FERMENTATION : PRESERVATION OF CIDER AND PERRY. 
150 
an ounce or an ounce and a half of Isinglass, which has been previously allowed to dissolve gradually 
in some of the cold liquor, or in milk, is added to each hogshead. Fish glue, in about the same 
proportion, will answer equally well. Various other materials are often used : some add the 
whites of a dozen eggs to each barrel; roasted apples beaten up ; a pound of powdered charcoal; 
chips of fir ; oak, or beech wood are thrown in ; a lump of clay is sometimes ground in the mill 
-with the fruit, to make it “fine” the more readily; a quart of wheat or barley is thrown in it; 
quick lime is added ; and many other heterogenous substances such as blood in large quantities, 
are often used for the Albumen they may contain by trade cider makers. So long as they 
afford Albumen in a cheap form, it matters not to them how disgusting the material may be which 
contains it. 
“As Cider is for some time a Sluggard, so by like 
case it may be retained to keep the Memorials of many 
Consuls ; and these smoaky bottles are the nappy Wine.” 
“ Dr. Beale, in Evelyn’s Pomona.” 
Preservation of Cider and Perry.— When the liquor is made, and firmly and closely bunged 
down in the casks, it will improve and keep good for a period which will vary according to its 
strength. In former times it was drunk much sooner than it is now. It was never expected to 
keep long, and would not do so, since very little bottling was practised. The cooling and Summer 
fruit cider was ready to drink in a month ; that made from the Gennet Moyle , Pippins , and 
Pearmains after the first frost; whilst the Red Streak and Winter fruit cider barrels were not tapped 
until the winter was well advanced, and were then drank through the following Spring and Summer. 
The strongest and best cider will keep good in casks for four or five years. It was the custom 
in the last century not to bottle it until two years old, and up to within the last twenty years, it was 
not usually bottled until the late Autumn of the following year, when about a year old. It has now 
become the custom to bottle all Cider and Perry in the early Spring of the next year, and by this 
means a much greater amount of richness is obtained, although the risk of loss from the bursting of 
bottles is greatly increased. 
When a cask of Cider or Perry is to be bottled, the bung should be removed the evening 
before, that the free gas it contains may escape, and the bottles should be all filled if possible before 
any of them are corked, that the liquor may become still more flat, and thus the risk of loss from 
bursting be lessened. For the same reasons, the bottles and especially the corks should be of 
the best quality and be carefully wired. It is better also, when the amount of cellar space admits of 
it, to let the bottles remain on end for a few weeks or even until the following Autumn before laying 
them down in the bins. 
A certain amount of insensible fermentation or molecular change continues to go on in Cider 
or Perry, long after all signs of active fermentation have gone by. Thus they improve up to a certain 
time in the cask, and they improve still more, and of course last for a much longer time, in bottles. 
The Alcohol slowly increases and the Sugar decreases in the same proportion, whilst at the same 
