1918 Home Brewed Wines and Beers and Bartender's Guide

2 / 66

HOME BREWED WINES, BEERS, EIQtlEURS, ETC.
6 Inches from the cellar floor. Great
care must also be taken not to shake
the cask, nor to disturb the wine in
any way.
The cellar used for storing wine
should be fairly warm, the best tem
perature being from 55 to 60 degrees
P.' It must also be clean and free from
draughts, and nothing of a strong
smelling nature must be stored in it,
as wine is particularly susceptible to
odors.
It is not wise to make a smaller
quantity of wine than 9 gallons at a
time, or it is apt to be all "tops and
bottoms," the name given to the first
and last wine drawn from a cask, and
which is always considered to be in
ferior in quality.
When the wine has stood the requir
ed time in the cask it is racked off or
drawn from the lees, or sediment.
Opinions differ with regard to this
process. Some wine-makers rack off
at the end of half the" maturing time,
and put the wine into a fresh cask for
the remainder of the time, while others
leave it all the time in the same cask.
Bottling must not be done until the
wine is quite clear.
All bottles used must be perfectly
sound, clean, dry, and free from any
odor. They should be washed both
inside and out, until quite free from
any spot or stain, and then drained
thoroughly.
The corks should be new and of the
best quality, and they must fit the bot
tles well. They must also be softened
by soaking in boiling water.
When ready to bottle, stand the bot
tles in a clean vessel under the cask,
so as to avoid any waste, have a small
hole or tap in the lower part of the
cask, and let the wine run into the bot
tles through a fine strainer and filler.
Do not fill the bottles too full, and
be careful to cork them securely. A
squeezer for the corks and a wooden
hammer for driving them in would be
a great help in this operation.
Keep the bottles lying on their sides
and in a cool place.
The sediment left a.t the foot of the
barrel is sometimes utilized for making
vinegar.
STRONG BEER, ENGLISH IMPROVED
Malt, 1 peck; coarse brown sugar, 6
lbs.; hops, 4 02.; good yeast, 1 teacup:
If you have no malt, take a little over
1 peck of barley, (twice the amount of
oats will do, but are not as good), and
put it into an oven after the bread is
drawn, or into a stove oven, and steam
tlie moisture from them. Grind coarse
ly. Now pour upon the ground malt
3V4 gallons of water at 170 or 172 de
grees of heat. The tub in which you
scald the malt should have a false bot
tom, two or three Inches from the real
bottom; the false bottom should be
bored full of gimlet holes, so as to act
as a strainer, to keep back the malt
meal. When the water is poured on,
stir well, and let it stand 3 hours,'
and draw off by a faucet; put in 7 gal
lons more of water at ISO to 182 de
grees; stir it well, and let it stand 2
hours and draw it off. Then put on a
gallon or two of cold wa,ter, stir it well
and draw it off; you should have about
5 or 6 gallons. Put the six pounds ofl
coarse brown sugar in an equal amount
of water; mix with the wort, and boil
1% to 2 hours with the hops; you
should have 8 gallons when boiled;
when cooled to 80 degrees put In the.
yeast, and let it work 18 to 20 hours,
covered with a sack; use sound iron
hooped kegs or porter bottles, bung or
cork tight, and in two weeks it
good sound beer, and will keep a long
time, and for frail persons, and espe
cially females, 1 glass of this with
their meals is far better than tea or
coffee, or all the ardent spirits in the
universe. If more malt is used, not
exceeding % bushel, the beer, of
course, would have more spirit, but
this strength is sufficient for the use
of females or invalids.
CHEAP BEER.
Pill a boiler with the green shells of
peas, pour on water till it rises half
an inch above the shells, and simmer
for three hours. Strain off the liquor,
and add a strong decoction of the wood
sage or the hop, so as to render it
pleasantly bitter, then ferment in the
usual manner. The wood sage is the
best substitute for hops, and being free
from any anodyne property is entitled
to a preference. By boiling a fresh
quantity of shells in the decoction be
fore it becomes cold, it may be so thor
oughly impregnated with saccharine
matter, as to afford a liquor, when fer
mented, as strong as ale.
SPRUCE BEER.
Take of the essence of spruce half a
pint; bruised pimento and ginger, of
each 4 oz.; water, 3 gallons. Boil five
or ten minutes, then strain and add 11
gallons of warm water, a pint of yeast,
and 6 pints of molasses. Allow the mix
ture to ferment for 24 hours.
TO CURE ROPY BEER.
Put a handful or two of flour, and
the same quantity of hops, with a little
powdered alum, into the beer, and rum
mage it well.
STOMACH BITTERS.
(Equal to Hostetter's, for One-fourth
Its Cost.)
European Gentian root 1^ oz.;