Ferment.
Mix, raw sugar, 20 lbs.
beet-root, sliced, 2 lbs. and
red tartar, in fine powder, 3 ounces.
Put in 1 nutmeg, in fine powder; add
brandy, 1 gallon.
This will make 18 gallons.
155. Another.
Boil four gallons of spring water, and stir into it 1 lb. 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 ½ oz. of cream of tartar, with the whites of two or three 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.
156. 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 four 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, previously to bottling it off, about ten days.