The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

This is made from weak malt liquor, brewed for the purpose; its various strength is, in England, denoted by numbers, from 18 to 24.

380. Another.

To every gallon of water put 1 lb. of coarse Lisbon sugar; let the mixture be boiled, and skimmed as long as any scum arises. Then let it be poured into proper vessels; and when it is as cool as beer, when worked, let a toast, rubbed over with yeast, be put to it. Let it work about 24 hours, and then put it into an iron-hooped cask, fixed either near a constant fire, or where the summer sun shines the greater part of the day; in this situation it should not be closely stopped up; but a tile, or something similar, should be laid on the bung-hole, to keep out the dust and insects. At the end of about three months (sometimes less) it will be clear and fit for use, and may be bottled off. The longer it is kept, after it is bottled, the better it will be. If the vessel containing the liquor is to be exposed to the sun’s heat, the best time to begin making it is in the month of April.

381. WINE VINEGAR.

Take any sort of wine that has gone through fermentation, and put it into a cask that has had vinegar in it; then take some of the fruit or stalks of which the wine has been made, and put them wet into an open-headed cask in the sun, with a coarse cloth over the top of it, for six days—after which put them in the vinegar, and stir it well about—then put it in a warm place, if in winter, or if in summer, put it in a yard in the sun, with a slate over the bung. When the vinegar is sour enough and fine, rack it off into a clean sour cask, and bung it up; then put it in the cellar for use. Those wines that contain the most mucilage are fittest for the purpose.

The lees of pricked wine are also a very proper ingredient in vinegar.

382. SUGAR VINEGAR.

To each gallon of water add 2 lbs. of brown sugar, and a little yeast; leave it exposed to the sun for six months, in a vessel slightly stopped.

383. GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR.

Bruise the gooseberries, when ripe, and to every quart put three quarts of water; stir them well together, and let the whole stand for 24 hours, then strain it through a canvas bag.