86 Manufacture and Preservation of Cider and Perry, 
the next day. The cider of which the analysis is already given 
contained 44"86 grains of malic acid to 31*67 of grape-sugar, 
consequently that sample no doubt tasted of the malic acid, 
which was in excess of the sugar ; but in the apple itself there is 
6'45 per cent, of sugar to "11 of malic acid ; hence all newly- 
made cider is sweet, and the greater the quantity of saccharine 
matter it contains the longer it will remain so, provided that the 
rapid fermentation is not allowed to go on. Malic acid, we have 
seen, is present in the apple before the juice is pressed ; but 
the acetic acid does not exist until it is formed in the cider. You 
very seldom get it before May ; and it is due either to the cask not 
being air-tight or to the cellar or place where the cider is kept 
being above 60° Fahr., unless, indeed, the cider should happen 
to be put in a cask which has some of the vinegar (or " mother ") 
plant left in it, which will, of course, soon induce the acetous 
fermentation. 
The third kind of fermentation is the slow fermentation : this 
is continually going on, even if the cider or perry is bottled, or 
otherwise kept free from contact with the air. This we cannot 
avoid, "neither would it be advisable ; for as the freshness of 
spring-water is due to the presence of carbonic acid, so likewise 
the sparkling properties of cider or perry arise from this gas — a 
product of fermentation without which they would be flat and 
unpalatable. 
Some writers have supposed that malic acid is formed in the 
liquor as it matures by a gradual process of oxidation, such as 
the following series may represent : Alcohol (C 4 , H 6 , O a ) ; then 
aldehyde (C 4 , H 4 , O a ) ; then acetic acid (C 4 , H 4 , 0 4 ) ; and lastly, 
malic acid (C 4 , H 3 , O s ). 
But if this theory were correct, acetic acid must always exist 
before the malic acid is formed ; whereas, in fact, the reverse is 
known to be the case. We must conclude that the malic acid 
exists naturally in the fruit. 
The Management of Cider. 
The juice, when pressed out, if it be intended at once to place 
it in the cask, should first be strained : an old cider-hair which 
has got thick from use may be fitted to the tunpail, and if a 
little coarse charcoal is placed in the bottom it will be all the 
better ; the cider or perry should then be strained so as to separate 
all the loose floating vegetable matter. It should remain in this 
cask, and on no account be racked or touched until it is perfectly 
clear from working at the bunghole and from settlement to the 
bottom. Sometimes this fermentation will not commence without 
assistance, by the addition of a little of the active ferment from a 
cask that is working. 
