[WHEN IN MOTION, TO PUSH ON IS EASY.]

2273. Making Wines.

Wines from Rhubarb, Unripe Grapes, Currants, Gooseberries, &c.--The
whole art of wine-making consists in the proper management of the
fermenting process; the same quantity of fruit, whether it be rhubarb,
currants, gooseberries, unripe grapes, leaves, tops, and tendrils,
water, and sugar, will produce two different kinds of wine, by varying
the process of fermentation only--that is, a dry wine like sherry, or
a brisk beverage like champagne; but neither rhubarb, currants, nor
gooseberries will produce a wine with the true champagne flavour; it
is to be obtained only from the fruit of the grape, ripe or unripe,
its leaves, tops, and tendrils. The following receipt will do for
rhubarb, or any of the above-mentioned fruits.

2274. English Champagne.

Take fifty pounds of rhubarb and thirty-seven pounds of fine moist
sugar. Provide a tub that will hold from fifteen to twenty gallons,
taking care that it has a hole for a tap near the bottom. In this tub
bruise the rhubarb; when done, add four gallons of water; let the
whole be well stirred together; cover the tub with a cloth or blanket,
and let the materials stand for twenty-four hours; then draw off the
liquor through the tap; add one or two more gallons of water to the
pulp, let it be well stirred, and then allowed to remain an hour or
two to settle, then draw off; mix the two liquors together, and in it
dissolve the sugar.

Let the tub be made clean, and return the liquor to it, cover it with
a blanket, and place it in a room the temperature of which is not
below 60 deg. Fahr.; here it is to remain for twenty-four, forty-eight, or
more hours, until there is an appearance of fermentation having begun,
when it should be drawn off into the ten-gallon cask, as fine as
possible, which cask must be filled up to the bung-hole with water, if
there is not liquor enough; let it lean to one side a little, that it
may discharge itself; if there is any liquor left in the tub not quite
fine, pass it through flannel, and fill up with that instead of water.

As the fermentation proceeds and the liquor diminishes, it must be
filled up daily, to encourage the fermentation, for ten or twelve
days; it then becomes more moderate, when the bung should be put in,
and a gimlet hole made at the side of it, fitted with a spile; this
spi