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96
GIGGLE WATER
elude the air. Once a week or so it may be looked to; if
the paper is burst, renew it, and continue to do so until
it remains clear and dry.
A great difference of opinion prevails as to racking the
wine, or suffering it to remain on the lees. Those who
adopt the former plan do it at the end of six months;
draw off the wine perfectly clear, and put it into a fresh
cask, in which it is to remain six months, and then be
bottled. If this plan is adopted, it may be better, instead
of putting the brandy and honey in the first cask, to put
it in that in which the wine is to be racked; but on the
whole, it is, perhaps, preferable to leave the wine a year
in the first cask, and then bottle it at once.
All British wines improve in the cask more than in
the bottle. Have very nice clear and dry bottles; do not
fill them too high. Good soft corks, made supple by
soaking in a little of the wine; press them in, but do not
knock. Keep the bottles lying in sawdust. This plan will
apply equally well to raspberries, cherries, mulberries,
and all kinds of ripe summer fruits.
194. COLORING FOR WINES
One pound of white sugar. Put into an iron kettle, let
boil, and burn to a red black, and thick; remove from
the fire, and add a little hot water, to keep it from hard
ening as it cools; then bottle for use.