1919 Home made beverages

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Beverages

Alcoholic

have it). Remove the stalks from the currants, put them into an earthenware bowl, bruise them well with a. wooden spoon and drain off the juice. Put the juice aside, add the water to the berries, let it stand for 2 or 3 hours, stirring occasionally meanwhile. At the end of this time strain the liquid from the berries into the juice, add % of the sugar, stir occasionally until dissolved, then pour the whole into a cask, filling it 3 parts full. Bung closely, but place a vent peg near the top of the cask and let the cask remain for 1 month where a uniform tempera- ture of about 65° F. can be maintained. Dissolve the re- mainder of the sugar in the smallest possible quantity of warm water, mix it well with the contents of the cask, replace the bung and allow the cask to remain undisturbed for 6 weeks longer. Now drain off the wine into a clean, dry cask, add the brandy, let the cask stand for about 6 months in a dry, warm place, then bottle and cork tightly. .The wine may be used at once, but will be better if kept for 12 months at least. Red Currant and Raspberry Wine. — Red currant juice, 5 gal.; raspberry juice, 1 pt.; water, 10 gal.; either loaf sugar or good preserving sugar, 10 lb. Extract the juice as directed in the two preceding recipes. Add to it the water and sugar, stir until the latter is dissolved, then turn the whole into a cask and bung closely, but provide the top of the cask with a vent peg. As soon as fermen- tation ceases tighten the vent peg and let the cask remain undisturbed in a moderately warm place for 12 months. At the end of this time rack off into dry bottles, cork them closely and seal the top with melted wax. The wine should be ready for use in about 3 months. Damson Wine. — 1. — Crush 20 lb. ripe damson plums; boil in 3 gal. water; press out the juice; add 6 lb. sugar; put in a barrel and let it ferment; then add after 2 weeks a little good brandy; bottle. 2. — One gal. of boiling water to every 8 lb. of bruised fruit, 2)4, lb. of sugar to each gallon of juice. Well bruise the fruit and pour the boiling water on it; let it stand for 180