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.