1928 Giggle Water by Charles S Warnock

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GIGGLE WATER

257. ELECTRICITY AS AN AGENT FOR IM PROVING WINES From experiments made on a large scale, it has been found that electricity in any form, either as a regular cur rent or a succession of discharges, renders wine or whiskey mellow and mature. It is supposed that the bitar- trate of potassa is decomposed setting free potash and tartaric acid; the former tending to neutralize the acids of the wine; and the tartaric acid, reacting upon the fatty matters present, favors the formation of the ethers which constitute the bouquet of the wine. It is probable, also, that a small quantity of the water is decomposed, setting free oxygen, which forms, with some of the constituents of the wine, new compounds peculiar to old wines. 258. HOME-MADE WINES The various processes in domestic wine-making resem ble those employed for foreign wine, and depend upon the same principles. The fruit should be preferably gath ered in fine weather, and not till it has arrived at a proper state of maturity, as evinced by its flavor when tasted; for if it be employed while unripe, the wine will be harsh, disagreeable and imwholesome, and a larger quantity of sugar and spirit will be required to render it palatable. The common practice of employing unripe gooseberries for the manufacture of wine arises from a total igno rance of the scientific principles of wine making. On the other hand, if fruit be employed too ripe, the wine is