1918 Home Brewed Wines and Beers and Bartender's Guide

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 will.be 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.;