cider. Large earthen vessels might be made
with or without glazing, which would be preferable to any wooden vessel
whatever. When we compare this with the hasty American mode of making
cider, it is not to be wondered at that the English cider so infinitely
excels ours.
ART. III.
_The following is a very highly approved American mode of making Cider._
Take care to have every necessary utensil to be made use of in the whole
process, perfectly clean and free from every foreign smell. For this
purpose, before you begin your work, let your mill, trough and press be
made perfectly clean, by thoroughly washing, and if necessary, with
scalding water. The casks are another material object, and if musty, or
any other bad smell, one end should be taken out, and with shavings burn
the inside; then scrub them clean, and put in the head, scald them well
afterwards, and drain them perfectly; when dry, bung them tight and keep
them in a cool shady place until wanted for use.--The apples should be
quite ripe, and all the unripe and rotten ones, leaves, and every other
thing that can tend to give the cider any disagreeable taste, carefully
separated from them. I have found from careful attention and many
experiments, that it is a great advantage to the cider to be separated
from the gross parts as soon as possible; for this purpose, I tried
several methods: that which I found succeeded the best, I shall now
relate, as by following it, I was able to preserve my cider in a sound
state, though made in the early part of the season. I took a large pipe,
of about 150 gallons, had one of the heads taken out, and on the inside
of the other laid on edge, four strips of boards, two inches wide, and
on these strips placed a false bottom, filled with gimlet holes, three
inches a part. On this false bottom, I put a hair cloth, (old blanket or
swingline tow will do) so as to prevent any sand from washing into the
space between the true and false bottoms; I procured a quantity of
coarse sand, which was carefully washed in repeated waters, until it
would not discolor the clean water--then dried the sand, put it in the
pipe, on the hair cloth, (coarse blanket or swingline tow,) about 9
inches thick.
Thus having every thing in readiness, I went through the process of
making, as quick as possible, by having the apples ground fine early in
the morning, putting them in the press as fast as they were ground; and
then in sufficient quantities presse
|