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Ginger Wine

Boil, in a perfectly clean copper, six gallons of water, eighteen pounds of loaf sugar, the thin rinds of seven lemons and two Seville oranges, half a pound of unbleached ginger, bruised, and a quarter of a pound of raisins. Boil for an hour, skim carefully, and pour off into a large vat until the next day. The preparation must not be left in the copper. Strain, add the juice of the lemons and oranges, an ounce of isinglass, and two table-spoonfuls of thick fresh yeast. Put the ginger wine into a cask, stir it each day until fermentation ceases, which will be in two or three days. Bung it up, and leave it for six weeks. Strain it into another cask, and in four weeks it will be ready for bottling. A quart of brandy may be added, or not. Sufficient for a nine-gallon cask. Probable cost, 1s. 2d. per gallon. A very superior wine may be made by substituting cider for water.