PROCESS FERMENTATION. 441 



partaking so much of the grape flavour, can occasion 

 no ill effect by being fermented in the cask with the 

 wine ; on the contrary, they contribute to its body, 

 strength, and colour. Upon the pulp or mass from 

 501bs. of grapes, pour 4 gallons of soft, or the best 

 water to be procured. This having 'remained during 

 ten or twelve hours, (some leaving it twenty-four hours 

 or more, the grape being peculiarly tenacious,) put it 

 into a coarse canvass bag, or other convenient recep- 

 tacle, and squeeze out the juice. Pour upon the 

 mass an additional gallon of water, in which it may 

 macerate during ten or twelve hours ; when, being 

 pressed, the juice may be added to that first obtained. 

 Put the whole into the tub in which it is to go 

 through the process of fermentation, adding from 30 

 to 401bs. of sugar. Stir the mixture, adding a suffi- 

 cient quantity of water to make the whole consist of 

 10 gallons. Cover with a blanket or sacking, and 

 let the tub stand in a moderately warm place. 



Fermentation, unless the weather be unusually 

 cold, will commence probably in four-and-twenty 

 hours, without any of the usual measures of excite- 

 ment. The liquor being fully at work, skim the 

 yeast from the surface, repeating the skimming, until 

 no more yeast shall arise ; the first fermentations 

 having been completed, draw off the liquor from the 

 lees and cask it off; without, however, much solici- 

 tude about casking the lees of the grape, on which 

 point an observation has been already made. In 

 course, the cask must be filled nearly to the bung, in 

 all cases, or the liquor would either become acid or 

 flat and insipid. The cask should be so placed as to 

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