1854.] 



CIDER MAKING. 



163 



On Cider and Perry Making 



Communicated by T. W. Booker, Esq., M. P. to the Journal of the 

 Society of Arts. 



At the recent Agricultural Meeting at Ledbury I made a few- 

 remarks on the production of Cider and Perry, which induced 

 some of my constituents, there assembled, to seek a conversation 

 with me afterwards ou the subject, during which they requested 

 me to " write another letter," with reference to the proper season 

 for gathering the fruit and the mode of managing the fermentation 

 of the liquor. If the remarks which I have to make shall awaken 

 due attention on the part of the cider and perry producers of our 

 country, I feel convinced^ this, that, to use the words of one who 

 wrote on the subject two hundred years ago, Dr. John Beale, a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society, " these parts of England will be 

 some hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling the better for it." 



That the whole subject may be before us, I will beg you to 

 copy the following, which is a reprint from the Bath Chronicle 

 — a newspaper having extensive circulation in the Cider Counties 

 of the West of England, the editor of which copied it from the 

 Hereford Journal, and struck it off for gratuitous distribution, 

 and to whose obliging courtesy I am indebted for the copy I 

 send you: 



"Cider. — T. W. Booker, Esq., M.P., recently addressed a letter 

 to the Hereford Journal, stating that his relative, Mr. Blakemore, 

 of the Leys, Herefordshire, had, sometime before, conversed with 

 a German Baron, who has large estates on the banks of the Rhine, 

 where hock and other celebrated wines are produced, and that 

 the Baron said that many sorts of the Herefordsire apples were 

 capable of producing as valuable and desirable a beverage as the 

 hock grapes, if a different process of making the liquor were 

 adopted. The result of the Baron's observations is contained in 

 the following extracts from Mr. Booker's letter : — 



"Our liquors,' said the Baron, 'after the fruit is pressed, are 

 strained, so as to separate the course muss from the liquor, which 

 is then put into large vessels, when shortly afterwards fermenta- 

 tion commences. This fermentation we watch with the utmost 

 care and attention, considering that upon it everything depends 

 connected with the future quality and richness and value of the 

 wine; in the course of a few days, the finer muss that remains 

 in the liquor after the straining above alluded to, drops to the 

 bottom, and the liquor becomes perfectly clear and transparent, 

 retaining all its original saccharine matter, with all its strength, 

 richness, and flavor. At this critical period, upon which we 

 consider the quality of our wines depend, we adopt the process 

 of racking. This racking must be effected in such a manner as 

 to prevent any part of the liquor coming into contact with the 

 atmospheric air ; should it do so, fresh fermentation, in all proba- 

 bility, will take place, and by the same means, the like causes 

 repeated will operate and be followed by the same results — re- 

 peated fermentation — until the flavor and richness of the origina, 

 liquor are destroyed, and the liquor, instead of becoming winel 

 would become as worthless as your inferior cider.' " 



"The reason for this Rhenish caution (writes Mr. Booker) in 

 preventing the liquor from coming into contact with the atmos- 

 pheric air during the process of racking, is this. The first 

 fermentation is what is termed vinous fermentation, and results 

 in the liquor subjected to it becoming wine, if repeated fermenta- 

 tions are allowed to follow, they are what are termed acetous 

 fermentations, and they result in the liquor parting with its vinous 

 ' and saccharine properties, and imbibing acid or acetous ones, 

 and it is converted into vinegar. Now the atmosphere is the labo- 



ratory from which the liquor absorbs the chemical agent which 

 produces these distinct and separate fermentations. 



"And now practically to apply these observations. One fer- 

 mentation is all that is wanted to convert the juice of the apple 

 into wholesome cider. 



" The plan to ensure this which I recommend is as follows :- — 

 First — Grind the apples in the cider-mill, and squeeze the juice 

 from the pulp, as is done at present. Second — Run or pour the 

 liquor, after being squeezed or strained, into a vat, capable of 

 containing three or four or even more hogsheads. This vat must 

 be placed in an elevated position, at least five or six feet above 

 the floor, to admit the hogshead or cask, in which the liquor is 

 to be ultimately secured, to be placed under it. At the bottom 

 of the large vat let there be a hole of from one-and-a-half to two 

 inches in diameter, for the purpose of a tube being passed through 

 this hole into the hogshead or cask under it. This tube or pipe 

 should be of a sufficient length to pass through the muss or 

 sediment which deposits itself in the large vat, and to reach at 

 least six inches above it into the clear liquor, and it should be 

 of sufficient length to pass through the hogshead or cask placed 

 below or under the vat, into which the liquor is to be passed, 

 nearly to the bottom. While this process of fermentation is going 

 on, the top of this tube should be corked or plugged up. When 

 the liquor in the vat has dropped fine, the cork or plug being 

 withdrawn, the process of racking commences and is accom- 

 plished, and the fine liquor will run from the large vat through 

 the tube into the hogshead or cask placed under it, the liquor 

 retaining all its original saccharine qualities. 



"And now the work is done; and the result will be found to 

 be a liquor wholesome and palatable, full of spirit, richness, and 

 flavor, and of value proportioned to the descriptions or sorts of 

 apples which are cultivated in our orchards. My own firm con- 

 viction is, that the difference in value, in the market, of all the cider 

 produced in Herefordshire by these simple means, over and above 

 that produced by our present careless and slovenly means, would 

 amount to many tens of thousands of pounds a year, and would 

 be so much clear gain and profit to all those who make cider, 

 to say nothing of the health and pleasure of those who drink it." 



Since I wrote the foregoing, I have been favoured by a highly- 

 valued and intelligent friend of mine, resident in our county, with 

 the following admirable "Treatise on Cider-making:" it was 

 written many years ago for the Farmers' Club at Ross, and is so 

 comprehensive, and full of the most practical information, and, 

 moreover, gives it in so much better language than any I can use, 

 that I feel I cannot do better than place it before the public. _ 



"The production of good cider must depend upon the descrip- 

 tion of fruit of which it is made, the season, and state of the 

 apples when they are crushed, and the management of the juice, 

 whilst it is fermenting. It will therefore be proper to consider 

 the subject under these three heads separately. 



The kind of Apple tvhich makes the best Cider. 



"The acid which gives the peculiar quick and sharp feeling 

 upon the palate in good cider, having first been noticed in the 

 apple, although it exists in many other fruits, has been termed 

 malic acid. It may not be too much to say, that it is the due 

 combination of this acid with saccharine matter, namely, the sugar 

 of the apple, properly fermented, which is the object to be aimed 

 at in the manufacture of cider. In the selection of the fruit will 

 depend the proportion of malic acid contained in the liquor. 

 The crab has a much greater quantity of this acid than the culti- 

 vated fruit; and, generally speaking, in proportion as we obtain 

 sweetness by culture, we deprive the apple of its malic acid. 



" Hence it follows that some delicious table fruits will not 



