(b) 1 bot. light claret, 1 or 1½ glass sherry, 1 bot. soda water, crushed sugar to taste.
(c) Put the parings of half a cucumber in a cup with white sugar; pour on 1 bot. claret, and let stand ½ hour in ice; add 1 bot. soda water.
Balm Wine.—Into 8 gal. water put 20 lb. moist sugar; boil for 2 hours, skimming thoroughly; then pour into a tub to cool; place 2½ lb. balm tops, bruised, into a barrel with a little new yeast; when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm; stir it well together, and let it stand 24 hours, stirring it frequently; then close it up tightly at first, and more securely after fermentation has quite ceased; when it has stood 2 months, bottle off, putting a lump of sugar into each bottle; cork down well, and keep in bottle at least a year.
Barley Water.—Wash the barley well, add a few strips of lemon-peel, very thin, and pour on the water boiling. The juice of the lemon should be squeezed in fresh just before it is served. Robinson’s patent barley is best (see p. [775]).
Beetroot Beer.—Having well cleansed and scraped the roots, removing the discoloured portion near the set of the leaves, cut them into pieces of an inch or so in thickness, fill the copper with them, and then put in as much water as will just cover them. Boil for about 5 hours, place them lightly in a wicker basket or sieve to drain, but do not put any pressure upon them. Then put the liquor back into the boiler, and to every 7 pails liquor put 3 lb. hops; boil together for 2 hours, and then strain through the sieve. When cool work it with yeast, the same as other beer. The scum which rises should be removed before casking. Beetroot may be substituted for malt if deprived of the greater part of its juice by pressure, then dried and treated in the same manner as the grain intended for brewing. The beer made from beetroot has been found perfectly wholesome and palatable, and little inferior to that prepared from malt.
Bilberry Wine.—The fruit should be picked on a very dry day, when it is quite ripe. The leaves and stalks must be carefully removed from the berries and the fruit, then weighed. To 4 gal. fruit allow either 6 gal. cold water or 3 gal. water and 3 of cider, and 10 lb. good moist sugar; let all these ingredients ferment in an open tub until working is over; then add ½ gal. brandy, a handful of lavender and rosemary leaves mixed, 2 oz. powdered ginger, and 2 oz. powdered tartar; let the liquor rest after this addition for 48 hours, then strain very carefully through a hair sieve into a perfectly clean cask, laying the bung lightly on the bung-hole until the working is quite over, and no hissing sound is heard; then close down quite tightly, and bottle off at the end of 3 months; keep 6-8 months in bottle before use.
Birch Wine.—(a) Take 11 gal. of the sap of a healthy birch tree, fresh as you can get it, boil it gently as long as any scum rises, which must be carefully taken off to avoid wasting it. Add to the clear liquor 25 lb. best loaf sugar, boil it again 20 minutes with the whites of 10 eggs beaten to a froth, and skim frequently until it is beautifully bright. Set it in a clean vessel to cool, and when at 96° F. put into it a toast well spread on both sides with thick fresh ale yeast, and keep it closely covered up, 6 or 7 days, stirring daily. Rinse a sweet 10 gal. cask with a pint of old raisin wine, filter the liquor into it, add the thin yellow rinds of 2 lemons and 3 Seville oranges, and 3 qt. French brandy, put in the bung, and secure it with paper and sand. Set it in a cool cellar, and bottle it in 2 years; fasten the corks down with wire, and seal with wax. A year later it will be in perfection.
(b) Boil 9 gal. healthy birch sap with 2 lb. clarified honey ½ hour, skimming it well. Beat 9 whites of eggs up with ½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a cupful of cold water, and put in 20 lb. loaf sugar broken small. Mix this well with the liquor when cool, and boil it ½ hour longer, skimming and stirring until it is quite clear. Put it into a tub, and when milk warm stir well into it ¼ pint of strong yeast; let it work 3 days in the tub, then put it into your cask, add the rinds of 6 lemons and 2 lb. best raisins, and keep the bung out until the fermentation has ceased. Put to the wine a bottle of old Madeira and 1 qt. the best brandy; stop the cask up safely, and let it stand 6 months. Draw off the wine into a clean vessel as long as it runs clear, then filter the dregs through 3 folds of flannel, and put all back again into the same cask; fasten the bung in well, and put clay over it. In 6 months you may bottle it; seal and wire the corks to prevent accidents, for it is a lively wine, and should be kept in a cool cellar. When it has been bottled 6 months it will be fit for use.
Bishop.—Make several incisions in the rind of a lemon; stick cloves in the holes and roast the lemon at a slow fire. Put small but equal quantities of cinnamon, cloves, mace, and allspice into a saucepan, with ½ pint of water; let it boil until it is reduced one-half. Boil a bottle of port wine; burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a lighted paper to the saucepan. Put the roasted lemon and spice into the wine; stir it up well, and let it stand near the fire 10 minutes. Rub a few knobs of sugar to taste on the rind of a lemon, put the sugar into a bowl or jug, with the juice of half a lemon (not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate some nutmeg into it, sweeten it to your taste, and serve it up with the lemon and spice floating in it. Oranges are sometimes introduced instead of lemons.
Blackberry Wine.—Mix 45 qt. ripe blackberries, well picked and pressed, with 10 lb. good honey, and 26 lb. strong, bright, moist sugar; boil it with 12 gal. soft water and the whites of 12 eggs, well beaten, until it is reduced to 10 gal., skimming it until perfectly clear. Strain it into a tub, and let it stand until the next day, then pour it clear off the lees, and boil it again ¾ hour, adding the lees filtered twice, and 2 oz. isinglass dissolved in 1 qt. water. Skim well, and put in 2 oz. Jamaica pepper, cloves, and best ginger, all bruised, and tied loosely in a piece of muslin. Put into your cooler the thin rinds of 6 Seville oranges and 1 pint lemon juice; strain the liquor upon them, stir well, and when cool enough, work it with 1 pint fresh yeast stirred well into 1 gal. of the liquor. Cover it up close, and let it work 5 or 6 days, taking off the top scum and stirring twice daily; then strain, and filter it into the cask, put on the bung lightly, keep the cask well filled up, and when it has ceased fermenting, let a day elapse, and add 2 qt. French brandy, and 1½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a little water, and mix with 1 gal. of the wine 10 minutes, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and slit, and 6 oz. sugar candy broken small. Stop up the bung, paste strong white paper over it, or coarse linen, and place plenty of sand over all, wetted a little. Keep it 2 years in a cool cellar, then bottle it; seal the corks, and keep in bottle 2 years; then use it. If allowed greater age, it will still improve.