HOME-MADE CIDER VINEGAR. 



457 



duct in, and, of course, a good supply of decent apples. 



I would not advise, under any circumstances, the use 

 of the little hand-mills that [are^scattered all over the 

 country. They grind the apples so coarse and the 

 presses have so little power that not much over one-half 

 the juice is obtained. The cider is not clear, but full 

 of pomace ; and altogether it is a slow, hard way to 

 make cider with them. If the work will warrant it, buy 

 a grater which can be run by power, and a medium sized 

 press which can be worked by hand. This machinery 

 can be obtained of concerns which make the building 

 of cider machinery a specialty. If the business does 

 not warrant getting such an outfit, have the cider made 

 at a good custom mill. Any plan of extracting the 

 juice from the pomace by leaching, without pressing, 

 will probably result 



in failure. 



Ordinary good 



wind-falls will make 



good material for vin- 

 egar, but care should 



be taken to reject all 



immature, wilted, and 



rotten apples. The 



better the apples the 



better the product. 



When the cider is 



made, it should be . 



put into good iron-bound barrels and 



ranked up out of doors, but m the 



shade, and allowed to ferment. The 



barrels should be placed on timbers 



or poles elevated from the ground 



sufficiently to allow the contents to 



be run off into other barrels. It is 



a great convenience to have a tank 



to put the cider in as it runs from 



the press. This will make the vin- 

 egar stock of more even strength 



and give it a chance to settle. 



Draw off the tank when needed 



for a fresh supply of cider, by a 



faucet placed an inch above the 



bottom of the tank. The barrels 



in this case should not be filled 



more than three-fourths full and may be put at once 

 into the cellar or other place of storage ; but it is pre- 

 ferable, if early in the season, to rank up out of doors, 

 as before directed, until cold weather. 



On the approach of freezing weather, rack off the 

 vinegar-stock into clean barrels (only three-fourths 

 filled) by means of a faucet placed in the end of the 

 barrel, or preferably with a syphon made of five-eighths 

 rubber tubing. This should be raised an inch above 

 the bottom of the barrel to avoid drawing off the sedi- 

 ment. All settlings should be put into a separate barrel. 

 The barrels can now be ranked up in their winter quar- 

 ters, the bungs taken out and remain undisturbed until 

 the contents become good vinegar, provided they are 



kept in a furnace-heated cellar or other artificially heat- 

 ed room. 



An ordinary cellar is too cool to make vinegar quickly, 

 and if such a place is used for winter storage, the bar- 

 rels can be removed to a common shed on the approach 

 of warm weather, remembering always to rack off the 

 contents before a barrel is moved. Never put barrels 

 in the sun in hot weather, as they will be spoiled and 

 the contents lost. When the vinegar is thoroughly 

 made, a cool, dry cellar is an excellent place to store it, 

 and the barrels may be filled and bunged up. 



In many cider-mills the pomace is pressed once, then 

 re-ground, or picked to pieces, and pressed again, and 

 the product used for vinegar. If water is added to this 

 repressing it should only be sprinkled. The pomace can 



then be used, while 

 fresh, for feeding 

 stock of all kinds ; but 

 care should be taken 

 at the commence- 

 ment, and it should 

 always be given in 

 rations, the same as 

 grain. 



I have said nothing 

 about the theory of 

 vinegar-making, nor 

 have I described vin- 

 egar-generators and 

 expensive apparatus, 

 as it has been the 

 purpose of this article 

 to tell how to make 

 good vinegar on a 

 small scale. No one, 

 of course, will expect 

 to go into the vinegar 

 business extensively 

 without posting up 

 thoroughly. 



Until recently but 

 little attention has 

 been paid to the pu- 

 rity and quality of the 

 vinegar used by the 

 mass of consumers. So that it had a sharp ' ' tang " it was 

 all right ; but now this is slowly changing in many 

 localities, and the strength and quality of vinegar are 

 prescribed by law in some States. 



In conclusion, I will call special attention to these 

 points ; To make good cider or vinegar, use good, 

 clean apples ; exposure to heat and air is what makes 

 vinegar ; to have bright, clear vinegar free from must, 

 rack it before moving it, if it has been standing any 

 length of time ; and thoroughly clean the barrels as 

 soon as emptied. Good vinegar cannot be made out of 

 a large quantity of water and a little cider. Strong, 

 late-made cider may bear the addition of a little water ; 

 but that made early in the season will not. Hard cider 



Fig. B. Nop.^lea coccinellifera. 



