1919 Home made beverages

— A Icoholic

Beverages

It is advisable that wines so treated should be drunk as soon as possible. Wine sometimes has an unpleasant musty taste, which it has acquired from being put into a dirty cask or into one that has been unused for some time. This bad flavor, which is known as caskiness, may generally be removed by vigorously agitating the wine for sone time with a little sweet oil or almond oil. The cause of the bad taste is the presence of an essential oil, which the fixed oil com- bines with and carries to the surface, whence it may be skimmed off, or the wine lying under it may be drawn off. A little coarsely powdered and freshly burnt charcoal, or some slices of bread toasted until they become black, or a little bruised mustard seed sometimes effects the removal of the objectionable taste. Mellowing Wines. — Cover the orifices of the vessel con- taining it with bladder closely fastened, instead of the usual materials, and an aqueous exhalation will pass through the bladder, leaving some fine crystallizations on the surface of the wine, which, when skimmed off, leaves the wine in a highly improved state of flavor. Remnants of wine covered in this manner, whether in bottles or in casks, will not turn mouldy as when stopped in the usual way, but will be improved instead of being deteriorated. Ripening. — To promote the maturation or ripening of wine various plans are adopted by the growers and deal- ers. One of the safest ways of hastening this, especially for strong wines, is not to rack them until they have stood 15 or 18 months upon the lees, or, whether crude or racked, keeping them at a temperature ranging between 55 and 65° F. in a cellar free from draughts and not too dry. Full or heavy sherries or ports, when bottled and treated in this manner, ripen very quickly in a temperate situation. Racking. — Racking should be performed in cool weather and preferably early in the spring. A clean siphon, well managed, answers better for this purpose than a cock or faucet. The bottoms, or thick portion, may be strained through a wine bag and added to some other inferior wine. 172