Fruit of every description, says Mr. Carnell, in his excellent treatise on wine making, should be gathered in fine weather; those of the berry kind often appear ripe to the eye before they really are so, therefore it is requisite to taste them several times in order to ascertain that they are arrived at the crisis of maturity. If the fruit be not ripe, the wine will be harsh and hard, and unpleasant to the palate, and more so to the stomach; it will also take more spirit and saccharine, and take a longer time to be fit for the table. If the fruit be too ripe, the wine from it will be faint, low, and vapid; it will not be strong and generous; it will also require more trouble, additional spirit, and expense.

Detach the unripe and bad berries: the result when the wine is drank, will be greatly superior in richness. Pick the stalks from grapes, currants, and gooseberries, previously to their being placed in the vat.

The quantity of fruit for making a vintage of domestic wine, is not so large but it may be bruised in a tub, and from thence removed into the vat, or if the quantity be very small, it may be bruised in the vat. While the fruit is picking by one person, another may bruise it, and as it is bruised remove it into the vat. When Malaga or Smyrna raisins are used, they are to be put into the vat with the water, to soak, and the following day taken out and bruised, then returned into the vat again.

The first thing to be done is to place the guard against the tap-hole, to prevent the husks escaping at the time the must or extract is drawn off. When all the fruit is in the vat the water should be added, and the contents stirred with the vat-staff, and left to macerate until the next day, when sugar, tartar, &c. diluted with some of the liquor, is to be put into the vat, and the whole again stirred up. The place where the vat is situated should have a free circulation of air, and a temperature of not less than 58 degrees. If the vinous fermentation do not take place, in a reasonable time, the contents must be often stirred, and the place made warmer.

The time of a vinous fermentation commencing is always uncertain; it depends much on the quality and quantity of the contents of the vat, on its local situation, on the season or weather, and most particularly on the greenness or ripeness of the fruit. To produce a medium vinous fermentation, the vats and contents ought to be placed in a temperature from 60 to 70 degrees. And if this is found not to produce fermentation in a short time, the temperature of the place must be made warmer, and the vat often stirred with the vat-staff.

The commencement of the vinous fermentation may be known by plunging the thermometer into the middle of the vat, for a minute, and when taken out, if a fermentation has commenced, the temperature of the contents will be higher than at the place where the vats are situated. When the vinous fermentation begins, it is very conspicuous, and may be known by its taste, smell, appearance, and effects. The contents will first gently rise, and swell with a slight movement and a little hissing. A considerable motion will take place, and the contents will increase in heat and bulk, while a quantity of air escapes.

It is impossible to lay down an exact time for a vinous fermentation; but for eighteen gallons, two or three days are generally sufficient for white wines; and red wines require a day or two more.

When the vinous fermentation is about half over, the flavouring ingredients are to be put into the vat and well stirred into the contents. If almonds form a component part, they are first to be beaten to a paste and mixed with a pint or two of the must. Nutmegs, cinnamon, ginger, seeds, &c. should, before they are put into the vat, be reduced to powder, and mixed with some of the must.

When the must in the vat gives, by tasting, a strong vinous pungency, that is the period to stop the remaining slight fermentation, by drawing off the must, in order to have strong and generous wine.

A cock, or spicket and faucet, is to be put into the tap-hole of the vat, and the must drawn off and put into open vessels, there to remain till the pressing is finished.

As soon as all the must is drawn off from the vat, the husks are to be put into hair-bags, and the mouth of each bag is to be well fastened, then put into the press, and the whole pressed without delay. The must that is pressed out is to be mixed with the must that was drawn off from the vat. Many ways may be contrived for pressing a small vintage, for those persons who cannot afford to purchase a proper wine-press; but several wines do not require pressing; and may be strained through a sweet, clean, canvas bag, made with a pointed end downwards.

Each cask is to be filled, within about an inch of the bung-hole, which should be covered over lightly with a flat piece of wood. The must now is perfectly cool and calm, and will remain in this state until the spirituous fermentation commences.

The spirituous fermentation is essentially necessary to the clarification, goodness, and perfection of the wine. If the vinous fermentation has been well conducted, and the wine cellar be not too cold, a spirituous fermentation will commence in a few days, and abate in six or twelve days, the time depending on circumstances, and on the quality and quantity of the wine. The brandy or spirit assigned should at this time be put to the wine by pouring it in gently without disturbing the wine. The cask now, if not full, must be filled up and bunged with a wooden bung covered with a piece of new canvass larger than the bung. In about a month after the spirit has been added, the cask will again want filling up; this should be done with the overplus of the vintage, if not with some other good wine, and the cask re-bunged very tight. The cask should be pegged once a month or oftener to see if the wine be clear and not thick, and as soon as it is fine and bright, it must be racked off its lees.

This is an operation highly requisite to the keeping wine good; to its purification, strength, colour, brilliancy, richness, and flavour, and is performed by drawing off the wine and leaving the lees in the cask. A siphon should be used but if not, the cask should be tapped two or three days previously. It may be racked off into another cask, or into a vat or tub, and returned into the same cask again, after it has been well cleaned; and, if requisite, the cask may be slightly fumigated, immediately before the wine is returned into it. If the wine, on being tasted, is found weak, a little spirit is to be given to it, the cask filled up and bunged tight.

The racking off ought to be performed in temperate weather, and as soon as the wines appear clear, a second racking will make them perfectly brilliant, and if so they will want no fining.

Many wines require fining before they are racked, and the operation of fining is not always necessary. Most wines, well made, do not want fining; this may be ascertained by drawing a little into a glass, from a peg-hole.

One of the best finings is as follows:—Take one pound of fresh marsh-mallow roots, washed clean, and cut into small pieces; macerate them in two quarts of soft water, for twenty-four hours, then gently boil the liquor down to three half pints, strain it, and when cold, mix with it half an ounce of pipe-clay or chalk, in powder, then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir up the wine so as not to disturb the lees, and leave the vent-peg out for some days after.

Or, take boiled rice, two table-spoonsful, the white of one new egg, and half an ounce of burnt alum, in powder. Mix with a pint or more of the wine, then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir the wine with a stout stick, but not to agitate the lees.

Or, dissolve, in a gentle heat, half an ounce of isinglass in a pint or more of the wine, then mix with it half an ounce of chalk, in powder; when the two are well incorporated, pour it into the cask, and stir the wine so as not to disturb the lees.

As soon as wines are clear and bright, after being fined down, they ought to be racked into a sweet and clean cask, the cask filled up and bunged tight.

Fine clear weather is best for bottling all sorts of wines, and much cleanliness is required. The first consideration, in bottling wines, is to examine and see if the wines are in a proper state. The wines should be fine and brilliant, or they will never brighten after.

The bottles must be all sound, clean, and dry, with plenty of good sound corks.

The cork is to be put in with the hand, and then driven well in with a flat wooden mallet, the weight of which ought to be a pound and a quarter, but however, not to exceed a pound and a half, for if the mallet be too light or too heavy it will not drive the cork in properly, and may break the bottle. The corks must so completely fill up the neck of each bottle as to render them air tight, but leave a space of an inch between the wine and the cork.

When all the wine is bottled, it is to be stored in a cool cellar, and on no account on the bottles’ bottoms, but on their sides and in saw-dust.

Take cold soft water, 10 gallons,
red gooseberries, 11 gallons, and ferment.

Now mix raw sugar, 16 lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs. and
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 ounces.

Afterwards put in sassafras chips, 1 lb. and
brandy, 1 gallon, or less.

This will make 18 gallons.

When the weather is dry, gather gooseberries about the time they are half ripe; pick them clean, put the quantity of a peck into a convenient vessel, and bruise them with a piece of wood, taking as much care as possible to keep the seeds whole. Now, having put the pulp into a canvass-bag, press out all the juice; and to every gallon of the gooseberries add about three pounds of fine loaf-sugar: mix the whole together by stirring it with a stick, and as soon as the sugar is quite dissolved, pour it into a convenient cask, which will hold it exactly. If the quantity be about eight or nine gallons, let it stand a fortnight; if twenty gallons, forty days, and so on in proportion; taking care the place you set it in be cool. After standing the proper time, draw it off from the lees, and put it into another clean vessel of equal size, or into the same, after pouring the lees out, and making it clean; let a cask of ten or twelve gallons stand for about three months, and twenty gallons for five months, after which it will be fit for bottling off.

Take cold soft water, 3 gallons,
red gooseberries, 1½ gallons,
white gooseberries, 2 gallons.

Ferment.

Now mix raw sugar, 5 lbs.
honey, 1½ lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.

Afterwards put in bitter almonds, two ounces,
sweet-briar, one small handful, and
brandy one gallon, or less.

This will make six gallons.

Take cold soft water, 4½ gallons,
white gooseberries, 5 gallons.

Ferment.

Now mix refined sugar, 6 pounds,
honey, 4 pounds,
white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.

Put in orange and lemon peel, one ounce dry, or two ounces fresh; and add
white brandy ½ a gallon.

This will make nine gallons.

To each Scotch pint of full ripe gooseberries, mashed, add one Scotch pint of water, milk-warm, in which has been dissolved 1 lb. of single refined sugar: stir the whole well, and cover up the tub with a blanket, to preserve the heat generated by the fermentation of the ingredients: let them remain in this vessel three days, stirring them twice or three times a day: strain off the liquor through a sieve, afterwards through a coarse linen cloth; put it into the casks it will ferment without yeast. Let the cask be kept full with some of the liquor reserved for the purpose. It will ferment for ten days, sometimes for three weeks: when ceased, and only a hissing noise remains, draw off two or three bottles, according to the strength you wish it to have, from every 20 pint cask, and fill up the cask with brandy or whiskey; but brandy is preferable. To make it very good, and that it may keep well, add as much sherry, together with a ¼ oz. of isinglass dissolved in water to make it quite liquid; stir the whole well. Bung the cask up, and surround the bung with clay; the closer it is bunged the better; a fortnight after, if it be clear at the top, taste it; if not sweet enough, add more sugar; 22 lbs. is the just quantity in all for 20 pints of wine; leave the wine six months in the cask; but after being quite fine, the sooner it is bottled, the more it will sparkle and resemble champaigne. The process should be carried on in a place where the heat is between 48° and 56° Fahrenheit.—N. B. Currant wine may be made in the same manner.

Take gooseberries before they are ripe, crush them with a mallet in a wooden bowl, and to every gallon of fruit put a gallon of water; let it stand two days, stirring it well; squeeze the mixture with the hands through a hop-sieve; then measure the liquor, and to every gallon put 3½ lbs. of loaf sugar; mix it well in the tub, and let it stand one day; put a bottle of the best brandy into the cask; which leave open five or six weeks, taking off the scum as it rises; then make it up, and let it stand one year in the barrel before it is bottled.

The proportion of brandy to be used for this liquor, is one pint to 7 gallons.

Take cold soft water, 6 gallons,
gooseberries, 4 do.
currants, 4 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 12 lbs.
honey, 3 lbs. and
tartar, in fine powder, 1½ oz.
bitter almonds, 1½ oz.

Put in brandy 6 pints, or more.

This will make 12 gallons.

Take cold soft water, 5½ gallons,
gooseberries and currants, 4 gallons.

Ferment.

Then add
raw sugar, 12½ lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
ginger, in powder, 3 ounces,
sweet marjoram, ½ a handful,
British spirits, 1 quart.

This will make 9 gallons.

Take cold soft water, 11 gallons,
red currants, 8 gallons,
raspberries, 1 quart.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 20 lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs. and
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 ounces.

Put in 1 nutmeg, in fine powder; add
brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

Boil four gallons of spring water, and stir into it 1 lb. of honey; when thoroughly dissolved, take it off the fire; then stir it well in order to raise the scum, which take clean off, and cool the liquor.

When thus prepared, press out the same quantity of the juice of red currants moderately ripe, which being well strained, mix well with the water and honey, then put them into a cask, or a large earthen vessel, and let them stand to ferment for 24 hours; then to every gallon add 2 lbs. of fine sugar, stir them well to raise the scum, and when well settled, take it off, and add ½ oz. of cream of tartar, with the whites of two or three eggs, to refine it. When the wine is well settled and clear, draw it off into a small vessel, or bottle it up, keeping it in a cool place.

Of white currants, a wine after the same manner may be made, that will equal in strength and pleasantness many sorts of white wine; but as for the black, or Dutch currants, they are seldom used, except for the preparation of medicinal wines.

Gather the currants in dry weather, put them into a pan and bruise them with a wooden pestle; let them stand about 20 hours, after which strain through a sieve; add 3 lbs. of fine powdered sugar to each four quarts of the liquor, and after shaking it well, fill the vessel and put a quart of good brandy to every 7 gallons. In 4 weeks, if it does not prove quite clear, draw it off into another vessel, and let it stand, previously to bottling it off, about ten days.

Take cold soft water, 12 gallons,
white currants, 4 do.
red currants, 3 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.

Put in sweet-briar leaves, 1 handful,
lavender leaves, 1 do.
then add spirits, 2 quarts or more.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 9 gallons,
red currants, 10 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 1O lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.

Put in bitter almonds, 1 oz.
ginger, in powder, 2 oz.
then add brandy, 1 quart.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
red currants, 8 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 12 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.

Put in coriander seed, bruised, 2 oz.
then add British spirit, 2 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
fruit 8 do.

Ferment.

Mix, treacle, 14 or 16 lbs.
tartar, in powder, 1 oz.

Put in ginger, in powder, 4 oz.
sweet herbs, 2 handsful:
then add spirits, 1 or 2 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

An excellent family wine may be made of equal parts of red, white, and black currants, ripe cherries, and raspberries, well bruised, and mixed with soft water, in the proportion of 4 lbs. of fruit to 1 gallon of water. When strained and pressed, 3 lbs. of moist sugar are to be added to each gallon of liquid. After standing open for three days, during which it is to be stirred frequently, it is to be put into a barrel, and left for a fortnight to work, when a ninth part of the brandy is to be added, and the whole bunged down. In a few months it will be a most excellent wine.

Take of cold soft water, 2 gallons.
fruit, 18 do.

Ferment.

Mix, honey, 6 lbs.
tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz.

Put in peach-leaves, 6 handsful;
then add brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 9 gallons,
white currants, 9 gallons,
white gooseberries, 1 do.

Ferment.

Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in powder, 1 oz.
clary seed, bruised, 2 oz. or
clary flowers, or sorrel flowers, 4 handsful;
then add, white brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
white currants, 10 do.

Ferment.

Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.
white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.
then add, bitter almonds, 2 oz. and
white brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
black currants, 6 do.
strawberries, 3 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.
orange thyme, 2 handsful;
then add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 12 gallons,
black currants, 5 do.
white or red currants, or both, 3 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 30 lbs. or less,
red tartar, in fine powder, 5 oz.
ginger, in powder, 5 oz.
then add brandy, 1 gallon, or less.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 7 gallons,
cider, 6 do.
strawberries, 6 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 16 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
the peel and juice of two lemons;
then add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
strawberries, 9 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
2 lemons and 2 oranges, peel and juice;
then add brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 6 gallons,
cider, 4 do.
raspberries, 6 do.
any other fruit, 3 do.

Ferment.

Mix, raw sugar, 18 or 20 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.
orange and lemon peel, 2 oz. dry, or 4 oz. fresh;
then add brandy, 3 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

Gather the raspberries when ripe, husk them and bruise them; then strain them through a bag into jars or other vessels. Boil the juice, and to every gallon put a pound and a half of lump-sugar. Now add whites of eggs, and let the whole boil for fifteen minutes, skimming it, as the froth rises. When cool and settled, decant the liquor into a cask, adding yeast to make it ferment. When this has taken place, add a pint of white wine, or half a pint of proof spirit to each gallon contained in the cask, and hang a bag in it containing an ounce of bruised mace. In three months, if kept in a cool place, it will be very excellent and delicious wine.

On a dry day, gather mulberries, when they are just changed from redness to a shining black; spread them thinly on a fine cloth, or on a floor or table, for twenty-four hours; and then press them. Boil a gallon of water with each gallon of juice; putting to every gallon of water, an ounce of cinnamon bark, and six ounces of sugar candy finely powdered. Skim and strain the water when it is taken off and settled, and put to it the mulberry juice. Now add to every gallon of the mixture, a pint of white or Rhenish wine. Let the whole stand in a cask to ferment, for five or six days. When settled, draw it off into bottles, and keep it cool.

Take of cold soft water, 16 gallons,
Malaga raisins, 50 lbs.
Elder-berries, 4 gallons,
red tartar, in fine powder, 4 ounces.

Mix ginger, in powder, 5 ounces,
cinnamon, cloves, and mace, of each 2 ounces,
3 oranges or lemons, peel and juice.
Then add 1 gallon of brandy.

This will make 18 gallons.

In making elder juice, let the berries be fully ripe, and all the stalks be clean picked from them; then, have a press ready for drawing off all the juice, and four hair cloths, somewhat broader than the press; lay one layer above another, having a hair cloth betwixt every layer, which must be laid very thin and pressed a little at first, and then more till the press be drawn as close as possible. Now take out the berries, and press all the rest in the like manner: then take the pressed berries, break out all the lumps, put them into an open-headed vessel, and add as much liquor as will just cover them. Let them infuse so for seven or eight days; then put the best juice into a cask proper for it to be kept in, and add one gallon of malt spirits, not rectified, to every twenty gallons, of elder juice, which will effectually preserve it from becoming sour for two years at least.

Pick the berries when quite ripe, put them into a stone jar, and set them in an oven, or in a kettle of boiling water, till the jar is hot through, then take them out, and strain them through a coarse sieve; squeeze the berries, and put the juice into a clean kettle. To every quart of juice put a pound of fine Lisbon sugar; let it boil, and skim it well. When clear and fine, pour it into a cask. To every ten gallons of wine add an ounce of isinglass dissolved in cider, and six whole eggs. Close it up, let it stand six months, and then bottle it.

To ten gallons of water, put ten quarts of the juice of white elder-berries, pressed gently from the berries by the hand, and passed through a sieve, without bruising the seeds: add to every gallon of liquor three pounds of Lisbon sugar, and to the whole quantity two ounces of ginger sliced, and one ounce of cloves. Boil this nearly an hour, taking off the scum as it rises, and pour the whole to cool, in an open tub, and work it with ale yeast, spread upon a toast of bread, for three days. Then turn it into a vessel that will just hold it, adding about a pound and a half of bruised raisins, to lay in the liquor till drawn off, which should not be done till the wine is fine.

This wine is so much like the fine rich wine brought from the island of Cyprus, in colour, taste, and flavour, that it has deceived the best judges.

Boil eighteen pounds of white powdered sugar in six gallons of water, and two whites of eggs well beaten; skim it, and put in a quarter of a peck of elder-flowers; do not keep them on the fire. When cool, stir it, and put in six spoonsful of lemon juice, four or five of yeast, and beat well into the liquor: stir it well every day; put six pounds of the best raisins, stoned, into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close, and bottle it in six months. When well kept, this wine will pass very well for Frontiniac.

To six gallons of spring water put six pounds of sun raisins cut small, and a dozen pounds of fine sugar; boil the whole together for about an hour and a half. When the liquor is cold, put half a peck of ripe elder flowers in, with about a gill of lemon-juice, and half the quantity of ale yeast. Cover it up, and, after standing three days, strain it off. Now pour it into a cask that is quite clean, and that will hold it with ease. When this is done, put a quart of Rhenish wine to every gallon; let the bung be slightly put in for twelve or fourteen days; then stop it down fast, and put it in a cool place for four or five months, till it be quite settled and fine; then bottle it off.

Take 6 gallons of good cider,
1½ gallons of port wine,
1½ gallons of the juice of elder-berries,
3 quarts of brandy,
1½ ounces of cochineal.

This will produce nine gallons and a half.

Bruise the cochineal very fine, and put it with the brandy into a stone bottle; let it remain at least a fortnight, shaking it well once or twice a day; at the end of that time to procure the cider, and put five gallons into a nine gallon cask, add to it the elder juice and port wine, then the brandy and cochineal. Take the remaining gallon of cider to rinse out the bottle that contained the brandy; and lastly, pour it into the cask, and bung it down very close, and in six weeks it will be fit for bottling.

It is, however, sometimes not quite so fine as could be wished; in that case add two ounces of isinglass, and let it remain a fortnight or three weeks longer, when it will be perfectly bright; it would not be amiss, perhaps, if the quantity of isinglass mentioned, was added to the wine before it was bunged down, it will tend, very considerably, to improve the body of the wine. If it should not appear sufficiently rough flavoured, add an ounce, or an ounce and a half of roche-alum, which will, in most cases, impart a sufficient astringency.

After it is bottled it must be packed in as cool a place as possible. It will be fit for using in a few months; but if kept longer, it will be greatly improved.

Take of cold soft water, 6 gallons,
cider, 6 gallons,
berries, 8 gallons;

Ferment.

Mix raw sugar 20 pounds,
tartar, in fine powder, 4 ounces.

Add ginger, in powder, 4 ounces,
lavender and rosemary leaves, 2 handsful,
rum, or British spirits, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

The season for obtaining the liquor from birch-trees, is in the latter end of February, or the beginning of March, before the leaves shoot out, and as the sap begins to rise. If the time is delayed, the juice will grow too thick to be drawn out. It should be as thin and clear as possible. The method of procuring the juice, is by boring holes in the trunk of the tree, and fixing faucets of elder; but care should be taken not to tap it in too many places at once, for fear of injuring the tree. If the tree is large, it may be bored in five or six places at once, and bottles are to be placed under the apertures for the sap to flow into. When four or five gallons have been extracted from different trees, cork the bottles very close and wax them till the wine is to be made, which should be as soon as possible after the sap has been obtained. Boil the sap, and put four pounds of loaf sugar to every gallon, also the peel of a lemon cut thin; then boil it again for nearly an hour, skimming it all the time. Now pour it into a tub, and as soon as it is cold, work it with a toast spread with yeast, and let it stand five or six days, stirring it twice or three times each day. Into a cask that will contain it, put a lighted brimstone match, stop it up till the match is burnt out, and then pour the wine into it, putting the bung lightly in, till it has done working. Bung it very close for about three months, and then bottle it. It will be good in a week after it is put into the bottles.

Birch wine may be made with raisins in the following manner: To a hogshead of birch-water, take four hundred of Malaga raisins: pick them clean from the stalks, and cut them small. Then boil the birch liquor for one hour at least, skim it well, and let it stand till it be no warmer than milk. Then put in the raisins, and let it stand close covered, stirring it well four or five times every day. Boil all the stalks in a gallon or two of birch liquor, which, when added to the other, when almost cold, will give it an agreeable roughness. Let it stand ten days, then put it in a cool cellar, and when it has done hissing in the vessel, stop it up close. It must stand at least nine months before it is bottled.

Having procured berries that are fully ripe, put them into a large vessel of wood or stone, with a cock in it, and pour upon them as much boiling water as will cover them. As soon as the heat will permit the hand to be put into the vessel, bruise them well till all the berries are broken. Then let them stand covered till the berries begin to rise towards the top, which they usually do in three or four days. Then draw off the clear into another vessel, and add to every ten quarts of this liquor, a pound of sugar. Stir it well and let it stand to work a week or ten days, in another vessel like the first. Then draw it off at the cock through a jelly-bag into a large vessel. Take four ounces of isinglass, and lay it to steep twelve hours in a pint of white wine. The next morning, boil it upon a slow fire till it is all dissolved. Then take a gallon of blackberry-juice, put in the dissolved isinglass, give them a boil together, and pour all into the vessel. Let it stand a few days to purge and settle, then draw it off, and keep it in a cool place.

For this, which is only a superior sort of white spruce beer, proceed as follows: To every gallon of water take 1½ lbs. of honey, and ½ a pound of fine starch. The starch, however, previously to its being blended with the honey, liquor, or syrup, must be reduced to a fine transparent jelly, by boiling it with part of the water purposely preserved. A quarter of a pound of essence of spruce may be used to 6 gallons of water; and the same method may be pursued in working, fining, and bottling, as directed for white spruce beer.

Spruce is a wholesome and pleasant drink to those who are used to it, and persons soon become habituated. It contains a vast quantity of fixed air, which is extremely bracing; and the use of this liquor is particularly to be recommended to such as are troubled with scorbutic humours, or have the gravel. It is chiefly used in summer.

Take of cold soft water, 18 gallons,
Malaga or Smyrna raisins, 35 lbs.
juniper berries, 9 quarts,
red tartar, 4 ounces,
wormwood and sweet marjoram, each 2 handsful.
British spirit, two quarts, or more.

Ferment for ten or twelve days.—This will make eighteen gallons.

Take of cold soft water, 11 gallons,
damsons, 8 gallons;

Ferment.

Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs.
red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.

Add brandy, 1 gallon.

This will make 18 gallons.

“When the must,” says Mr. Carnell, “has fermented 2 days, (during which time it should be stirred up two or three times,) take out of the vat about two or three quarts of the stones, and break them and the kernels, and then return them into the vat again.”

Take a considerable quantity of damsons and common plums inclining to ripeness: slit them in halves, so that the stones may be taken out, then mash them gently, and add a little water and honey. Add to every gallon of the pulp a gallon of spring water, with a few bay-leaves and cloves; boil the mixture, and add as much sugar as will well sweeten it; skim off the froth and let it cool. Now press the fruit, squeezing out the liquid part; strain all through a fine strainer, and put the water and juice together in a cask. Having allowed the whole to stand and ferment for three or four days, fine it with white sugar, flour, and whites of eggs; draw it off into bottles, then cork it well. In twelve days it will be ripe, and will taste like weak Port, having the flavour of Canary.

Gather the damsons on a dry day, weigh them, and bruise them. Put them into a stein that has a cock in it, and to every 8 pounds of fruit add a gallon of water. Boil the water, skim it, and put it scalding hot to the fruit. Let it stand two days, then draw it off and put it into a vessel, and to every gallon of liquor put 2½ lbs. of fine sugar. Fill up the vessel, and stop it close, and the longer it stands the better. Keep it for twelve months in the vessel, and then bottle, putting a lump of sugar into every bottle. The small damson is the best for this purpose.

Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
cherries, 10 gallons.

Ferment.

Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs.
red tartar in fine powder, 3 oz.

Add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.

This will make 18 gallons.

Two days after the cherries have been in the vat, Mr. Carnell says, we should take out about three quarts of the cherry stones, break them and the kernels, and return them into the vat again.

Take cherries, nearly ripe, of any red sort, clear them of the stalks and stones, then put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and squeeze them to a pulp. Let them remain in this state for twelve hours to ferment; then put them into a linen cloth not too fine, and press out the juice with a pressing board, or any other convenient instrument. Now let the liquor stand till the scum rises, and with a ladle or skimmer take it clean off; then pour the clearer part, by inclination, into a cask, where, to each gallon put a pound of the best loaf sugar, and let it ferment for seven or eight days. Draw it off, when clear, into lesser casks, or bottles; keep it cool as other wines, and in ten or twelve days it will be ripe.