34 



Aphorifms concerning Cider. 



To juftifie my fourth Ajfertion^ and (hew a Method how to curt 

 the incoveniency which happens to Pepin-cider by the over work- 

 ing J I muft firft take notice oi fbme things which I have been of- 

 ten told concerning fF/«e, and which indeed gave me the Ught to 

 know what was the cauje which had made Pepin-cider that had 

 wrought long, hard when it came to be clear again. The thing I 

 mean, is, that in divers j?/<r^/, and even in France they make three 

 firts of fVine out of one and the fame Grapes 5 that is, they firft 

 take the juice of the Crapes without any more preffing then what 

 comes from their own weight in the Vat, and the bruifing they 

 have in putting into Vcflel, which caufeth the ripeft of thofe 

 Grrfpex to break, and the jrwite without any prefling at all makes 

 the pleafanteft and moft delicate IVine : And if the Grapes were 

 red, then is this firft IVine very pale. The fecond fort they pre(s 

 a little, which makes a redder Wine, but neither fo pleafant as the 

 firftj nor fo harfh as the laft, which is made by the utmoft pref- 

 fing of the very skjns of the Grapes, and is by much more harfti, 

 ana«f deeper colour then either of the other two. Now I pre- 

 fume the caufe of this (at leaft in part) to be, that in the firft fort of 

 Wine, which hath little of the fubftance, befidcthc very;«ife of 

 tht Grape, there is little Lee, and confequently \\tx\t fermentation'^ 

 and becaufe it doth not work long, it lofeth but little of the ori- 

 ginal fweetnefs it had : The fecond fort being a little more prefted 

 hath fomewhat more of the fubftance of the Grape added to the 

 juice 5 and therefore having more of that part which caufeth fet' 

 mentation put with it, ferments more ftrongly, and is therefore, 

 when it hath done working lefs pleafant then the firft fort, which 

 wrought lefs. And for the fame reafon the third fort being moft 

 of all preffed, hath moft of the fubftance of the Grape mingled 

 with the iLz^wr, and worketh the longeft : but at the end of the 

 working when it fettles and is clear, it is much more harfti then 

 cither of the two firft forts. The thought of this made me firft 

 apprehend that thcfuhflance of the Apple mingled with the juice, 

 was the caufe oi fermentation, which is really nothing elfe but an 

 endeavour of the Liquor to free it felf from thofe Heterogeneous 

 parts which are mingled with it ; And where there is the greateft 

 proportion of thofe dijjimilar parts mingled with the Liquor, the 

 endeavour of Nature muft be the ftronger, and take up more 

 time to perfedt the feparation : which when finiftied leaves all 

 the Liquor clear, and the grofs parts fetled to the bottom of the 

 Vejfel ; which we call the Lee. Nor did this apprehenfion deceive 

 me i for when I began (according to the Method which I ftiall 

 hereafter fet down) to fcparate a confiderable part of the Lee from 

 the Cider before it had fermented, I found it to retain a very great 

 part of its original fweetnefs, more then it would have done if the 

 Lee had not been taken away before thefermentation 3 and this 

 •not once, but conftantly ioxfeven years. 



Now the Method which I ufed, was this : When the Cider was 

 firft ftrained, I put it into a great F^^, and there let it ftand twen- 

 tyfour hours at leaft (fbmetimes more, if the Apples were more ripe 



then 



