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The following recipes for
fruit wines are designed for the home or very small scale manufacture of
these fermented fruit juices.
(96) Red Wine.
1. Use ripe red wine
grapes of good color. Crush them thoroughly into a wooden tub or open
barrel or open stoneware jars. Crushing maybe done with a fruit crusher
or with the hands. Place in a warm place.
2. In a day or two
fermentation will start. Stir the grapes thoroughly and vigorously three
times daily for about one week. By this time the juice should be deep
red in color; if not, leave a few days longer.
3. Press out the
fermenting red juice from the skins and stems. Place it in a cask or
barrel or demijohn and leave in a warm place till fermentation is over.
Then fill the barrel or demijohn with wine and place a barrel bung or
cork in loosely to close it. Do not drive it in. Leave thus for about 2
or 3 weeks. Then drive the bung or cork in tightly. Leave for three
weeks longer. Then draw off the wine from the sediment and transfer to
other barrels or bottles, filling them full and sealing tightly. If
barrels are used they should be filled up occasionally, once a month,
with wine to replace that lost by evaporation.
4. After 6 months draw
off the wine again and fill into clean barrels or demijohns and seal.
Repeat after 6 months.
5. Store till wine is
aged sufficiently to be used. This will usually not be under 1 year. It
may then be bottled, corked and stored till used. Bottling stops further
aging and checks deterioration.
6. Suggestions. Better
results will be obtained if a culture of wine yeast is used for
fermentation. Such a culture can be obtained from the Division of
Viticulture, University of California, Berkeley, for one dollar. Grapes
must be sound and not moldy. Keep all utensils scrupulously clean.
(97) White Wine.
1. Crush ripe white
grapes and press out the juice.
2. Allow to ferment in a
barrel, cask, or demijohn in a warm place. When fermented completely,
proceed as directed for red wine.
(98) Hard Cider from
Apples, Oranges, and Other Fruits.
1. Yeast Starter. Crush
and press out the juice from a small amount of sound fruit. Place this
in a jar in a warm place. When this is fermenting rapidly (after about 4
or 5 days), it may be used to start a larger lot. Make enough for 1 gal.
of yeast to each 10 gals. of juice.
2. Crush and press the
main lot of fruit. Add 1 gal. of the yeast starter from (1) to each 10
gals. of juice and mix thoroughly.
3. Allow to ferment until
fermentation ceases. Fill the containers with fermented or hard cider
and close them with bungs or corks as the case requires.
4. Allow to settle
several weeks. Draw off from the sediment and filter as clearly as
possible. Store in well filled and closed containers. The cider will be
ready for use in a few mouths. It should then be bottled to prevent
deterioration. |
