Chapter IV: Part II: The Sweet-Maker's Assistant

Of RAISIN WINES.

These wines are made of various kinds of fruit; of _Malaga's, Belvederes, Smyrna's, Raisins of the Sun_, &c. But the fruit that produces the best wines is black _Smyrna's_, their juice being the strongest, and the fruit clearest from stalks: for the stalks in _Malaga's_ and _Belvideres_ are apt to give the wine a bad flavour, and will always throw an acid on it; for the stalks of all fruits are acid; but the stalks of _Smyrna's_ are so trifling, that after rubbing the fruit between your hands, they will easily sift out. Wine made from this fruit is the colour of Madeira, and has very much the flavour of it. Malaga is the colour and flavour of foreign malaga, but nothing near so strong. Wine made from belvideres is strong and very sweet; and after keeping it four or five years is very little inferior to old mountain.

In order to succeed in making these wines, you ought never to set your steeps in hot weather, because the heat will put the fruit in a fret which will injure its fermenting kindly. The best time for making is in January or February. Set your steeps in the coldest part of the cellar, still remembering to keep them from the frost.

To every gallon of water put five pounds of fruit, if good; if but indifferent, put six pounds, into the steep. Keep stirring them three or four times a day, and let them continue in the steep till the fruit begins to burst, and the stones swim on the top; which will be in about fourteen or fifteen days. Then strain the liquor from the fruit, and press the fruit very dry, mixing the pressings with the rest of the liquor, and put all together into a cask, and ferment it in the following manner.

To every pipe of wine take two quarts of solid ale yest and one ounce of jalap, put them into a can, and into them pour a gallon of the new wine first made hot, whisk them well together, and apply to the pipe, stirring all together very well. If your cask be less than a pipe, proportion your yest and jalap accordingly. When the ferment comes on, you must keep the bung-hole clean, and let the vessel be filled up three or four times a day. Let it ferment ten or twelve days, or till it works clean and white. Then take it off its bottom, which will be very considerable, and put it into a clean cask. You may filter the bottom thro' a linen rag and put to the wine. Lay some heavy weight over the bung, and let it stand a day. Then lay on the top of the wine five gallons of melasses-spirit, and bung it up close. Leave out the vent peg a day or two; then drop it in the hole, and close it by degrees 'till you have made it quite close.

Let it lay in this state for six months, at that time rack it from its bottom into a clean pipe, and you'll find it tolerably fine. Then put to it one quart of _forcing_, and bung it up. Let it lay 'till within a month of your wanting it; for the longer it lays the better it will be in body. Then rack it for the last time (always observing you touch no bottoms) and put three pints of _forcing_ to it. Stir it well with your paddle, and bung it up. The bottoms you may run thro' a linen rag as before, and mix with that in the pipe. You may pierce the wine in six or seven days, and you will find it quite fine and bright.

To force RAISIN WINES.

For one pipe, take two quarts of good cyder; put half an ounce of ground allum to it, and one ounce of isinglass pulled to small pieces. Beat them well in your can three or four times a day, and let the mixture stand till it becomes a stiff jelly; then break it with your whisk, and add to it two pounds of white sand or stone dust. Then break it up gradually with some of the wine, 'till you have made the two quarts two gallons, stir it well together, and apply to the pipe, and bung up close.

The sand will carry down with it all the small particles with the isinglass misses, and likewise confine the bottom so as to prevent it from rising. But if you make your wine stronger by allowing a larger quantity of fruit to the gallon, this _forcing_ will not do; for all _forcings_ must be stronger than the body forc'd, or else the foul parts will not fall; therefore such wines must be forced with _English stum_, a quart of which is sufficient for a pipe, one pound of alabaster being beat in with it and apply'd as above.

ENGLISH STUM.

Take a five gallon cask that has been well soaked in water, set it to drain; then take a pound of roll brimstone and melt in a ladle; put as many rags to it as will suck up the melted brimstone. Burn half those rags in the cask, covering the bung-hole so much as that it may have just air enough to keep it burning. When burnt out put three gallons of very strong cyder, and one ounce of common allum (pounded and mixt with the cyder) into the cask. Keep rolling the cask about five or six times a day for two days. Then take out the bung, and hang the remainder of the rags on a wire in the cask, as near the cyder as possible, and set them on fire as before. When burnt out, bung the cask close and roll it well about three or four times a day for two days; then let it stand seven or eight days, and this liquor will be so strong as to affect your eyes by looking at it.

When you force a pipe, take one quart of this liquid, put half an ounce of isinglass to it beat and pulled to small pieces. Whisk it together, and it will dissolve in four or five hours. Break the jelly with your whisk, and put one pound of alabaster to it, then dilute it with some of the wine, put it in the pipe, bung it close, and in a day it will be fine and bright.

To cure ACID RAISIN WINES.

The following ingredients must be proportioned to the degree of acidity; if but small, you must use the less, if a stronger acid a larger quantity. It must likewise be proportioned to the quantity of wine as well as to the degree of acidity.

Observe that your cask be nearly full before you apply the ingredients; which will have this good effect, the acid part of the wine will rise to the top immediately, and issue out at the bung-hole. But if the cask be not full, the part that should fly off will still continue in the cask, and weaken the body of the wine. If your cask be full, it will be fit to have a body laid on it, in three or four days time.

I shall here proportion the ingredients for a pipe, supposing it quite acid, so as but just recoverable.

Take two gallons of lac, and two ounces of isinglass, boil them a quarter of an hour; strain the liquor, and let it stand 'till it is cold; then break it well with your whisk, and put four pounds of alabaster and three pounds of whiting to it. Stir them well together, and add one ounce of salt of tartar to the whole. Mix by degrees some of the wine with it, so as to dilute it to a thin liquor. Apply this to the cask, and stir it well with your paddle. This will immediately discharge the acid part from it, as was said before.

When it is off and quite down, bung it up for three days, then rack it, and you'll find part of its body gone off by the strong fermentation. To remedy this, you must lay a fresh body on it in proportion to the degree to which it hath been lower'd by the above process; always having special care not to alter flavour. And this must be done with clarified sugar; for no fluid body will agree with it but what will make it thinner, or confer its own taste; therefore the following is the best manner.

To lay a fresh body on the WINES.

Take three quarters of a hundred of brown sugar, and put into your copper, then put a gallon of lime water to it, to keep it from burning. Keep stirring it about 'till it boils; then take three eggs and mash all together with the Shells, which put to the sugar. Stir it about, and as the scum or filth arise take it off. When quite clean put it into your can, and let it stand 'till it is cold before you use it. Then break it with the whisk by degrees, with about ten gallons of the wine, and apply it to the pipe. Work it with your paddle for half an hour; then put one quart of _stum forcing_ to it, which will unite their bodies, and likewise make it fine and bright. You must keep it bung'd very close.

To cure RAISIN WINES that are cloudy.

These wines, if they take a chill, are affected in the same manner with Port-wines. Like them they will be cloudy, and will have a floating lee in them, which by shaking in a glass will rise in clouds.

If any thing be apply'd to it cold, it will strike a greater chill upon it, and change its true colour to a pale or deep blue one; to prevent which, and take off the chill, you must,

_For a Pipe_,

Take one gallon of lac and one ounce of isinglass broke in small pieces, three pounds of alabaster, two ounces of sweet spirit of nitre; boil them together for five or six minutes; Stir them and apply to the pipe as hot as possible. Stir it well in the pipe with your paddle, and in about two hours after, bung it close up. Let it lay five or six days, and you'll find it quite fine and bright.

This will make it a little flat, to remedy which you must rack it clean from it's bottoms, and throw a quart of _stum forcing_ to it.

To colour RAISIN WINES.

Wine made of raisins of the sun is always of the colour of rhenish, which is almost white. Very often that which is made of malaga's (especially if the fruit be but indifferent) will not hold its colour, but must have a colour laid on it.

The right colour of raisin wine is the colour of mountain. You must take care that your wine has not a great bottom in it; for if it has, 'twill be longer before it falls fine.

In order to lay a mountain colour on your wine, you must take three or four pounds of brown sugar, according to the quantity of wine you want to colour. Put it in an iron pan or iron ladle, set it over the fire, and keep stirring it about. Let it burn in this manner 'till it is quite black and bitter, which will be in about half an hour.

If you burn one pound of sugar, put a quart of boiling hot water to it; stir it about, and let it boil a quarter of an hour longer, then take it off and let it cool. A pint of this mixture is sufficient to colour a pipe of wine; but note, that with every pint you must mix a quarter of an ounce of common allum pounded to a fine powder; which will set the colour so that it will not subside, other wise it will fall to the bottom, and have no good effect on the liquor.

If you would have your wine of the colour of port, you must take eight ounces of logwood raspings, four ounces of alkanet root, one ounce of cochineal. Infuse them over a slow fire for three hours; strain the liquor from the wood, and keep it boiling. Then burn three pounds of brown sugar as before, and put the colour'd liquor to it; boil all together a quarter of an hour longer; then take it off, and when cold, bottle it for use.

A pint of this liquor will make a pipe the colour of port wine. You must always remember to set the colour with a quarter of an ounce of common allum, ground or beaten to a fine powder.