504 
rise and float. The liquid between is then more or less clear and can 
be syphoned into clean and sulphured casks filled up to within a 
few inches of the bunghole. 
Here the gradual conversion of the sugar contents into alcohol 
proceeds. If it is intended to distil the product of fermentation or 
turn it into vinegar, the juice should be allowed to ferment out 
completely, as the presence of sugar means loss of alcohol, and it 
should be avoided if it is intended to convert it into apple-brandy 
or into vinegar. 
This stage having been reached, experienced cider makers are 
able to regulate the fermentation and check it at the right stage by 
attention to temperature, by frequent racking, filtering, and by sul- 
phuring the casks, or by pasteurisation. All these processes have 
been dealt with in connection with wine making. For making into 
vinegar, sulphuring should be lightly used, as it is detrimental to 
the growth of the acetifying mycoderm germ. As soon as it is fairly 
clear it is racked into fresh casks to draw it from over the lees of 
fermentation. 
If intended for use as cider, some prefer a sweet and sparkling 
cider to a dry and as is sometimes called a “hard” cider, which is to 
the cider drinker what claret is to the wine drinker. 
Bottling Cider. 
The best time for bottling is when fermentation is neither too 
active nor too feeble, so that the cider will clear and sparkle, and 
at the same time will not leave a thick deposit in the bottle. This is 
when the specific gravity comes down to about 1015 or 2° Baumé, 
indicating the presence of 314 to 4 per cent. sugar still left in the 
liquid. If the specific gravity is below 1010 (114° Baume, 24% per 
cent. sugar) add 20lbs. sugar to 100 gallons of the cider and bottle. 
For sparkling cider strong champagne bottles should: be used, 
and the corks tied with iron wire. The bottles should not be filled 
completely, but a space left between the liquid and the cork, and 
placed upright in a cool cellar. It is not necessary to lay the bottles 
flat immediately after they have been filled, as that would tend to 
break them by the pressure of the gas; they should not be laid until 
a few weeks later, and then upon wooden laths or in dry sand. If 
they are left upright too long, some of the carbonic acid escapes and 
the cider not so sparkling. For cider less foamy than the former, 
bottling must be delayed until the fermentation is more advanced, 
when the cider is less sweet. The cider, which is still relatively sweet, 
then contains enough sugar to give an agreeable sparkling and long- 
keeping drink. The black mineral water bottles and beer bottles are 
quite strong enough, and the corks should be tide with twine, the 
bottles being left upright a few days. For still and dry cider any 
