Homemade Wine Recipes with Simple Instructions for your Country Wine Making
Make Mead or Honey Wine, Blackcurrant Wine, Dandelion Wine among others. There are lots of wine making recipes here for you to try out and use. Enjoy!
We also have some wine making instructions in how to make wine in 7 easy steps which you may like to look at as a guide before you try our homemade wine recipe below.
There are many recipes here that have been passed from generation to generation. Therefore you won't find any preservatives or commercial additives found in these wine recipes - everything used here is absolutely natural.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for BLACKBERRY WINE No. 1
Cover your blackberries with cold water; crush the berries well with a wooden masher; let them stand twenty-four hours; then strain, and to one gallon of juice put three pounds of common brown sugar; put into wide-mouthed jars for several days, carefully skimming off the scum that will rise to the top; put in several sheets of brown paper and let them remain in it three days; then skim again and pour through a funnel into your cask. There let it remain undisturbed till March; then strain again and bottle. These directions, if carefully followed out, will insure you excellent wine.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for BLACKBERRY WINE NO. 2
Berries should be ripe and plump. Put into a large wood or stone vessel with a tap; pour on sufficient boiling water to cover them; when cool enough to bear your hand, bruise well until all the berries are broken; cover up, let stand until berries begin to rise to top, which will occur in three or four days. Then draw off the clear juice in another vessel, and add one pound of sugar to every ten quarts of the liquor, and stir thoroughly.
Let stand six to ten days in first vessel with top; then draw off through a jelly-bag. Steep four ounces of isinglass in a pint of wine for twelve hours; boil it over a slow fire till all dissolved, then place dissolved isinglass in a gallon of blackberry juice, give them a boil together and pour all into the vessel. Let stand a few days to ferment and settle; draw off and keep in a cool place.
Other berry wines may be made in the same manner.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for BLACK CURRANT WINE No.1
Four quarts of whiskey, four quarts of black currants, four pounds of brown or white sugar, one tablespoonful of cloves, one tablespoonful of cinnamon.
Crush the currants and let them stand in the whiskey with the spices for three weeks; then strain and add the sugar; set away again for three weeks longer; then strain and bottle.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for BLACK CURRANT WINE No. 2
Ten pounds of fruit to a gallon of water; let it stand two or three days. When pressed off, put to every gallon of liquor four pounds and a half of sugar.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CURRANT WINE No. 1
The currants should be quite ripe. Stem, mash and strain them, adding a half pint of water and less than a pound of sugar to a quart of the mashed fruit. Stir well up together and pour into a clean cask, leaving the bung-hole open, or covered with a piece of lace. It should stand for a month to ferment, when it will be ready for bottling; just before bottling you may add a small quantity of brandy or whiskey.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CURRANT WINE No. 2
To each quart of currant juice, add two quarts of soft water and three pounds of brown sugar. Put into a jug or small keg, leaving the top open until fermentation ceases and it looks clear. Draw off and cork tightly.Long Island Recipe.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CURRANT WINE No. 3
Strain the currants, which should be perfectly ripe. To each quart of juice put a couple of quarts of water, and three pounds of sugar. Stir the whole well together, and let it stand twenty-four hours, without stirring—then skim and set it in a cool place, where it will ferment slowly. Let it remain three or four days—if, at the end of that time, it has ceased fermenting, add one quart of French brandy to every fifteen gallons of the liquor, and close up the barrel tight. When it becomes clear, it is fit to bottle. This will be good in the course of six months, but it is much improved by being kept several years.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CURRANT WINE No. 4
Gather the currants dry, without picking them from the stalks; break them with your hands, and strain them. To every quart of juice put two quarts of cold water, and four pounds of loaf sugar to the gallon. It must stand three days, before it is put into the vessel. Stir it every day, and skim it as long as any thing rises. To ten gallons of wine add one gallon of brandy, and one of raspberries, when you put it in the vessel. Let it stand a day or two before you stop it; give it air fourteen days after; and let it stand six weeks before you tap it.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CURRANT WINE No. 5
To every gallon of ripe currants put a gallon of cold water. When well broken with the hands, let it stand twenty-four hours. Then squeeze the currants well out; measure your juice, and to every gallon put four pounds of lump sugar. When the sugar is well melted, put the wine into a cask, stirring it every day, till it has done hissing; then put into it a quart of brandy to every five gallons of wine; close it well up; bottle it in three months.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RED CURRANT WINE No. 6
Gather the fruit dry; pick the leaves from it, and to every twenty-five pounds of currants put six quarts of water. Break the currants well, before the water is put to them; then let them stand twenty-four hours, and strain the liquor, to every quart of which put a pound of sugar and as many raspberries as you please.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RED CURRANT WINE No. 7
Take twenty-four pounds of red currants; bruise them, and add to that quantity three gallons of water. Let it stand two days, stirring it twice a day; then strain the liquor from the fruit; and to every quart of liquor put one pound of sugar. Let it stand three days, stirring it twice a day; then put it in your barrel, and put into it a small amount of orris-root well bruised. The above quantities will make five gallons.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RED or WHITE CURRANT WINE No. 8
Take to every gallon of juice one gallon of water, to every gallon of water three pounds and a half of the best Lisbon sugar. Squeeze the currants through a sieve; let the juice stand till the sugar is dissolved; dip a bit of brown paper in[383] brimstone, and burn in the cask. Then tun the wine, and to every three gallons put a pint of brandy. When it has done hissing, stop it close; it will be fit to drink in six months, but it will be better for keeping ten or twelve.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for WHITE CURRANT WINE No. 9
To each sieve of currants take twenty-five pounds of moist sugar, and to every gallon of juice two gallons of water. Squeeze the fruit well with the hands into an earthen pan; then strain it through a sieve. Throw the pulp into another pan, filling it with water, which must be taken from the quantity of water allowed for the whole, and to every ten gallons of wine put one bottle of brandy. In making the wine, dissolve the sugar in the water above-mentioned, and put it into the cask; then add the remaining juice and water, stirring it well up frequently. Stir it well every morning for ten successive days, and as it works out fill up the cask again until it has done fermenting. Then put in your brandy, and bung it quite close. In about eight months it will be fit to drink; but, if you leave it twelve, it will be better.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for CHERRY WINE No.1
Pound Morella cherries with the kernels over-night, and set them in a cool place. Squeeze them through canvas, and to each quart of juice put one pound of powdered sugar, half an ounce of coarsely-pounded cinnamon, and half a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Let it stand about a fortnight in the sun, shaking it twice or three times every day.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for CHERRY WINE No. 2
Take twenty-four pounds of cherries, cleared from the stalks, and mash them in an earthen pan; then put the pulp into a flannel bag, and let them remain till the whole of the juice has drained from the pulp. Put a pound of loaf sugar into the pan which receives the juice, and let it remain until the sugar is dissolved. Bottle it, and, when it has done working, you may put into each bottle a small lump of sugar.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for COWSLIP WINE No. 1
To a gallon of water put three pounds of lump sugar; boil them together for an hour, skimming all the while. Pour it upon the cowslips, and, when milk warm, put into it a toast, with yeast spread pretty thickly on it; let it stand all night, and then add two lemons and two Seville oranges to each gallon. Stir it well in a tub twice a day for two or three days; then turn it; stir it every day for a fortnight, and bung it up close. It will be fit for bottling in six weeks. To every gallon of water you must take a gallon of cowslips. They must be perfectly dry before they are used, and there should be as many gallons of cowslips as gallons of water; they should be measured as they are picked, and turned into the cask. Dissolve an ounce of isinglass, and put to it when cold. The lemons must be peeled.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for COWSLIP WINE No. 2
Take fourteen gallons of water and twenty-four pounds of sugar; boil the water and sugar one hour; skim it till it is clear. Let it stand till nearly cold; then pour it on three bushels of picked cowslips, and put to it three or four spoonfuls of new yeast; let it stand and work in your pot till the next day; then put in the juice of thirty lemons and the peels of ten, pared thinly. Stir them well together; bung up the cask for a month; then bottle it.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for DAMSON WINE
Take four gallons of water, and put to every gallon four pounds of raisins and half a peck of damsons. Put the whole into a vessel without cover, having only a linen cloth laid over it. Let them steep six days, stirring twice every day; then let them stand six days without stirring. Draw the juice out of the vessel, and color it with the infused juice of damsons, sweetened with sugar till it is like claret wine. Put it into a wine vessel for a fortnight; then bottle it up; and it may be drunk in a month.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER WINE No. 1
Take elderberries, when ripe; pick them clean from the stalk; press out the juice through a hair sieve or canvas-bag, and to every gallon of juice put three gallons of water on the husks from which the juice has been pressed. Stir the husks well in the water, and press them over again; then mix the first and second liquor together, and boil it for about an hour, skimming it clean as long as the scum rises.
To every gallon of liquor put two pounds of sugar, and skim it again very clean; then put to every gallon a blade of mace and as much lemon-peel, letting it boil an hour. After the sugar is put in, strain it into a tub, and, when quite cold, put it into a cask; bung it close down, and look frequently to see that the bung is not forced up. Should your quantity be twelve gallons or more, you need not bottle it off till about April, but be sure to do so on a clear dry day, and to let your bottles be perfectly dry; but if you have not more than five or six gallons, you may bottle it by Christmas on a clear fine day.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER WINE No. 2
To a gallon of water put a quarter of a peck of berries, and three pounds and a half of Lisbon sugar. Steep the berries in water forty hours; after boiling a quarter of an hour, strain the liquor from the fruit, and boil it with the sugar till the scum ceases to rise. Work it in a tub like other wines, with a small quantity of yest. After some weeks, add a few raisins, a small quantity of brandy, and some cloves. The above makes a sweet mellow wine, but does not taste strong of the elder.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER WINE No. 3
Take twenty-four pounds of raisins, of whatever sort you please; pick them clean, chop them small, put them into a tub, and cover them with three gallons of water that has been boiled and become cold. Let it stand ten days, stirring it twice a day. Then strain the liquor through a hair sieve, draining it all from the raisins, and put to it three pints of the juice of elderberries and a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the whole into the cask, and let it stand close stopped, but not in too cold a cellar, for three or four months before you bottle it. The peg-hole must not be stopped till it has done working.
The best way to draw the juice from the berries is to strip them into an earthen pan, and set it in the oven all night.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER WINE No. 4
Mash eight gallons of picked elderberries to pieces, add as much spring water as will make the whole nine gallons, and boil slowly for three quarters of an hour. Squeeze them through a cloth sieve; add twenty-eight pounds of moist sugar, and boil them together for half an hour. Run the liquor through your cloth sieve again; let it stand till lukewarm; put into it a toast with a little yest upon it, and let it stand for seven or eight days, stirring it every day. Then put it into a close tub, and let it remain without a bung till it has done hissing. Before you bung up close, you may add one pint of brandy if you wish.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER WINE No. 5
Half a gallon of ripe berries to a gallon of water; boil it half an hour; strain it through a sieve. To every gallon of liquor put three pounds of sugar; boil them together three quarters of an hour; when cold, put some yest to it; work it a week, and put it in barrel. Let it stand a year. To half a hogshead put one quart of brandy and three pounds of raisins.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ELDER FLOWER WINE No. 6
To six gallons of water put eighteen pounds of lump-sugar; boil it half an hour, skimming it all the time. Put into a cask a quarter of a peck of elder-flowers picked clean from the stalks, the juice and rinds of six lemons pared very thin, and six pounds of raisins. When the water and sugar is about milk warm, pour it into the cask upon these ingredients; spread three or four spoonfuls of yest upon a piece of bread well toasted, and put it into the cask; stir it up for three or four days only; when it has done working, bung it up, and in six or eight months it will be fit for bottling.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GINGER WINE No. 1
With four gallons of water boil twelve pounds of loaf-sugar till it becomes clear. In a separate pan boil nine ounces of ginger, a little bruised, in two quarts of water; pour the whole into an earthen vessel, in which you must have two pounds of raisins shred fine, the juice and rind of ten lemons. When of about the warmth of new milk, put in four spoonfuls of fresh yest; let it ferment two days; then put it into a cask, with all the ginger, lemon-peel, and raisins, and half an ounce of isinglass dissolved in a little of the wine; in two or three days bung it up close. In three months it will be fit to bottle. Put into each bottle a little brandy, and some sugar also, if not sweet enough.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for GINGER WINE No. 2
Twenty-six quarts of water, eighteen pounds of white Lisbon sugar, six ounces of bruised ginger, the peel of six lemons pared very thin: boil half an hour, and let it stand till no more than blood warm. Put it in your cask, with the juice of six lemons, five spoonfuls of yest, and three pounds of raisins. Stir it six or seven times with a stick through the bung-hole, and put in half an ounce of isinglass and a pint of good brandy. Close the bung, and in about six weeks it will be fit for bottle. Let it stand about six months before you drink it. If you like, it may be drawn from the cask, and it will be fit for use in that way in about two months.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for GINGER WINE No. 3
To ten gallons of water put eight pounds of loaf-sugar and three ounces of bruised ginger; boil all together for one hour, taking the scum off as it rises; then put it into a pan to cool. When it is cold, put it into a cask, with the rind and juice of ten lemons, one bottle of good brandy, and half a spoonful of yest. Bung it up for a fortnight: then bottle it off, and in three weeks it will be fit to drink. The lemons must be pared very thin, and no part of the white must, on any account, be put in the cask.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for GINGER WINE No. 4
To every gallon of water put one pound and a half of brown sugar and one ounce of bruised ginger, and to each gallon the white of an egg well beaten. Stir all together, and boil it half an hour; skim it well while any thing rises, and, when milk-warm, stir in a little yest. When cold, to every five gallons, put two sliced lemons. Bottle it in nine days; and it will be fit to drink in a week.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GOOSEBERRY WINE No. 1
To every pound of white amber gooseberries, when heads and tails are picked off and well bruised in a mortar, add a quart of spring water, which must be previously boiled. Let it stand till it is cold before it is put to the fruit. Let them steep three days, stirring them twice a day; strain and press them through a sieve into a barrel, and to every gallon of liquor put three pounds of loaf-sugar, and to every five gallons a bottle of brandy. Hang a small bag of isinglass in the barrel; bung it close, and, in six months, if the sweetness is sufficiently gone off, bottle it, and rosin the corks well over the top. The fruit must be fall grown, but quite green.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GOOSEBERRY WINE No. 2
To three quarts of full grown gooseberries well crushed put one gallon of water well stirred together for a day or two. Then strain and squeeze the pulp, and put the liquor immediately into the barrel, with three pounds and a half of common loaf-sugar; stir it every day until the fermentation ceases. Reserve two or three gallons of the liquor to fill up the barrel, as it overflows through the fermentation. Put a bottle of brandy into the cask, to season it, before the wine; this quantity will be sufficient for nine or ten gallons. Be careful to let the fermentation cease, before you bung down the barrel.
The plain white gooseberries, taken when not too ripe, but rather the contrary, are the best for this purpose.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GOOSEBERRY WINE No. 3
A pound of sugar to a pound of fruit: melt the sugar, and bruise the gooseberries with an apple-beater, but do not beat them too small. Strain them through a hair strainer, and put the juice into an earthen pot; keep it covered four or five days till it is clear: then add half a pint of the best brandy or more, according to the quantity of fruit, and draw it out into another vessel, letting it run into a hair sieve. Stop it close, and let it stand one fortnight longer; then draw it off into quart bottles, and in a month it will be fit for drinking.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GOOSEBERRY WINE No. 4
Proceed as directed for white currant wine, but use loaf-sugar. Large pearl gooseberries, not quite ripe, make excellent champagne.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GRAPE WINE No.1
Mash the grapes and strain them through a cloth; put the skins in a tub, after squeezing them, with barely enough water to cover them; strain the juice thus obtained into the first portion; put three pounds of sugar to one gallon of the mixture; let it stand in an open tub to ferment, covered with a cloth, for a period of from three to seven days; skim off what rises every morning. Put the juice in a cask and leave it open for twenty-four hours; then bung it up, and put clay over the bung to keep the air out. Let your wine remain in the cask until March, when it should be drawn off and bottled.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GRAPE WINE No.2
Bruise the grapes, which should be perfectly ripe. To each gallon of grapes put a gallon of water, and let the whole remain a week, without being stirred. At the end of that time, draw off the liquor carefully, and put to each gallon three pounds of lump sugar. Let it ferment in a temperate situation—when fermented, stop it up tight. In the course of six months it will be fit to bottle.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for GRAPE WINE No.3
Pick and squeeze the grapes; strain them, and to each gallon of juice put two gallons of water. Put the pulp into the measured water; squeeze it, and add three pounds and a half of loaf-sugar, to a gallon. Let it stand about six weeks; then add a quart of brandy and two eggs not broken to every ten gallons. Bung it down and close.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for HONEY WINE
This is a very ancient and popular drink in the north of Europe. To some new honey, strained, add spring water; put a whole egg into it; boil this liquor till the egg swims above the liquor; strain, pour it in a cask. To every fifteen gallons add two ounces of white Jamaica ginger, bruised, one ounce of cloves and mace, one and one-half ounces of cinnamon, all bruised together and tied up in a muslin bag; accelerate the fermentation with yeast; when worked sufficiently, bung up; in six weeks draw off into bottles.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for HONEY WINE No.2
Boil the combs, from which the honey has been drained, with sufficient water to make a tolerably sweet liquor; ferment this with yeast and proceed as per previous formula.
Sack Mead is made by adding a handful of hops and sufficient brandy to the comb liquor.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for LEMON WINE
To every gallon of water put three pounds and a half of loaf-sugar; boil it half an hour, and to every ten gallons, when cold, put a pint of yest. Put it next day into a barrel, with the peels and juice of eight lemons; you must pare them very thin, and run the juice through a jelly-bag. Put the rinds into a net with a stone in it, or it will rise to the top and spoil the wine. To every ten gallons add a pint of brandy. Stop up the barrel, and in three months the wine, if fine, will be fit for bottling. The brandy must be put in when the wine is made.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for MIXED FRUIT WINE No. 1
Take equal parts of ripe currants, grapes, raspberries, and English cherries. Bruise them, then mix cold water with them, in the proportion of four pounds of fruit to a gallon of water. Let the whole remain half a day. Stir the whole up well, then strain it—to each gallon of it put three pounds of sugar. Keep it in a temperate situation, where it will ferment slowly, three or four days—stir it up frequently. When fermented, add a ninth part of brandy to it, and stop it up tight—when it becomes clear, bottle it. In the course of a year it will be fit to drink.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for MIXED FRUIT WINE No. 2
Take currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and a few rose-leaves, three pints of fruit, mashed all together, to a quart of cold water. Let it stand twenty-four hours; then drain it through a sieve. To every gallon of juice put three pounds and a half of Lisbon sugar; let it ferment; put it into a cask, but do not bung it up for some time. Put in some brandy, and bottle it for use.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ORANGE WINE No.1
Wipe the oranges with a wet cloth, peel off the yellow rind very thin, squeeze the oranges, and strain the juice through a fine sieve; measure the juice after it is strained and for each gallon allow three pounds of granulated sugar, the white and shell of one egg and one-third of a gallon of cold water; put the sugar, the white and shell of the egg (crushed small) and the water over the heat and stir them every two minutes until the eggs begin to harden; then boil the syrup until it looks clear under the froth, of egg which will form on the surface; strain the syrup, pour it upon the orange rind and let it stand over night; then next add the orange juice and again let it stand over night; strain it the second day, and put it into a tight cask with a small cake of compressed yeast to about ten gallons of wine, and leave the bung out of the cask until the wine ceases to ferment; the hissing noise continues so long as fermentation is in progress; when fermentation ceases, close the cask by driving in the bung, and let the wine stand about nine months before bottling it; three months after it is bottled, it can be used. A glass of brandy added to each gallon of wine after fermentation ceases is generally considered an improvement.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for ORANGE WINE No. 2
Take six gallons of water to twelve pounds of lump-sugar; put four whites of eggs, well beaten, into the sugar and water cold; boil it three quarters of an hour, skim while boiling, and when cold put to it six spoonfuls of yest, and six ounces of syrup of citron, well beaten together, and the juice and rinds of fifty Seville oranges, but none of the white. Let all these stand two days and nights covered close; then add two quarts of Rhenish wine; bung it up close. Twelve days afterwards bottle and cork it well.
WINE MAKING RECIPES for ORANGE WINE No. 3
To make ten gallons of wine, pare one hundred oranges very thin, and put the peel into a tub. Put in a copper ten gallons of water, with twenty-eight pounds of common brown sugar, and the whites of six eggs well beaten; boil it for three quarters of an hour; just as it begins to boil, skim it, and continue to do so all the time it is boiling; pour the boiling liquor on the peel: cover it well to keep in the steam, and, two hours afterwards, when blood warm, pour in the juice. Put in a toast well spread with yest to make it work. Stir it well, and, in five or six days, put it in your cask free from the peel; it will then work five or six days longer. Then put in two quarts of brandy, and bung it close. Let it remain twelve or eighteen months, and then bottle it. It will keep many years.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for ORANGE WINE No. 4
To a gallon of wine put three pounds of lump sugar; clarify this with the white of an egg to every gallon. Boil it an hour, and when the scum rises take it off; when almost cold, dip a toast into yest, put it into the liquor, and let it stand all night. Then take out the toast, and put in the juice of twelve oranges to every gallon, adding about half the peel. Run it through a sieve into the cask, and let it stand for several months.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RAISIN WINE No.1
Take two pounds of raisins, seed and chop them, a lemon, a pound of white sugar and about two gallons of boiling water. Pour into a stone jar and stir daily for six or eight days. Strain, bottle and put in a cool place for ten days or so, when the wine will be ready for use.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RAISIN WINE No. 2
Take one hundred weight of raisins, of the Smyrna sort, and put them into a tub with fourteen gallons of spring water. Let them stand covered for twenty-one days, stirring them twice every day. Strain the liquor through a hair-bag from the raisins, which must be well pressed to get out the juice; turn it into a vessel, and let it remain four months; then bung it up close, and make a vent-hole, which must be frequently opened, and left so for a day together. When it is of an agreeable sweetness, rack it off into a fresh cask, and put to it one gallon of British brandy, and, if you think it necessary, a little isinglass to fine it. Let it then stand one month, and it will be fit to bottle; but the longer it remains in the cask the better it will be.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RAISIN WINE No. 3
Take four gallons of water, and boil it till reduced to three, four pounds of raisins of the sun, and four lemons sliced very thin; take off the peel of two of them; put the lemons and raisins into an earthen pot, with a pound of loaf-sugar. Pour in your water very hot; cover it close for a day and a night; strain it through a flannel bag; then bottle it, and tie down the corks. Set it in a cold place, and it will be ready to drink in a month.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RAISIN WINE No. 4
To one hundred pound of raisins boil eighteen gallons of water, and let it stand till cold, with two ounces of hops. Half chop your raisins; then put your water to them, and stir it up together twice a day for a fortnight. Run it through a hair-sieve; squeeze the raisins well with your hands, and put the liquor into the barrel. Bung it up close; let it stand till it is clear; then bottle it.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for RAISIN WINE No. 5
Take a brandy cask, and to every gallon of water put five pounds of raisins with the stalks on, and fill the cask, bunging it close down. Put it in a cool dry cellar; let it stand six months; then tap it with a strainer cock, and bottle it. Add half a pint of brandy to every gallon of wine.
Homemade Wine Making Tip
All made wines are the better for brandy, and will not keep without it. Therefore you can also add some brandy to these homemade wine recipes too. The quantity must be regulated by the degree of strength you wish to give to your wine.
One note, as these are homemade wine recipes that grandma used to make, you will come across measuring terms such as bushels and pecks. There are 4 pecks to a bushel.
The weight of a bushel varies with the product. To give you an idea a bushel of wheat = 27 kg, maize and rye = 25 kg, barley = 22 kg, paddy rice = 20 kg and oats = 14.5 kg.
* 1 U.S. bushel = 8 corn/dry gallons = 2150.42 cu in ≈ 35.2391 liter ≈ 9.30918 wine/liquid gallons. The original definition was the volume of a cylinder 18.5 in (46.99 cm) in diameter and 8 in (20.32 cm) high, which gives an irrational number of cubic inches or litres, but later this bushel was redefined as 2150.42 cubic inches, about 1 part per million less.
* 1 Imperial bushel = 8 Imperial gallons ≈ 36.3687 dm ≈ 2219.36 cu. in.
OLD COUNTRY WINE MAKING RECIPES AND INSTRUCTIONS
I came across some very old wine recipes the other day and thought that I would share them with you. I can't tell you whether these recipes are any good, or whether the advice is sound on how to make wine - I will let you be the judge of that. But because there were so many interesting country wine recipes here, I really couldn't pass the opportunity up on letting you the reader see just how wine was made in the good old days!How to Make American Wines
I came across some very old wine recipes the other day and thought that I would share them with you. I can't tell you whether these recipes are any good, or whether the advice is sound on how to make wine - I will let you be the judge of that. But because there were so many interesting country wine recipes here, I really couldn't pass the opportunity up on letting you the reader see just how wine was made in the good old days!The Vine and How to Make Wine
The varieties of grape employed in wine making, in the United States, are the Catawba, Delaware, Schuylkill (Cape), Isabella, and Scuppernong. In California, now so noted for its wine product, the vines are of Spanish origin. Of those named, the two first varieties are most prized. Vines require a dry, airy situation, preferably with a southern or eastern exposure.How to Make Wine and Picking the Fruit
The fruit should be allowed to stay on the vines until fully ripe. If any error is committed it should be that of allowing it to remain too long. A slight frost will not injure the grape for winemaking, but rather improve it. Remove all unripe and bad berries. In some cases the berries are detached from the stem, in others not; the latter method is most usual. All vessels and utensils used in wine-making, must be most scrupulously clean when used, and should be thoroughly cleansed after using. Without attention to this good wine cannot be made. Grapes should not be gathered in damp weather nor when the dew is on them.How to Make Wine and Extracting the Juice
How to Make Wine and Fermenting the Must
The barrels are to be filled within 5 or 6 inches of the top. The beginning of the fermentation is shown by a slight rise in temperature; this soon increases, the liquid froths, and carbonic acid gas escapes; in 2 or 3 weeks this ceases, the lees settle and the wine becomes clear. Fermentation out of of contact of air is accomplished by having a bung fitted with a tube which dips under the surface of a pan of water. The gas escapes through the water, but the air cannot enter the cask. This is considered a great improvement by many. The bung should not be inserted until fermentation has begun. As soon as fermentation has ceased fill up the cask and bung tightly. If you have not the same wine with which to fill the cask, put in enough well-washed flinty pebbles
How to Make Wine and the Racking Process
The object of racking is to draw the wine from its lees, which contain various impurities, and the yeast is the fermentation. Some rack more than once, others but once. Rehfuss recommends to draw off the wine into fresh casks in December and again in March or April, and again in the fall, after that only in the fall. Buchanan recommends one racking in March or April. It is objected to frequent racking that it injures the aroma of the wine, and renders it liable to become acid. The wine may be drawn off with the syphon or by the spigot; care being taken not to disturb the lees.
How to Make Wine and Spring Fermentation
About the time that the vines begin to shoot the wine undergoes a second but moderate fermentation, after which it fines itself, and if kept well bunged will continue to improve by age. During the spring fermentation the bungs may be slightly loosened, otherwise the casks, if not strong, may burst, and the wine be lost. It is better kept in bottles. Wine may be bottled in a year after it is made, two years will be better. The bottles should be sealed and laid on their sides in a cool place.How to Make Sparkling Wine
The above directions will give a still wine of fine quality; no sugar, spirits or other addition is required. To make a sparkling wine is a matter of nicety, and requires considerable experience; and cellars, vaults and buildings especially adapted to the process. Abroad the wine is bottled during the first fermentation, although air is necessary to the beginning of fermentation, yet it will go on when once begun if air be excluded. The must continuing to ferment in the bottles, the gas generated is absorbed by the liquid under its own pressure. A very large percentage of bottles bursts.How to Make Wine with Mr. Longworth's Process
In the spring following the pressing of the grapes the wine is mixed with a small quantity of sugar, and put into strong bottles, the corks of which are well fastened with wire and twine. The spring fermentation is accelerated by the sugar, and the carbonic acid generated produces pressure enough to burst a considerable percentage of the bottles. At the end of a year the liquid has become clear. To get rid of the sediment the bottles are put in a rack with the necks inclining downward, and frequently shaken, the sediment deposits near and on the cork, and is blown out when the wires are cut. More sugar is added for sweetness; the bottles recorked, and in a few weeks the wine is ready for use.How to Make Wine and The Acidity Levels
The acidity of wine made from ripe grapes is due to cream of tartar or bitartrate of potassa. The grapes always contain a larger proportion than the wine, as much of it is deposited during fermentation, forming Argols of commerce. Tannic acid always present, giving, when in quantity, astringency or roughness. Citric acid is found in wine made from unripe grapes; malic and oxalic acids in those made from currants, rhubarb, etc. The cream of tartar gradually deposits as wine grows older, forming the crust or bees-wing. Hence wine of grape improves with age. Domestic wines do not deposit their acids, which have therefore to be disguised by the addition of sugar. Acetic acid is formed by the oxidation of the alcohol of wine. When considerable in quantity the wine is raid to be "pricked." Moselle and Rhine wine are among the most acid, and Sherry and Port among the least so.How to Make Sweet Wine
How to Make Wine and the Proportions of Alcohol
The following gives the average proportion of absolute alcohol in 100 parts by measure: Port Madeira, Sherry, 20; Claret, Catawba, Hock, and Champagne, 11; Domestic wines, 10 to 20; alcohol gives the strength or body to wine. It is often added to poor wines to make them keep and to increase their intoxicating qualities.How to Make Wine, Bottling and Corking
Fine clear weather is best for bottling all sorts of wines, and much cleanliness is required. The first consideration, in bottling wines, is to examine and see if the wines are in a proper state. The wines should be fine and brilliant, or they will never brighten after.The bottles must be all sound, clean and dry, with plenty of good sound corks.
The cork is to be put in with the hand, and then driven well in with a flat wooden mallet, the weight of which ought to be 1 1/4 lbs., but, however not to exceed 1 1/2 lbs., for if the mallet be too light or too heavy it will not drive the cork in properly and may break the bottle. The corks must so completely fill up the neck of each bottle as to render them air-tight, but leave a space of an inch between the wine and the neck.
When all the wine is bottled, it is to be stored in a cool cellar, and on no account on the bottles' bottoms, but or their sides and in saw-dust.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Mr. Carnells' Wine Recipe for Red Gooseberry Wine
Take cold soft water, 10 galls.; red gooseberries, 11 galls., and ferment. Now mix raw sugar, 16 lbs.; beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs.; and red tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz. Afterwards put in sassafras chips, 1 lb., and brandy, 1 gall., or less. This will make 18 galls.Another. - When the weather is dry, gather gooseberries about the time they are half ripe; pick them clean, put the quantity of a peak into a convenient vessel, and bruise them with a piece of wood, taking as much care as possible to keep the seeds whole. Now having put the pulp into a canvas bag, press out all the juice; and to every gallon of the gooseberries add about 3 lbs. of fine loaf sugar; mix the whole together by stirring it with a stick, and as soon as the sugar is quite dissolved, pour it into a convenient cask, which will hold it exactly. If the quantity be about 8 or 9 galls., let it stand a fortnight; if 20 galls., 40 days and so on in proportion taking care the place you set it in be cool. After standing the proper time draw it off from the lees, and put it into another clean vessel of equal size, or into the same, after pouring the lees out, and making it clean: let a cask of 10 or 12 galls. stand for about 3 months and 20 galls. for 5 months, after which it will be fit for bottling off.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red Gooseberry Wine
Take cold soft water, 3 galls; red gooseberries, 1 1/2 galls.; white gooseberries, 2 galls. Ferment.Now mix raw sugar, 5 lbs.; honey, 1 1/2 lbs., tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz. Afterwards put in bitter almonds, 2 oz.; sweetbriar, 1 small handful, and brandy, 1 gall., or less. This will make 6 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for White Gooseberry Wine
Take cold soft water, 4 1/2 galls.; white gooseberries, 5 galls. Ferment.Now mix refined sugar, 6 lbs.; honey, 4 lbs.; white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz. Put in orange and lemon-peel, 1 oz. dry, or 2 oz. fresh, and add white brandy, 1/2 gall. This will make 9 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for White Champagne Gooseberry Wine
To each pint of full ripe gooseberries, mashed add one pint of water, milk warm, in which has been dissolved one pound of single-refined sugar; stir the whole well, and cover up the tub with a blanket, to preserve the heat generated by the fermentation of the ingredients, let them remain in this vessel 3 days, stirring them twice or thrice a day; strain off the liquor through a sieve, afterwards through a coarse linen cloth; put it into the cask; it will ferment without yeast. Let the cask be kept full with some of the liquor reserved for the purpose.It will ferment for 10 days, sometimes for 3 weeks; when ceased, and only a hissing noise remains, draw off 2 or 3 bottles, according to the strength you wish it to have from every 20 pint cask, and fill up the cask with brandy or whiskey; but brandy is preferable. To make it very good, and that it may keep well, add as much Sherry, together with 1/4 oz. of isinglass dissolved in water to make it quite liquid: stir the whole well.
Bung the cask up, and surround the bung with clay; the closer it is bunged the better; a fortnight after, if it be clear at top, taste it, if not sweet enough, add more sugar; 22 lbs. is the just quantity in all for 20 pints of wine; leave the wine 6 months in the cask; but after being quite fine, the sooner it is bottled the more it will sparkle and resemble Champagne. The process should be carried on in a place where the heat is between 48º and 56º Fahr. Currant wine my be made in the same manner.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Gooseberry and Currant Wine
The following method of making superior gooseberry and currant wines is recommended in a French work: For currant wine, 8 lbs. of honey are dissolved in 15 galls. of boiling water, to which, when clarified, is added the juice of 8 lbs. of red or white currants. It is then fermented for 24 hours, and 2 lbs. of sugar to every 2 galls. of water are added. The preparation is afterwards clarified with the whites of eggs and cream of tartar. For gooseberry wine, the fruit is gathered dry when about half ripe, and then pounded in a mortar. The juice, when properly strained through a canvas bag, is mixed with sugar, in the proportion of 3 lbs. to every 2 galls. of juice. It is then left in a quiet state for 15 days, at the expiration of which it is carefully poured off, and left to ferment for 3 months when the quantity is under 15 galls., and for 5 months when double that quantity. It is then bottled, and soon becomes fit for drinking.Another. - Take cold soft water, 5 1/2 galls.; gooseberries and currants, 4 galls. Ferment. Then add, raw sugar, 12 1/2 lbs.; tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz., ginger, in powder 3 oz., sweet marjoram, 1/2 a handful; whiskey, 1 qt. This will make 9 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red Currant Wine
Take cold soft water, 11 galls.; red currants, 8 galls.; raspberries, 1 qt. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 20 lbs., beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs.; and red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz. Put in 1 nutmeg, in fine powder; add brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.Another. - Put 5 qts. of currants and 1 pint of raspberries to every 2 galls. of water; let them soak a night; then squeeze and break them well. Next day rub them well through a fine sieve till the juice is expressed, washing the skins with some of the water, then, to every gallon, put 4 lbs. of the best sugar, put it into your barrel, and set the bung lightly in. In 2 or 3 days add a bottle of good Cognac brandy to every 4 galls.; bung it close, but leave out the spigot for a few days. It is very good in 3 years, better in 4.
Another. - Boil 4 galls. of spring water, and stir into it 8 lbs. of honey; when thoroughly dissolved, take it off the fire; then stir it well in order to raise the scum, which take clean off, and cool the liquor.
When thus prepared, press out the same quantity of the juice of red currants moderately ripe, which being well strained, mix well with the water and honey, then put them into a cask or a large earthen vessel, and let them stand to ferment for 24 hours, then to every gallon add 2 lbs. of fine sugar, stir them well to raise the scum, and when well settled take it off, and add 1/2 an oz. of cream of tartar, with the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, to refine it. When the wine is well settled and clear draw it off into a small vessel, or bottle it up, keeping it in a cool place.
Of white currants a wine after the same manner may be made, that will equal in strength and pleasantness many sorts of white wine; but as for the black or Dutch currants, they are seldom used, except for the preparation of medicinal wines.
Another. - Gather the currants in dry weather, put them into a pan and bruise them with a wooden pestle; let them stand about 20 hours, after which strain through a sieve; add 3 lbs. of fine powdered sugar to each 4 quarts of the liquor, and after shaking it well fill the vessel, and put a quart of good brandy to every 7 gallons. In 4 weeks, if it does not prove quite clear, draw it off into another vessel, and let it stand previous to bottling it off about 10 days.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red and White Currant Wine
Take of cold soft water, 12 galls.; white currants, 4 galls., red currants, 3 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs., white tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz. Put in sweet-briar leaves, 1 handful; lavender leaves, 1 handful; then add spirits, 2 qts. or more. This will make 18 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Dutch Currant Wine
Take of cold soft water, 9 galls., red currants, 10 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 10 lbs.; beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs.; red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz. Put in bitter almonds, 1 oz., ginger, in powder, 2 oz.; then add brandy, 1 qt. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red Dutch Currant Wine
Take of cold soft water, 11 galls., red currants, 8 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 12 lbs.; red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz. Put in coriander seed, bruised, 2 oz., then add whiskey, 2 qts. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Mixed Berry Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Compound Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Summer Berry Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for White Currant and Gooseberry Wine
Take of cold soft water, 9 galls., white currants, 9 galls.; white gooseberries, 1 gall. Ferment. Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.; white tartar, in powder, 1 oz.; clary seed, bruised, 2 oz.; or clary flowers or sorrel flowers, 4 handfuls, then add white brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.
Another. - Take of cold soft water, 10 galls.; white currants, 10 galls. Ferment. Mix, refined sugar, 25 lbs.; white tartar, in fine powder, 1 oz.; then add hitter almonds, 2 oz. and white brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Black Currant Wine
Take of cold soft water, 10 galls.; black currants, 6 galls.; strawberries, 3 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.; red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz.; orange-thyme, 2 handfuls; then add brandy, 2 or 3 qts. This will make 18 galls.Another. - Take of cold soft water, 12 galls.; black currants, 5 galls.; white or red currants, or both, 3 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 30 lbs. or less; red tartar, in fine powder, 5 oz.; ginger, in powder, 5 oz. then add brandy, 1 gall. or less. This will make 18 galls.
Another, very fine. - To every 3 qts. of juice add as much of cold water, and to every 3 qts. of the mixture add 3 lbs. of good, pure sugar. Put it into a cask, reserving some to fill up. Set the cask in a warm, dry room, and it will ferment of itself. When this is over skim off the refuse, and fill up with what you have reserved for this purpose. When it has done working, add 3 qts. of brandy to 40 qts. of the wine. Bung it up close for 10 months, then bottle it. The thick part may be separated by straining, and the percolating liquor be bottled also. Keep it for 12 months.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Strawberry Wine
Take of cold soft water, 7 galls.; cider, 6 galls.; strawberries, 6 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 16 lbs.; red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz.; the peel and juice of 2 lemons; then add brandy, 2 or 3 qts. This will make 18 galls.Another. - Take of cold soft water, 10 galls.; strawberries, 9 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 25 lbs.; red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz., 2 lemons and 2 oranges, peel and juice; then add brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Raspberry Wine
Take of cold soft water, 6 galls., cider, 4 galls. raspberries, 6 galls.; any other fruit, 3 galls. Ferment. Mix, raw sugar, 18 or 20 lbs., red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz., orange and lemonpeel, 2 oz. dry, or 4 oz. fresh; then add brandy, 3 qts. This will make 18 galls.Another. - Gather the raspberries when ripe husk them and bruise them, then strain them through a bag into jars or other vessels. Boil the juice, and to every gall. put 1 1/2 lbs. of lump sugar. Now add whites of eggs, and let the whole boil for 15 minutes, skimming it as the froth rises. When cool and settled, decant the liquor into a cask, adding yeast to make it ferment. When this has taken place, add 1 pint of white wine, or a pint of proof spirit to each gall. contained in the cask, and hang a bag in it containing 1 oz. of bruised mace. In 3 months, if kept in a cool place, it will be very excellent and delicious wine.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Mulberry Wine
On a dry day gather mulberries, when they are just changed from redness to a shining black; spread them thinly on a fine cloth, or on a floor or table, for 24 hours, and then press them. Boil a gall. of water with each gall. of juice; putting to every gall. of water 1 oz. of cinnamon bark and 6 oz. of sugar candy finely powdered. Skim and strain the water when it is taken off and settled, and put to it the mulberry-juice. Now add to every gall. of the mixture a pint of white or Rhenish wine. Let the whole stand in a cask to ferment for 5 or 6 days. When settled, draw it off into bottles and keep it cool.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Elderberry Wine
Another. - In making elder juice let the berries be fully ripe, and all the stalks clean picked from them; then, have a press ready for drawing off all the juice, and 4 haircloths, somewhat broader than the press. Lay one layer above another having a hair-cloth betwixt every layer, which must be laid very thin, and pressed a little at first and then more till the press be drawn as close as possible. Now take out the berries, and press all the rest in the like manner, then take the pressed berries, break out all the lumps, put them into an open-headed vessel, and add as much liquor as will just cover them. Let them infuse so for 7 or 8 days; then put the best juice into a cask proper for it to be kept in, and add l gall. of malt spirits not rectified, to every 20 galls. of elder-juice, which will effectually preserve it from becoming sour for two years at least
Another. - Pick the berries when quite ripe, put them into a stone jar, and set them in an oven, or in a kettle of boiling water, till the jar is hot through, then take them out, and strain them through a coarse sieve. Squeeze the berries and put the juice into a clean kettle. To every quart of juice put 1 lb. of fine sugar; let it boil and skim it well. When clear and fine, pour it into a cask. To every 10 galls. of wine add 1 oz. of isinglass dissolved in cider, and 6 whole eggs. Close it up, let it stand 6 months, and then bottle it.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for a Good Imitation of Cyprus Wine
To 10 galls. of water put 10 qts. of the juice of white elderberries, pressed gently from the berries by the hand and passed through a sieve, without bruising the seeds; add to every gallon of liquor 3 lbs. of sugar, and to the whole quantity 2 oz. of ginger sliced, and 1 oz. of cloves. Boil this nearly an hour, taking off the scum as it rises, and pour the whole to cool, in an open tub, and work it with ale yeast, spread upon a toast of bread for 3 days. Then turn it into a vessel that will just hold it, adding about 1 1/2 lbs. of bruised raisins, to lie in the liquor till drawn off, which should not be done till the wine is fine.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Elderflower Wine
Boil 18 lbs. of white powdered sugar in 6 galls. of water and 2 whites of eggs well beaten, skim it, and put in a quarter of a peek of elder-flowers; do not keep them on the fire. When cool stir it and put in 6 spoonfuls of lemon juice, 4 or 5 of yeast, and beat well into the liquor; stir it well every day, put 6 lbs. of the best raisins, stoned, into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close and bottle in 6 months. When well kept, this wine will pass very well for Frontignac.Another. - To 6 galls. of spring-water put 6 lbs. of sun raisins out small, and 12 lbs. of fine sugar. Boil the whole together for about an hour and a half. When the liquor is cold put half a peek of ripe elder-flowers in, with about a gill of lemonjuice, and half the quantity of ale yeast. Cover it up and, after standing 3 days, strain it off. Now pour it into a cask that is quite clean, and that will hold it with ease. When this is done put a quart of Rhenish wine to every gallon; let the bung be slightly put in for 12 or 14 days, then stop it down fast, and put it in a cool, dry place for 4 or 5 months, till it be quite settled and fine; then bottle it off.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for an Imitation of Port Wine
Bruise the cochineal very fine, and put it with the brandy into a stone bottle; let it remain at least a fortnight, shaking it well once or twice every day. At the end of that time procure the the cider, and put 5 galls. into a 9 gallon cask; add to it the elder-juice and Port wine, then the brandy and cochineal. Take the remaining gallon of cider to rinse out the bottle that contained the brandy; and, lastly, pour it into the cask, and bung it down very close, and in 6 weeks it will be ready for bottling.
It is, however, sometimes not quite so fine as could be wished: in that case add 2 oz. of isinglass, and let it remain a fortnight or 3 weeks longer, when it will be perfectly bright. It would not be amiss, perhaps, if the quantity of isinglass mentioned was added to the wine before it was bunged down; it will tend very considerably to improve the body of the wine. If it should not appear sufficiently rough flavored, add 1 oz. or 1 1/2 oz. of roche-alum, which will, in most cases, impart a sufficient astringency.
After it is bottled it must be packed in as cool a place as possible. It will be fit for using in a few months, but if kept longer it will be greatly improved.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Whortleberry or Bilberry Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Birch Wine
The season for obtaining the liquor from birchtrees is in the latter end of February, or the beginning of March, before the leaves shoot out, and as the sap begins to rise; if the time is delayed the juice will grow too thick to be drawn out. It should be as thin and clear as possible. The method of procuring the juice is by boring holes in the trunk of the tree and fixing faucets of elder; but care should be taken not to tap it in too many places at once, for fear of injuring the tree. If the tree is large it may be bored in 5 or 6 places at once, and bottles are to be placed under the aperture for the sap to flow into.When 4 or 5 galls. have been extracted from different trees cork the bottles very close, and wax them till the wine is to be made, which should be as soon as possible after the sap has been obtained. Boil the sap, and put 4 lbs. of loaf sugar to every gallon, also the peel of a lemon cut thin; then boil it again for nearly an hour, skimming it all the time.
Now pour it into a tub and, as soon as it is almost cold, work it with a toast spread with yeast, and let it stand 5 or 6 days, stirring it twice or 3 times each day. Into a cask that will contain it put a lighted brimstone snatch, stop it up till the match is burnt out, and then pour the wine into it, putting the bung lightly in, till it has done working. Bung it very close for about 3 months, and then bottle it. It will be good in a week after it is put into the bottles.
Another. - Birch wine may be made with raisins in the following manner: To a hogshead of birchwater, take 400 Malaga raisins; pick them clean from the stalks and cut them small. Then boil the birch liquor for an hour at least, skim it well, and let it stand till it is no warmer than milk. Then put in the raisins and let it stand close covered, stirring it well 4 or 5 times every day. Boil all the stalks in a gallon or two of birch liquor, which, added to the other when almost cold, will give it an agreeable roughness. Let it stand 10 days, then put it in a cool cellar, and when it has done hissing in the vessel, stop it up close. It must stand at least 9 months before it is bottled.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Blackberry Wine
Having procured berries that are fully ripe, put them into a large vessel of wood or stone with a cock in it, and pour upon them as much boiling water as will cover them. As soon as the heat will permit the hand to be put into the vessel, bruise them well till all the berries are broken. Then let them stand covered till the berries begin to rise towards the top, which they usually do in 3 or 4 days. Then draw off the clear into another vessel, and add to every 10 quarts of this liquor 1 lb. of sugar.Stir it well and let it stand to work a week or 10 days in another vessel like the first. Then draw it off at the cock through a jelly-bag into a large vessel. Take 4 oz. of isinglass and lay it to steep 12 hours in a pint of white wine. The next morning boil it upon a slow fire till it is all dissolved. Then take 1 gallon of blackberry-juice, put it in the dissolved isinglass, give them a boil together, and pour all into the vessel. Let it stand a few days to purge and settle, then draw it off and keep it in a cool place.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Juniper Berry Wine
Take of cold soft water, 18 galls., Malaga or Smyrna raisins, 35 lbs. juniper-berries, 9 quarts, red tartar, 4 oz., wormwood and sweet marjoram, each 2 handfuls; whiskey, 2 quarts or more. Ferment for 10 or 12 days. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Damson Wine
Take of cold soft water 11 galls., damsons, 8 galls. Ferment. Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs., red tartar, in fine powder, 6 oz. Add brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls."When the must," says Mr. Carnell, "has fermented 2 days, (during which time it should be stirred up 2 or 3 times) take out of the vat about 2 or 3 quarts of the stones and break them and the kernels, and then return them into the vat again."
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES Another Method
Take a considerable quantity of damsons and common plums inclining to ripeness; slit them in halves so that the stones may be taken out, then mash them gently and add a little water and honey. Add to every gallon of the pulp 1 gall. of spring-water, with a few bay-leaves and cloves; boil the mixture, and add as much sugar as will sweeten it; skim off the froth and let it cool.Now press the fruit, squeezing out the liquid part, strain all through a fine strainer, and put the water and juice together in a cask. Having allowed the whole to stand and ferment for 3 or 4 days, fine it with white sugar, flour, and white of eggs; draw it off into bottles, then cork it well. In 12 days it will be ripe, and will taste like weak Port, having the flavor of Canary.
And Another. - Gather the damsons on a dry day, weigh them and then bruise them. Put them into a cask that has a cock in it, and to every 8 lbs. of fruit add 1 gall. of water. Boil the water, skim it and put it scalding hot to the fruit. Let it stand 2 days, then draw it off and put it into a vessel, and to every gallon of liquor put 2 1/2 lbs. of fine sugar. Fill up the vessel and stop it close, and the longer it stands the better. Keep it for 12 months in the vessel, and then bottle, putting a lump of sugar into every bottle. The small damson is the best for this purpose.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cherry Wine
Take of soft cold water, 10 galls., cherries, 10 galls. Ferment. Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs., red tartar, in fine powder, 3 oz. Add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts. This will make 18 galls.Two days after the cherries have been in the vat, take out about 3 quarts of the cherry-stones, break them and the kernels, and return them into the vat again.
Another. - Take cherries nearly ripe, of any red sort, clear them of the stalks and stones, then put them into a glazed earthen vessel and squeeze them to a pulp. Let them remain in this state for 12 hours to ferment, then put them into a linen cloth not too fine and press out the juice with a pressing-board, or any other convenient instrument. Now let the liquor stand till the scum rises, and with a ladle or skimmer take it clean off; then pour the clear part, by inclination, into a cask, where to each gallon put 1 lb. of the best loaf sugar, and let it ferment for 7 or 8 days. Draw it off when clear, into lesser casks or bottles; keep it cool as other wines, and in 10 or 12 days it will be ripe.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Morella Wine
Cleanse from the stalks 60 lbs. of Morella cherries, and bruise them so that the stones shall be broken. Now press out the juice and mix it with 6 galls. of Sherry wine, and 4 galls. of warm water. Having grossly powdered separate ounces of nutmeg, cinnamon and mace, hang them separately in small bags in the cask containing the mixture. Bung it down and in a few weeks it will become a deliciously flavored wine.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Peach Wine
Take of cold soft water, 18 galls., refined sugar 25 lbs., honey, 6 lbs., white tartar, in fine powder 2 oz., peaches, 60 or 80 in number. Ferment. Then add 2 galls. of brandy. This will make 18 galls.The first division is to be put into the vat, and the day after, before the peaches are put in, take the stones from them, break them and the kernels, then put them and the pulp into the vat and proceed with the general process.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Peach Wine and Apricot Wine
Take peaches, nectarines, etc.; pare them and take the stones out; then slice them thin and pour over them from 1 to 2 galls. of water and a quart of white wine. Place the whole on a fire to simmer gently for a considerable time, till the sliced fruit becomes soft; pour off the liquid part into another vessel containing more peaches that have been sliced but not heated; let them stand for 12 hours, then pour out the liquid part and press what remains through a fine hair bag. Let the whole be now put into a cask to ferment; add of loaf sugar 1 1/2 lbs. to each gallon. Boil well 1 oz. of beaten cloves in a quart of white wine and add it to the above.Apricot wine may be made by only bruising the fruit and pouring the hot liquor over it. This wine does not require so much sweetening. To give it a curious savor, boil 1 oz. of mace and 1/2 an oz. of nutmegs in 1 qt. of white wine; and when the wine is fermenting pour the liquid in hot. In about 20 days, or a month, these wines will be fit for bottling.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Lemon Wine
Another. - Pare 5 dozen of lemons very thin, put the peels into 5 qts. of French brandy, and let them stand 14 days. Then make the juice into a syrup with 3 lbs. of singlerefined sugar, and when the peels are ready boil 15 galls. of water with 40 lbs. of single-refined sugar for 1/2 an hour. Then put it into a tub, and when cool add to it 1 spoonful of yeast, and let it work 2 days. Then tun it, and put in the brandy, peels and syrup. Stir them all together, and close up the cask. Let it stand 3 months, then bottle it, and it will be as pale and us fine as any citron-water.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Lemon Wine
Take of cold soft water, 2 galls.; apples, well bruised, 3 bushels, honey, 10 lbs., white tartar 2 oz.; 1 nutmeg, in powder; rum, 3 qts. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for White Apple Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red Apple Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Quince Wine
Gather the quinces when pretty ripe, on a dry day, rub off the down with a linen cloth, then lay them in hay or straw for 10 days to perspire. Now cut them in quarters, take out the cores and bruise them well in a mashing-tub with a wooden pestle. Squeeze out the liquid part bv pressing them in a hair bag by degrees, in a cider press; strain this liquor through a fine sieve, then warm it gently over a fire and skim it, but do not suffer it to boil.Now sprinkle into it some loaf sugar reduced to powder; then in a gall. of water and a qt. of white wine; boil 12 or 14 large quinces, thinly sliced; add 2 lbs. of fine sugar and then strain off the liquid part, and mingle it with the natural juice of the quinces; put this into a cask (not to fill it) and mix them well together; then let it stand to settle, put in 2 or 3 whites of eggs, then draw it off. If it be not sweet enough, add more sugar, and a qt. of the best Malmsey. To make it still better boil 1/4 of a lb. of stoned raisins, and 1/2 an oz. of cinnamon bark in a qt. of the liquor, to the consumption of a third part and straining it, put it into the cask when the wine is fermenting.
Another. - Take 20 large quinces, gathered when they are dry and full ripe. Wipe them clean with a coarse cloth, and grate them with a large grater or rasp as near the cores as possible; but do not touch the cores. Boil a gall. of spring-water, throw in the quinces, and let them boil softly about 1/4 of an hour. Then strain them well into an earthen pan, on 2 lbs. of double-refined sugar. Pare the peel of 2 large lemons, throw them in, and squeeze the juice through a sieve. Stir it about till it is very cool, and then toast a thin bit of bread very brown, rub a little yeast on it, and let the whole stand close-covered 24 hours. Take out the toast and lemon, put the wine in a cask, keep it 3 months, and then bottle it. If a 20-gallon cask is wanted, let it stand 6 months before bottling it; and remember, when straining the quinces, to wring them hard in a coarse cloth.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Orange Wine
Put 12 lbs. of powdered sugar, with the whites of 8 or 10 eggs well beaten, into 6 galls. of spring-water; boil them 3/4 of an hour; when cold, put into it 6 spoonfuls of yeast and the juice of 12 lemons, which being pared, must stand with 2 lbs. of white sugar in a tankard, and in the morning skim off the top, and then put it into the water; add the juice and rinds of 50 oranges, but not the white or pithy parts of the rinds; let it work all together 2 days and 2 nights: then add 2 qts. of Rhenish or white wine, and put it into the vessel.Another. - To 6 galls. of water put 15 lbs. of soft sugar; before it boils, add the whites of 6 eggs well beaten, and take off the scum as it rises; boil it 1/2 an hour; when cool add the juice of 50 oranges, and 2/3 of the peels cut very thin, and immerse a toast covered with yeast. In a month after it has been in the cask, add a pt. of brandy and 2 qts. of Rhenish wine; it will be fit to bottle in 3 or 4 months, but it should remain in bottle for 12 months before it is drunk.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Parsnip Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for White Mead Wine
Take of cold soft water 17 galls., white currants 6 qts. Ferment. Mix honey 30 lbs., white tartar in powder 3 oz. Add balm and sweetbriar, each 2 handfuls, white brandy 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Red Mead Wine or Metheglin
Take of cold water 17 galls., red currants 6 qts., black currants 2 qts. Ferment. Mix, honey 25 lbs. beet root sliced 1 lb., red tartar in fine powder 4 oz. Add cinnamon in powder 2 oz., brandy 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.Another. - Fermented mead is made in the proportion of 1 lb. of honey to 3 pints of water or by boiling over a moderate fire, to two-thirds of the quantity, three parts water and one part honey. The liquor is then skimmed and casked, care being taken to keep the cask full while fermenting. During the fermenting process the cask is left untopped and exposed to the sun, or in a warm room, until the working ceases. The cask is then bunged, and a few months in the cellar renders it pleasant, by the addition of cut raisins, or other fruits boiled after the rate of 1/2 lb. of raisins to 6 lbs. of honey, with a toasted crust of bread; 1 oz. of salt of tartar in a glass of brandy being added to the liquor when casked, to which some add 6 or 6 drops of the essence of cinnamon; others, pieces of lemon-peel with various syrups.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Walnut Mead Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for American Honey Wine
Put a quantity of the comb from which honey has been drained in a tub, and add a barrel of cider immediately from the press; stir the mixture and leave it for a night. It is then strained before fermentation and honey added until the specific gravity of the liquor is sufficient to bear an egg. It is then put into a barrel, and after the fermentation has commenced the cask is filled every day for 3 or 4 days, that the froth may work out of the bung-hole.When the fermentation moderates put the bung in loosely, lest stopping it tight might cause the cask to burst. At the end of 5 or 6 weeks the liquor is to be drawn off into a tub, and the whites of 8 eggs, well beaten up with a pint of clean sand, are to be put into it; then add 1 gall. of cider spirits, and after mixing the whole together, return it into the cask, which is to be well cleaned, bunged tight, and placed in a proper situation for racking off when fine. In the month of April following draw it off into kegs for use, and it will be equal to almost any foreign wine.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cowslip Red Wine
Take of cold soft water 18 galls., Smyrna raisins, 40 lbs. Ferment. Mixed beet-root, sliced, 3 lbs., red tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz. Add cowslip flowers, 14 lbs.; cloves and mace, in powder 1 oz. brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cowslip White Wine
Take of cold soft water, 18 galls.; Malaga raisins, 35 lbs.: white tartar, in fine powder, 2 oz. Ferment. Mix cowslip-flowers, 16 lbs. Add white brandy, 1 gall. This will make 18 galls.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cowslip Mead Wine
Is made in this manner: To 15 galls. of water put 30 lbs. of honey, and boil it till 1 gall. be wasted. Skim it, take it off the fire, and have ready 16 lemons cut in halves. Take 1 gall. of the liquor and put it to the lemons. Put the rest of the liquor into a tub with 7 pecks of cowslips, and let them stand all night. Then put in the liquor with the lemons 8 spoonfuls of new yeast and a handful of sweetbriar. Stir them all well together, and let it work 3 or 4 days. Then strain it, put into the cask, and after it has stood 6 months bottle it off.HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cider White Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cider Red Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Cider Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Raisin Wine (Like a Sherry)
To give it the flavor of Madeira, when it is in the cask, put in a couple of green citrons, and let them remain till the wine is bottled.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Raisin Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Ginger Wine - Excellent
Another. - Take of cold soft water, 19 galls.; Malaga raisins, 50 lbs.; white tartar, in powder, 4 oz. Ferment. Mix ginger in powder or bruised, 20 oz.; 18 lemons, peel and juice; add brandy, 2 qts. or more. This will make 18 galls.
Another. - Take 20 qts. of water; 5 lbs. of sugar; 3 oz. of white ginger; 1 oz. of stick liquorice. Boil them well together, when it is cold put a little new yeast upon it, but not too much, then put it into the barrel for 10 days, and after that bottle it putting a lump of white sugar into every bottle.
Another. - To 7 galls. of water put 19 lbs. of clayed sugar and boil it for 1/2 an hour, taking off the scum as it rises; then take a small quantity of the liquor and add to it 9 oz. of the best ginger bruised. Now put it all together, and when nearly cold, chop 9 lbs of raisins very small, and put them into an 8 gall. cask (beer measure), with 1 oz. of isinglass. Slice 4 lemons into the cask, taking out all the seeds, and yeast. Leave it unstopped for 3 weeks, and in about 3 months it will be fit for bottling.
There will be 1 gall. of the sugar and water more than the cask will hold at first; this must be kept to fill up as the liquor works off, as it is necessary that the cask should be kept full till it has done working. The raisins should be 2/3 Malaga, and 1/3 Muscatel. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for making this wine.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Koumiss Wine belonging to the Tartars
Now, with a churn staff, beat it till the thick substance above-mentioned be blended intimately with the subjacent fluid. In this situation leave it at rest for 24 hours more, after which pour it into a higher and narrower vessel, resembling a churn, where the agitation must be repeated as before, till the liquor appears to be perfectly homogenous. In this state it is called koumiss; of which the taste ought to be a pleasant mixture of sweet and sour. Agitation must be employed every time before it is used. Sometimes aromatic herbs, as Angelica, are infused in the liquor during fermentation.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Rhubarb Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Sage Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Turnip Wine
This is an excellent wine for gouty habits, and is much recommended in such oases in lieu of any other wine.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Rose Wine
Let it stand about 80 days, when it will be ripe and have a fine flavor, having the whole strength and scent of the roses in it; and it may be greatly improved by adding to it wine and spices. By this method of infusion, wine of carnations, glove gilliflowers, violets, primroses, or any other flower having a curious scent, may be made.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for English Fig Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Balm Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Scurvy-Grass Wine
Set water over a gentle fire, putting to every gallon 3 pints of honey, and when the scum rises take it off and let it cool, then put the stamped scurvy grass into a barrel, and pour the liquor to it, setting the vessel conveniently endways, with a tap at the bottom.
When it has been infused 24 hours, draw off the liquor, strongly press the juice and moisture out of the herb into the barrel or vessel, and put the liquor up again; then put a little Dew yeast to it, and suffer it to ferment 3 days, covering the place of the bung or vent with a piece of bread spread over with mustard seed, downward, in a cool place, and let it continue till it is fine and drinks brisk.
Draw off the finest part, leaving only the dregs behind; afterwards add more herbs, and ferment it with whites of eggs, flour, and fixed nitre, verjuice, or the juice of green grapes, if they are to be had; to which add 6 lbs. of the syrup of mustard, all mixed and well beaten together, to refine it down, and it will drink brisk, but is not very pleasant; being here inserted among artificial wines rather for the sake of health, than for the delightfulness of its taste.
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Making Cheap and Wholesome Claret Wine
HOMEMADE WINE RECIPES for Making Dry Wine
MAKING WINE and How to Guard Against Unripe Fruit
MAKING WINE and How to Keep and Manage Wines
They must at all times be kept in a cool cellar; if not, they will ferment. If wines are kept in a warm cellar, an acetous fermentation will soon commence, and the result consequently will be vinegar. The more a wine frets and ferments, the more it parts with its strength and goodness; when wines are found to work improperly in the cellar, the vent-peg must be taken out for a week or two.
If any wine ferments, after being perfected, draw off a quart and boil it, and pour it hot into the cask, add a pint or a quart of brandy, and bung up a day or two after.
Or, draw off the wine, and fumigate the cask, with 1 oz. of flower of brimstone, and 1/2 oz. of cinnamon in powder. Mix the two together, and tie them up in a rag. Turn the bung-hole of the cask downwards, place the rag under the bunghole, and set fire to it, so that the gas ascends into the cask. As soon as it is burnt out, fill up the cask with wine, and bung it up tight.
MAKING WINE and How to Sweeten a Foul Cask of Wine
Set fire to 1 lb. or more of broken charcoal, put it into the cask, and immediately fill up the cask with boiling water. After this roll the cask once or twice a day for a week; then, pour out the charcoal and water, wash out the cask with clean cold water, and expose it to the external air for some days.
MAKING WINE and How to Improve Poor Wines
Poor wines may be improved by being racked off, and returned to the cask again; and then putting into the wine about 1 lb. of jar or box raisins, bruised, and 1 quart of brandy.Or, put into the wine 2 lbs. of honey, and a pint or two of brandy. The honey and brandy to be first mixed together.
Or, draw off 3 or 4 quarts of such wine and fill the cask up with strong wine.
MAKING WINE and How to Improve Wine when Lowering or Decaying
Take l oz. of alum, make it into powder; then draw out 4 galls. of wine, mix the powder with it, and beat it well for 1/2 an hour; then fill up the cask, and when fine (which will be in a week's time or little more), bottle it off. This will make it drink fine and brisk.
MAKING WINE and How to Restore Flat Wines
MAKING WINE and How to Remove a Musty Taste to the Wine
Put into the cask 3 or 4 sticks of charcoal, and bung up the cask tight. In a month after take them out.
Or, cut two ripe medlars, put them in a gauze bag, and suspend them from the bung hole into wine, and bung up the cask air-tight. A month after take them out, and bung up the cask again.
Or, mix 1/2 lb. of bruised mustard seed, with 1 pint or more of brandy, and stir it up in the wine; and 2 days after bung up the cask.
MAKING WINE Another Method
At the finish of the process, when the brandy or spirit is put to the wine, it is particularly recommended that 1/4 oz. of camphor, in the lump, be dropped into the bung-hole of each 18 galls. of wine.
MAKING WINE Yet Another Method
Oil poured upon wine, or any other liquor, will prevent it from growing musty, or turning corrupt.MAKING WINE and How to Take Away the Bad Smell in Wines
MAKING WINE Sparkle like Champagne
MAKING WINE and How to Clear Foul or Ropy Wines
Take 1/2 oz. of chalk in powder, 1/2 oz. of burnt alum, the white of an egg, and l pint of springwater.Beat the whole up in a mortar, and pour it into the wine; after which, roll the cask 10 minutes; and then place it on the stand, leaving the bung out for a few days. As soon as the wine is fine, rack it off.
Or, take 1 oz. of ground rice, 3 oz. of burnt alum, and 1/2 oz. of bay-salt.
Beat the whole up in a mortar, with 1 pint or more of the wine, pour it into the cask, and roll it 10 minutes. The cask must be bunged up for a few days. As soon as such wine becomes fine, rack it off.
Or, bring the cask of wine out of the cellar and place it in a shady situation to receive the circulation of the air, and take out the bung. In 3 weeks or a month reek it off into a sweet cask which fill up, and put into the wine 1 oz. of cinnamon, in the stick; and bung it up tight.
MAKING WINE Another Method
Tap the cask, and put a piece of coarse linen cloth upon that end of the cock which goes to the inside of the cask; then rack it into a dry cask to 30 galls. of wine, and put in 6 oz. of powdered alum. Roll and shake them well together, and it will fine down, and prove a very clear and pleasant wine.MAKING WINE and How to Correct Green or Harsh Wines
Take l oz. of salt, 1/2 oz. calcified gypsum, in powder, and 1 pt. of skimmed milk. Mix these up with a little of the wine, and then pour the mixture into the cask, put in a few lavender leaves, stir the wine with a stick, so as not to disturb the lees, and bung it up.MAKING WINE and How to Correct Sharp, Tart or Acidic Wines
Or, mix 1/2 oz. of the salt of tartar, 1/2 oz. of calcined gypsum, in powder, with a pint of the wine; pour it into the cask, and put an ounce of cinnamon in the stick, stir the wine without disturbing the lees, fill up the cask, and the day following bung it up.
Or, boil 3 oz. of rice; when cold put it into a gauze bag, and immerse it into the wine; put into the wine also a few sticks of cinnamon, and bung up the cask. In about a month after, take the rice out.
MAKING WINE and How to Restore Sour Wines
MAKING WINE Another Method
MAKING WINE and Fining
One of the best finings is as follows: Take 1 lb. of fresh marsh-mallow roots, washed clean, and cut into small pieces; macerate them in 2 qts. of soft water for 24 hours, then gently boil the liquor down to 3 half pints, strain it, and when cold mix with it 1/2 oz. of pipe-clay or chalk in powder; then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir up the wine so as not to disturb the lees, and leave the vent-peg out for some days after.
Or, take boiled rice 2 tablespoonfuls, the white of 1 new egg, and 1/2 oz. of burnt alum, in powder. Mix with a pint or more of the wine, then pour the mucilage into the cask, and stir the wine with a stout stick, but not to agitate the lees.
Or, dissolve in a gentle heat 1/2 oz. of isinglass in a pint or more of the wine, then mix with it 1/2 oz. of chalk, in powder; when the two are well incorporated pour it into the cask, and stir the wine, so as not to disturb the lees.
Or, beat up the white of eggs, l egg to 6 galls.; draw the wine into the beaten egg, and keep stirring all the while, then return the wine and froth to the cask, and bung up.
MAKING WINE and How to Check Fermentation
The means to correct these circumstances are sufficiently obvious. The heat for spirituous fermentation should not be above 60º; when it is much above that point the liquor passes rapidly through the stage of vinous fermentation, and the acetous immediately commences.
When too long continued fermentation arises from the liquor having been kept in a warm situation, it will be soon checked by bunging, after being removed into a cold place; the addition of a small proportion of spirits of wine or brandy, previously to closing it up, is also proper.
A degree of cold, approaching to the freezing point, will check fermentation of whatever kind. Fermentation of this kind cannot be stopped by using a chemical agent, except such as would destroy the qualities of the liquor intended to be produced.
The secondary stage of fermentation, or the commencement of the acetous, may be stopped by removing the liquor to a cool situation, correcting the acid already formed; and it the liquor contain but little spirit, the addition of a proper proportion of brandy is requisite.
The operation of racking is also necessary to preserve liquor in a vinous state, and to render it clear. This process should be performed in a cool place.
To Manage Foregin Vine Vaults
The principal object to be attended to in the management of foreign wine-vaults is to keep them of a temperate heat. Care must be taken, therefore, to close up every aperture or opening, that there may be no admission given to the external air. The floor of the vault should likewise be well covered with saw-dust, which must not be suffered to get too dry and dusty, but must receive now and then an addition of new, lest, when bottling or racking wine, some of the old dust should fly into it. At most vaults, in the winter, it is necessary to have a stove or chafing-dish, to keep up a proper degree of warmth. In the summer time it will be best to keep them as cool as possible.MAKING WINE and How to Fit Out Your Cellar
HOW TO MAKE Port Wine
The dark red port is made from grapes gathered indiscriminately and thrown into a cistern; they are then trodden, and their skins and stalks left in the mass, which separate during fermentation and form a dry head over the liquid. When the fermentation is completed, the liquor underneath is drawn out and casked. Before being exported it is mixed with one-third of brandy, to enable it to keep during the voyage; otherwise the carriage brings on the acetous fermentation, and the wine is converted into vinegar.HOW TO MAKE WINE and the French Method of Making Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Rack Foreign Wines
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Manage and Improve a Bad Port
If the wine is short of body put a gallon or two of brandy in each pipe, by a quart or two at a time, as it feeds the wine better than putting it in all at once. But if the wines are in a bonded cellar, procure a funnel that will go to the bottom of the cask, that the brandy may be completely incorporated with the wine.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Manage Claret
If the claret is faint, rack it into a fresh emptied hogshead, upon the lees of good claret, and bung it up, putting the bottom downwards for two or three days, that the lees may run through it.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Color Claret
Or, take any quantity of damsons or black sloes, and strew them with some of the deepest colored wine and as much sugar as will make it into a syrup. A pint of this will cover a hogshead of claret. It is also good for red Port wines, and may be kept ready for use in glass bottles.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Restore a Bad Tasting Claret
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make Claret and Port Rough
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Manage Hermitage and Burgundy
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Manage Lisbon Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Improve Sherry
If the Sherry be new and hot, rack it off into a sweet cask, add 5 galls. of mellow Lisbon, which will take off the hot taste, then give it a head, take 1 qt. of honey, mix it with a can of wine, and put it into the cask when racking. By this method Sherry for present use will be greatly improved, having much the same effect upon it as age.HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Improve White Wine
If the white wine is foul and has lost its color, for a butt or pipe take 1 gall. of new milk, put it into the cask, and stir it well about with a staff, and when it has settled, put in 3 oz. of isinglass made into a jelly, with 1/4 lb. of loaf sugar scraped fine, and stir it well about. On the day following, bung it up, and in a few days it will be fine, and have a good color.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Improve White Wine with Chalk
Concentrate the must by boiling, and add the pro per quantity of chalk to the liquor, while it is still hot. Even acid wine may be benefited by the addition of chalk. Oyster shells may be used with this view, and when calcined are a cleaner carbonate of lime than common chalk.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Rejuvenate Sick Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Mellow Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and a German Method of Restoring Sour Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Concentrate Wine by Cold
When the frost is moderate, the experiment has no difficulty, because not above a third or a fourth part of the superfluous water will be frozen in a whole night; but if the cold be very intense, the best way is, at the end of a few hours, when a tolerable quantity of ice is formed, to pour out the remaining fluid liquor, and set it in another vessel to freeze again by itself.
The frozen part, or ice, consists only of the watery part of the wine, and maybe thrown away, and the liquid part retains all the strength, and is to be preserved. This will never grow sour, musty, or mouldy, and may at any time be reduced to wine of the common strength, by adding to it as much water as will make it up the former quantity.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Convert White Wine into Red Wine
In those countries which do not produce the tingeing grape which affords a blood-red juice, wherewith the wines of France are often stained, in defect of this the juice of elderberries is used, and sometimes logwood is used at Oporto.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Force Down the Finings of all White Wines, Arracks and Small Spirits
Put a few qts. of skimmed milk into the cask.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make Red Wine White
Milk is, from this quality of discharging color from wines, of use also to the wine-coopers, for the whitening of wines that have acquired a brown color from the cask, or from having been hastily boiled before fermenting; for the addition of a little skimmed milk, in these cases, precipitates the brown color, and leaves the wines almost limpid, or of what they call a water whiteness, which is much coveted abroad in wines as well as in brandies.
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make Wine Settle Well
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make a Match for Sweetening Casks
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make Oyster Powder
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Make a Filtering Bag
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Detect Alum in Wine
HOW TO MAKE WINE and How to Detect Metals in Wine
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