WINE-MAKING. 225 



half to four gallons. If, however, they are rich in wine-making 

 properties, the measure may be made up to four gallons by the 

 addition of water and sugar. Sugar must be added to the 

 must from grapes grown in this latitude, for, although a sound 

 light wine may be made from some of our best wine grapes, the 

 proportion is never sufficient to make a full-bodied wine which 

 will keep well ; twenty-four per cent, is the least the new 

 beginner should allow, but twenty per cent, and even fifteen 

 per cent, will enable a skilful operator to make a sound wine ; 

 the sugar should be the best refined white, as brown sugars 

 give a coarse taste to the wine. If you have not got a proper 

 instrument to ascertain the per cent, of sugar contained in the 

 must, (Oechsle's must scale is the best,) add the sugar until 

 the must will float a new laid egg with about one-quarter of its 

 diameter above the surface. It is much better to have a little 

 excess of sugar than to take the venture of the wine running 

 into acetous fermentation for want of enough sugar to save it. 



Fermentation, as I have said, never goes back, but it is liable 

 to fluctuations through changes of temperature ; you should 

 therefore, if possible, have the temperature under control ; this 

 can only be accomplished by having a stove in the pressing 

 room ; with the aid of this you may keep the heat at the point 

 necessary to secure active fermentation — and it should always 

 be active — and to gradually increase the temperature to eighty 

 degrees or eighty-five degrees at the close, bearing in mind that 

 the more active the fermentation, ("stormy," a German friend 

 calls it,) the sooner it will be completed and the better will be 

 the wine ; keep the air from the must as much as possible, and 

 when the fermentation subsides put in the bung, and if there is 

 any strain on the cask, relieve it by taking out the spigot occa- 

 sionally ; after the wine is still, keep it as cool as you can until 

 it is convenient to put it into your cellar ; take this occasion to 

 draw it off from the lees ; throw these away, rinse out the cask 

 and replace the wine ; if the fermentation has been thorough, 

 the wine will probably be clear ; if otherwise, it will be likely 

 to ferment again in the spring, when it must be again racked 

 off, and if necessary, fined. 



To refine wine you may use isinglass or the white of an egg ; 

 one-quarter of a pound of isinglass is sufficient for a barrel of 

 wine ; dissolve it in a little hot water and mix it with five or 



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