262 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



Home methods of making grape-juice. 



The principles involved in making grape- juice in the home 

 are the same as those used in canning. The grapes may be 

 crushed by hand or in mills similar or identical with the small 

 cider-mills owned by many farmers. In making a light-colored 

 juice, the crushed grapes are put in a cloth sack and hung up to 

 drain, or the filled sack may be twisted by two persons until the 

 greater part of the juice is expressed. The juice is then sterilized 

 in a double-boiler by heating it at a temperature of 180 to 

 200 F., care being taken that the thermometer never goes above* 

 200. The sterilized juice is now poured into a glass or 

 enameled vessel to stand for twenty-four hours, after which 

 it is drained from the sediment and strained through several 

 thicknesses of clean flannel. The juice is now put in clean 

 bottles preparatory to a second sterilization, care being taken 

 that at least an inch of space is left at the top for the liquid 

 to expand when heated. The second sterilization may be 

 conducted in a wash-boiler or similar receptacle. The filled 

 bottles must not rest on the bottom of the boiler but should 

 be separated from it with a thin board. The boiler is filled 

 with water up to within an inch of the tops of the bottles 

 and heated until the water begins to boil. The bottles should 

 then be taken out and corked immediately, using only new 

 corks. After corking, the bottles are further sealed by dip- 

 ping the corks in melted paraffin. A cheap corking machine 

 is a great convenience in this work, and in any case the corks 

 should be soaked for at least a half hour in warm but not 

 boiling water. 



The process varies somewhat in the making of red grape- juice. 

 The crushed grapes are heated to a temperature of 200 F., 

 and are then strained through a drip bag without pressure, after 

 which the liquid is set away in glass or enamel vessels to settle 

 for twenty-four hours. Except for this difference in the pre- 



