7oi 1.— No. 24. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



189 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



JPOP. THE GENESEE FARMER. 

 CURRANT WINE. 



Never expecting to arrive at a competen- 

 cy that would enable me to enjoy the luxu- 

 ry of foreign Wines, I was led to seek for 

 substitutes in our home productions. Ha- 

 ving never met with any currant wine that 

 would answer, I turned my attention to ci- 

 der, obtained sundry receipts for making ci- 

 der' wines, and made experiments on them 

 for several years, in order to make cider an- 

 swer as the substitute for wine ; but all my 

 undertakings failed, leaving it to remain ci- 

 der. Although considerable improvement 

 can be made on the common mode of man- 

 ufacturing cider, so as to make it worth three 

 or four times the value of ordinary cider, 

 yet the malic acid of the apple, will not af- 

 ford the vinous flavor, like the tartaric acid 

 •f the grape. 



I then began the culture of grapes,hoping 

 that out of American grown grapes to be able 

 to make a home-made wine that would 

 serve as an apology for the luxurious flavor 

 of foreign wines. 



It is only two years ago that I first met 

 with a currant wine, at Oliver Phelps', in 

 Canandaigua, that possessed a sufficiency of 

 the vinous flavor to characterize it with tne 

 name of wine ; all the others that I had 

 drank of before,were deficient in the vinous 

 davor ; they were too heavy and of a syrup 

 taste, probably owing to the want of a just 

 proportion in their ingredients. 



But finding Mr. Phelps' so good an imi- 

 tation of foreign wine I was induced to imi- 

 tate it. Accordingly, I took his, and also 

 Mai. John Adlum's, receipt for making cur- 

 rant wine, (which I have annexed) and va- 

 rving their process in obtaining the juice of 

 the currant, to conform with Maj. Adlum's 

 process for making wine of the grape, and 

 last year made the following experiments : 

 I picked the currants about the middle of 

 July. I had seven pecks, (instead of nine. 

 as given in the receipt for a barrel of wine) 

 washed and pounded them in an open bar- 

 rel, and instead of pressing out the juice 

 immediately, I covered the barrel with a 

 board and left it to stand and ferment ; but 

 {instead of 12,24, 36, or 48 horns, as Major 

 Vdlnm prescribes for grape juice) by neg- 

 lect I let them remain four or live days, when 

 they had gathered some mould on the top ; 

 then pressed out the juice by hand ; (a press 

 if some kind would have lessened the labor, 

 ind to have added a few gallons of water 

 would hare obtained more extract from the 

 currants, and also facilitated the straining of 

 it) then, divided the juice into equal parts in 

 order to make two half barrels ; one with 

 maple sugar, and the other with honey. 



To the one I added thirty-seven pounds 

 maple sugar that had not been drained of 

 its molasses, and sufficient water to make 

 fifteen gallons of the whole; then tested its 

 strength by putting in a lien's egg, (Major 

 Adlum's handy and convenient substitute 

 for the Sacchrometer) and found that it floa- 

 ted the egg, showing about the size of a shil- 

 ling piece above the surface ; then put up 

 the must into the cask. 



To the other I put forty-two pounds of 

 strained honey, and water to make the quan 

 tity (fifteen gallons). After the honey was 

 dissolved, I also tested this with the egg 

 and found it to show a part of the sheila- 

 bore the surface about the size of a pista- 



reen ; — which clearly showed that honey 

 contains as much saccharine, for its weight, 

 as sugar. 



The casks were put into the cellar to fer- 

 ment and make, leaving the bungs open for 

 a few days, then put them in loosely, and in 

 ten or twelve days, bunged tight. 



In December it was racked off, when each 

 cask afforded two gallons of lees in currant 

 pulp ; after racking, it was put back into the 

 casks again, and fined with a pint of skim- 

 milk, and left to stand. 



In September I took about two bushels of 

 peaches, (of the Columbia peach) pounded 

 them up, and left them to stand a few days 

 and ferment, as I had done with the cur- 

 rants, from which, with some labor, I ob- 

 tained about three gallons of juice, and to 

 which I added two pounds of honey to the 

 gallon, tested it with the egg, and put it up 

 in a small keg, for making. 



In October I picked about half a bushel 

 of the Isabella Grapes, and spread them in 

 the chamber for three or four weeks to dry ; 

 then mashed and put them into a stone jar,to 

 ferment ; by neglect, these were also left to 

 stand nearly a week, when a blue mould had 

 formed on the top, and the acetous fermen- 

 tation had evidently commenced; from them 

 I obtained about two gallons of juice, to 

 which added two pounds of honey to the 

 gallon, which bore the egg to the size of a 

 two shilling piece above the surface; then 

 put the must into a stone jug to make. 



Both of these were racked off and fined 

 in December. 



Owing to the Prussic acid of the Peach, 

 when assimilated with saccharine, not deve- 

 loping the vinous flavor, the like as the tar 

 taric acid of the grape, the peach juice has 

 produced a very inferior liquor in its flavor, 

 although possessing a good body. It is of 

 a pale white cider color, and a strong acid 

 cider taste ; so that I consider the experi- 

 ment of making wine from peaches an en- 

 tire failure. 



That of the grape juice is evidently inju- 

 red by the acetous fermentation, when suf- 

 fered to stand too long as before mentioned. 

 It has a dark red Teneriffe color, apptoach- 

 ing to the Burgundy, with a cooling taste.ow- 

 ing to the redundancy of the tartaric acid and 

 fixed air. It has been rather an indifferent 

 liquor, but is improving considerably by age, 

 and gives indications that it would have been 

 a successful experiment, had the quantity 

 been larger, and the process been duly at- 

 tended to. 



The currant wine made of maple sugar 

 has its color darkened to TennerifTe by the 

 coloring matter, and its flavor rendered 

 slightly bitter from the impurities of the su- 

 gar, clearly showing that the liquor will be 

 improved in proportion to the purity of the 

 saccharine used in making it. It has a slight 

 tinge of the Malaga flavor, and nearly equal 

 in its quality; it is a drinkable currant 

 wine. 



Rut that made of honey promises to be- 

 come a supetior article: it was a sugges- 

 tion of my own, proposed to Mr. N. Good- 

 sell, who at first objected to the experiment, 

 — but having the ingredient, the produce of 

 my faun, I preferred to venture it, and pro- 

 posed to add a gallon of brandy, according 

 to Mr. Phelps' receipt, should he consider 

 the honey as wanting in giving a sufficient 

 body to sustain the liquor ; but he objected 

 to that on Maj. Adlum's principle of devel- 

 oping the alcohol of wine, by fermentation, 



rather than by distillation, as making a more 

 pure and wholesome liquor, and should we 

 find it in danger of pricking, we could then 

 add the spirit. 



During the first two or three months the 

 sugar promised to be the better liquor ; but 

 afterwards, the honey gained on the sugar 

 until it was racked, when it fell back for a 

 (ew weeks, but afterwards it retained, and 

 continues to increase in its superiority over 

 the sugar. It has nearly the color of Ma- 

 deira, perfectly fine and limpid, with a good 

 body, and the spirit of the honey gives to it 

 the exhilarating properties of still cham- 

 paigne : its flavor denotes the unadulterated 

 purity of its ingredients ; and physicians have 

 admitted it good for medicinal uses, next to 

 Madeira, and by several persons it has been 

 considered equal to the Sicily Madeira, which 

 retails at two dollars. While computing the 

 ingredients at their market price, and allow- 

 ing something for the labor, it may be esti- 

 mated to cost about fifty cents. 



Those who do not produce honey, can 

 procure the Havana honey in Rochester at 

 one dollar the gallon, which is estimated to 

 weigh thirteen pounds, — that would need to 

 be clarified ; — it can be put into a stone jar. 

 and that, into a kettle of water, and boiled, 

 which will boil the honey and allow it to be 

 skimmed : or add some of the water to fill 

 the cask, and boil it in the kettle. 



The manner in which I obtained the sup- 

 ply of honey in July, was by driving tin 

 bees, after they had done swarming, out of 

 the old hive, into a new one. 



As the honey was considered as a secon- 

 dary experiment, I put it into an old hall 

 barrel I had on hand, which sprung aleak in 

 the winter.and by the spring 1 had lost more 

 than half of its contents. I propose to get 

 an iron bound cask, and have it painted f i 

 preservation. They can often be had of 

 the merchants, after having retailed out 

 their imported wines ; and to retain theii 

 lees, and put the currant wine on those lees, 

 will improve its vinous flavor. 



J. HAWLEY. 

 Oliver Phelps' Receipt for making Currant 

 Wine. 



Pick your currants in a fair day, when ful- 

 ly ripe, say between the fifteenth and twen- 

 tieth July. Wash ihrm in a tin cullender 

 clean from dust, then put them into a clean 

 flannel bag, and press out their juice. Meas- 

 ure it, and to every gallon of pure currant 

 juice add two gallons of cold well water.and 

 to every gallon of this mixture add three 

 pounds of good clear brown sugar, the pu- 

 rer and lighter, the better, (excepting the 

 Havana) and to every eighteen gallons of 

 liquor add one gallon of the best French 

 brandy. 



When the whole is well united put it into 

 a good clean cask ; fill it nearly full, and put 

 a piece of leather over the bung hole with 

 a small weight on it. Take care that the 

 cask is not so full as to work over, as this 

 would injure the liquor, and aftei the fer- 

 mentation has ceased, bung the cask as 

 tight as possible. In the month of May fol- 

 lowing, it will be fit for use. or for bottling, 

 as you choose. All this process must be 

 done with neatness, and you cannot fail in 

 having the first rale of currant wine. 



John Adlum's Receipt for making Currant 

 Wine. 

 Take two bushels of currants, sixteen gal- 

 lons of water, and from seventy-two to «igh- 



