UTENSILS RACKING. 409 



and good, and kept as above directed, the best cider 

 will be unquestionably obtained. 



It is scarcely necessary to insist upon all the uten- 

 sils which are used in the making of cider, being not 

 only of the proper kind, but clean, sweet, and whole- 

 some ; and that the casks should be perfectly sweet, 

 sound, and tight ; for if any leak occur in them, that 

 leak will form a communication between the external 

 air and the liquor within, so that vinegar, instead of 

 cider, will be frequently the result. 



It may be asked, perhaps, why we have not given 

 sundry details, particularly concerning the racking 

 of cider, with which books that treat on this subject 

 are more or less filled. Our only reply is, that 

 keeving, as it is called, of cider, as well as racking 

 it, are wholly unnecessary; and that, if our direc- 

 tions be properly complied with, the best cider will 

 be made by those means. We may add, besides, that 

 racking cider generally does it mischief; it not only 

 gets rid of a considerable portion of carbonic acid, 

 on which its briskness depends, but also of some 

 part of its alcohol, on which its strength depends, and, 

 therefore, we advise neither; it is, however, barely 

 possible that a very strong bodied cider, made late in 

 the autumn, or near Christmas, might be rendered 

 sooner fit for drinking, by exciting the vinous fer- 

 mentation more effectually by racking ; but this oc- 

 currence is very rare, and is one which the present 

 writer has never witnessed. 



What, then, is the theory of making cider ? Simply 

 this: The juice of the apple contains an acid called 

 the malic acid, some extractive matter and gluten, 



T 



