1922 Old Time Recipes Liquors Shrubs(4th edition) by Helen S Wright

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the bung-hole. Allow no hole for a vent peg, lest it should once be forgotten, and the whole cask of wine be spoiled. If the wine wants vent it will be sure to burst the paper; if not the paper will sufficiently exclude the to do so until it remains clear and dry. A great difference of opinion prevails as to racking the wine, or suffering it to re- main on the lees. Those who adopt the for- mer plan do it at the end of six months draw off the wine perfectly clear, and put it into a fresh cask, in which it is to remain six months, and then be bottled. If this plan is adopted, it may be better, instead of put- ting the brandy and honey in the first cask, to put it in that in which the wine is to be racked ; but on the whole, it is, perhaps, pref- erable to leave the wine a year in the first cask, and then bottle it at once. All British wines improve in the cask more than in the bottle. Have very nice clear and dry bottles ; do not fill them too high. Good soft corks, made supple by soaking in a lit- tle of the wine; press them in, but do not knock. Keep the bottles lying in sawdust. This plan will apply equally well to raspber- ries, cherries, mulberries, and all kinds of ripe summer fruits. 16 air. Once a week or so it may be looked to if the paper is burst, renew it, and continue