Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1992



There are various methods of fining wine; eggs, isinglass, gelatine and gum Arabic are all used for the purpose. Whichever of these articles is used, the process is always the same. Supposing eggs (the cheapest) to be used: Draw a gallon of wine and mix 1 quart of it with the white of 4 eggs, and stir with a whisk; afterwards, when thoroughly mixed, pour it back into, the cask through the bunghole, and stir up the whole cask in a rotary direction with a clean split stick inserted through the bunghole. Having stirred it sufficiently, pour in the remainder of the wine drawn off, until the cask is full; then stir again, skimming off the bubbles that rise to the surface. When thoroughly mixed by stirring, close the bunghole, and leave it to stand for 3 or 4 days. A cask of clarified wine will fine thirteen dozen bottles of port or sherry. The other clearing ingredients are applied in the same manner, the material being cut into small pieces, and dissolved in a quart of wine, and the cask stirred in the same manner. Having thoroughly washed and dried the bottles, supposing they have been before used for the same kind of wine, provide corks which will be improved by being slightly boiled, or at least steeped in hot water, a wooden hammer or mallet, a bottling boot, and a squeezer for the corks. Bore a hole in the lower part of the cask with a gimlet, receiving the liquid stream which follows in the bottle and filterer, which is placed in a tub or basin. This operation is best performed by 2 persons, 1 to draw the wine, the other to cork the bottles. The drawer is to see that the bottles are up to the mark, but not too full, the bottle being placed in a clean tub to prevent waste. The corking-boot is buckled by a strap to the knee, the bottle placed in it, and the cork, after being squeezed in the press, driven in by a flat wooden