securing good cider. First: The use ot the 

 best ripe a[)])les, free from rot. Second: The per- 

 fect reduction of the apples to pomace, without 

 breaking the seeds. Third,: The removal of the 

 impurities in the liquid, by the fermentation in a 

 full cask with open t)ung, the aperture thus aftord- 

 ing an escape over the side for the scum and froth; 

 and. Fourth: Tlie drawing off" the cider without 

 disturUing the sediment deiiosited at the bottom 

 during fermentation. 



SPARKLING CIDER. 



" Put the new cider as it comes from the press 

 into clean barrels, and allow it to ferment from 

 one to three weeks, according as the weather is 

 cool or warm. When it has attained a lively fer-. 

 mentation, add to each gallon three-quarters of a 

 pound of crushed sugar, and let the cider ferment 

 again until it possesses nearly the brisk, pletwmt 

 taste which it is desired should be penuaneut. 

 Pour out one quart of the cider, and mix with it 

 one quarter of an ounce of sulphite of lime to 

 every gallon the cask contains. Stir it until it is 

 intimately mixed, and pour the emulsion into the 

 cask; agitate the contents of the cask thoroughly 

 for a few moments, then let it rest that the cider 

 may settle. Fermentation will be arrested at once, 

 and will not be resumed. It may be bottled in the 

 course of a few week.s, or it may be allowed to re- 

 main in the cask and used on draught. It bottled, 

 it will become a sparkling cider — better than most 

 of the cheap cliam})agne. 



"By sulistitutingfor the sugar one pint of honey, 

 yon Avill have ^a cider much resembling and supe- 

 rior to the famous Newark cider, formerly found 

 in the New York market. 



CHAMPAGNE CIDER. 



"Take late, sound, ripe apples, crnsh and press 

 them into cider; boil it in a copper or bra.ss kettle 

 for about ten minutes; skim it while it boils; then 

 liarrel it like common cider, keeping the cask full. 

 In March, before the second fermentation has he- 

 gun, bottle in strong bottles — old champagne bot- 

 tles ate best. — large or small, and bottle all youi 

 cider, leaving a small space between the liqnor and 

 the cork; tie a gooil strong string, or a small an- 

 nealed wire, over the cork, and lay the bottles on 

 the side, in a dry, cool cellar. Should it commence 

 bursting the bottles, stand them on end. Cider 

 treated in this way will make a splendid drink in the 

 course of the summer, s|)arkling like champagne. 



CIDER WINE. 



Take pure cider, made from soundj ripe apples, 

 (Ilari'isiin preferred,) as it runs from the press; 

 put sixty [lounds of common brown sugar into 

 fifteen gallons of the cider, and let it dissolve ; the*. 



