Directions For Making Cider British Mode


The apples after being thrown into a heap should always be covered from

the weather. The later the cider is made the better, as the juice is

then more perfectly ripened, and less danger to be feared from

fermentation. Nothing does more harm to cider than a mixture of rotten

apples with the sound. The apples ought to be ground so close as to

break the seeds which gives the liquor an agreeable bitter. The pumice

should b
pressed through hair bags, and the juice strained through two

sieves, the uppermost of hair, the lower of muslin. After this the cider

should be put into open casks, when great attention is necessary to

discover the exact time in which the pumice still remaining in the

juice, rises on the top, which happens from the third to the tenth day,

according as the weather is more or less warm. This body does not remain

on top more than two hours; consequently, care should be taken to draw

off the cider before it sinks, which may be done by means of a plug.

When drawn off, the cider is put into casks. Particular attention is

again required to prevent the fermentation, when the least inclination

towards it is discovered. This may be done by a small quantity of cider

spirits, about one gallon to the hogshead. In March the cider should be

again drawn off, when all risque of fermentation ceases. Then it should

be put into good sweet casks, and in three years from that time, it will

be fit for bottling. Old wine casks are to be preferred; those which

contain rum are ruinous to cider. Large earthen vessels might be made

with or without glazing, which would be preferable to any wooden vessel

whatever. When we compare this with the hasty American mode of making

cider, it is not to be wondered at that the English cider so infinitely

excels ours.



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