To Make Cider
To make cider that will keep sweet for a length of time, requires
particular attention to all the points. All the works and utensils in
use must be perfectly clean, so that nothing acid shall come in contact
with the pulp or liquor while pressing. The casks should be cleaned in
the following manner:
After washing each barrel clean, put in a lump of unslaked lime, and
pour in a gallon of boiling water; bung it up, and roll the barrel
several times a day, letting it lay with the bung down; in the evening,
empty out the lime-water, and wash the barrel clean in several waters;
after the water is drained out, burn a brimstone match in it, made of a
piece of coarse muslin one inch broad, and four long, dipped in melted
brimstone; light one end of the match, and put it in; put the bung on
slightly, so as to hold the other end, and allow air sufficient to make
it burn; when the rag has burned out, drive in the bung to keep in the
sulphuric gas, which, if allowed time, will condense on the sides.
The apples should be kept under cover, and secured from rain. After
they have laid to mellow for two or three weeks, select those that are
sound; break off the stems and leaves; have the trough perfectly clean,
and after they are ground, keep them from the sun and rain for
twenty-four hours; then press them, and fill into the casks; the first
running is always the best; each cask that is filled should be
numbered, so as to know the quality; and after they are all filled,
draw off and mix them, the weak with the strong; keep the casks filled
up with cider while they are fermenting; when the fermentation is
subsiding, there will be a thin white scum rise slowly: when this is
all off, lay on the bung lightly; rack it off in a few days in barrels,
in which brimstone has been used, and bung it tight; rack it off again
in March, and keep the bungs in tight.
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