The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-10-10
For, The Berkshire .4merioan.

them more plentifully than on our hills) for
making good cider, SO little of it is ever to
be found in the cellars of New England
This question has been asked beforehand
the answer is obvious--want of care and
skill. But very much is owing to the for
mer: too many among us had rather swlll
down forty barrels of bad cider, than be at
the trouble of producing single barrel OF
good.
list. The apples are often in bad con-
dition. I'd. There is want ofcleanliness
IN making the cider. And 3D.. There is
little OF no pains taken, after it is made, to
refine and preserve it.
To remedy these defects, it is requisite
that the apples should be perfectly sound,
but mellow that great care should be TAX
en- IN having every thing belonging to the
cider mill clean, with a Clearly disposition
IN those about it !; and lastly the cider, well
strained, should be put into clean casks and
conveyed to the cellar. AS soon as the
fermentation is so far completed, that the
foam ceases to rise, and while the cider yet
sings to the ear, it should be aicked, Ito use
a technical phrase) i. e. stopped close In
the cask before the fermentation Is entire
iy over. The object of nicking is to pre-
vent the escape Of the fixed air, which
gives the sparkling appearance and lively
taste that always belong to good cider
III is likewise important to prevent an inter
course with the atmospheric air, which
however cheering to the spirits OF man, is
apt to sour the disposition OF cider. This
Is point which deserves great attention.
Cider, when properly managed, Is IN tie
condition of wine-ln fact, 1t Is a sort OF
moderate wine-and the object IS to pre-
vent its becoming vinegar. Too great
care, therefore, cannot be taken to keep the
liked air in, and the atmospheric air out
1t is common for those who wish to have
fine cider, to rack Il Of, as the phrase is
j. G. draw it out of the original casks and
put ii into others, as soon as it has become
clear, after the fermentation. The object
Is, to remove if from the lees. But the adj
vantage of this measure is perhaps CUES
tionable; for in drawing off the cider,
good deal of the carbonic acid fixed airy
must necessarily escape, and thus far she
liquor is injured. The point then is wheth-
eT the cider will be injured more by stand
ing on the lees, than by the loss of carbon
&c acid in changing cdsks-and this perhaps
can only be settled by experiment. But if
1t be Tacked off, it should be done as expe
dltously as possible, but that little time
may be allowed for the escape of the fixed
air.
Cider may be kept good in a vessel of
any size, as long as it remains unbroached.
But as soon as you begin to draw the CT
der, the outer air is getting in, and the fixed
air is getting out-and this mischief is in
creasing every time you draw, until at
length the liquor, before it is half used, be-
comes fat, stale, and utterly unfit to drink.
70 remedy this evil entirely, the cider
should be kept in vessels so small, that the
contents of one of them may be used at the
time of broaching. Hence it is that bot
tied cider is superior to that of the cask.-
But as bottles are considered too expensive
for general use, small casks might be sub
stituted, and would be found much better
than large ones, because the cider would
be sooner drawn out, and therefore not so
long exposed to the air after broaching.-
We would therefore recommend tpartlcu-
larly to small families the use of 10 or ID
gallon casks, in preference to barrels or
bogsheads.
Many people have an idea that cider
may be improved by mixing with it some
foreign substance-such as rum brandy,
sc. Hence they will take much pains, and
pay an extra price to get "rum cask" to
put their cider in. But this notion is erro-
neous. Cider, instead Of being improved,
IS decidedly injured by mixture with rum,
brandy, or any ether spirituous liquors.
Notwithstanding all the praise bestowed
1Ipon it, we have never drunk glass of
good cider from cask previously imbned
with rum. 1t has rummy taste, which
destroys the fine flavor of genuine cider.
The object should be to get pure cider
not cider and rum.
Some persons put beets into their cider,
Others a slice or two of raw beef, under the
idea that the liquor wants something to feed
upon. What nonsense! 1t is not tinct-
ure of beets, or of beef, that we wish for
but pure undulated cider. And all foreign
substances, whether solid,. liquid, or eri-
form, should be carefully excluded-and
then you may put the cup to your lips, with
the certainty of gratifying your palate, ex-
lalating your spirits and promoting your
health.
CIDER. II is matter Of wonder, why
with the exception of New Jersey, and
Duchess and Orange counties in New
York, no part of the Northern and Middle
States should have the reputation of making
good cider. BY good cider we mean that
which viii not become SO sour as to be unfit
to drink in two or three months after it is
made. New England throughout possess
es soil which produces every variety of
apples in the greatest abundance, and yet
we suspect that it will be found that very
little cider, comparatively, finds its way
from thence, either to the city of New
York, or other places still farther SOUTH
an 81 H. -c.-. n
ter which is held in repute, like that from
New Jersey. The public tables in New
York are not supplied with good cider ex-
cept "a charge of25 to so cents a bottle.
As cider forms very considerable arti-
Gle of export from our country, we take this
to suggest that an establishment
IN the interior miohf Wa doubt net he rnnlIn