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GIGGLE WATER
257. ELECTRICITY AS AN AGENT FOR IM
PROVING WINES
From experiments made on a large scale, it has been
found that electricity in any form, either as a regular cur
rent or a succession of discharges, renders wine or
whiskey mellow and mature. It is supposed that the bitar-
trate of potassa is decomposed setting free potash and
tartaric acid; the former tending to neutralize the acids of
the wine; and the tartaric acid, reacting upon the fatty
matters present, favors the formation of the ethers which
constitute the bouquet of the wine. It is probable, also,
that a small quantity of the water is decomposed, setting
free oxygen, which forms, with some of the constituents
of the wine, new compounds peculiar to old wines.
258. HOME-MADE WINES
The various processes in domestic wine-making resem
ble those employed for foreign wine, and depend upon
the same principles. The fruit should be preferably gath
ered in fine weather, and not till it has arrived at a proper
state of maturity, as evinced by its flavor when tasted;
for if it be employed while unripe, the wine will be harsh,
disagreeable and imwholesome, and a larger quantity of
sugar and spirit will be required to render it palatable.
The common practice of employing unripe gooseberries
for the manufacture of wine arises from a total igno
rance of the scientific principles of wine making. On the
other hand, if fruit be employed too ripe, the wine is