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CIDER
THE
processes
of
cider-making
are
discussed
and
explained
by
the
present
writer
in
Thomas's
Book
of
the
Apple,"
one
of
the
volumes
in
the
series
of
"
Handbooks
of
Practical
Gardening."
The
following
short
summary
must
here
suffice.
The
apples,
properly
selected
and
properly
ripened
by
being
thinly
piled
on
boards
or
straw
in
an
airy,
sunny
place,
should
be
torn
and
crushed
in
a
cider
mill,
and
the
juice
pressed
out
by
means
of
a
screw-press.
This
crude
juice
should
then
be
carefully
strained
through
a
fine-meshed
filter,
in
order
to
remove
any
cellular
tissue
or
other
matter
in
suspension.
The
ex-
pressed
apple
juice,
having
been
freed
by
filtration
from
undissolved
solids,
is
next
to
be
subjected
to
the
process
of
fermentation,
that
is,
the
conversion
of
its
sugar
into
alcohol.
For
this
purpose,
it
should
be
exposed
to
the
air
in
large
open
vats,
or
in
casks
with
the
bung-hole
left
open.
All
the
apple
juice
that
is
to
be
fermented
in
one
vat
or
cask
should
be
placed
in
it
within
twelve
hours
from
the
time
of
placing
any
therein.
The
specific
gravity
should
be
taken
daily
by
means
of
a
brewer's
hydrometer,
about
six-sevenths
of
the
total
solids
consisting
of
sugar.
Approximately,
the
sugar
gives
about
half
its
weight
of
alcohol,
and
it
has
been
found
that
each
decrease
of
one-hundredth
in
the
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