The French Wine and Liquor Manufacturer

The liquor trade's own 1868 handbook — stills, cordials, imitation brandies and how wines were doctored, preserved as printed.

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Nature of Acidity in Wine

alcohol, 3 oz. essence noyau, gal. cinnamon water (see "Recipe No. 16"), 4 gal. clove water (see Recipe No. 15"), 1 oz. mace, infused in 1 pint 95 per cent. alcohol. Mix all the above in a clean barrel, and add 60 gals. sugar syrup, 25° Baumé. Stir up 15 minutes, let it rest eight days, and then strain.

Pasteur's Method of Preserving Wines.

M. Pasteur announced some time ago that wines became spoiled in consequence of the presence of microscopic organisms, which could be destroyed by exposing the wine, for a few moments only, to a temperature of 131° Fahr. A committee of experts was appointed to make a comparative examination of wines which had and which had not been subjected to heat; M. Lapparent being President, and M. Dumas and M.

Pasteur assisting. They concluded that the preservation of wine in bottles is greatly improved by heating; that the destruction of the germs is perfect, without impairing the taste, color, or limpidity of the wines. To Determine the Nature of Acidity in Wine.

If wine has undergone the acetous fermentation, then convert it at once into vinegar by one of the usual modes. But if its acidity proceeds from an excess of tartaric acid, this defect may be remedied by shaking the wine with a concentrated solution of neutral tartrate of potassa, which, with the surplus of tartaric acid, will form bitartrate of potassa, and precipitate as such. To discover the nature of the acidity, neutralize an ounce or so of the wine with some carbonate of soda, then add a small quantity of sulphuric acid, and boil up; if acetic acid or vinegar be present, it will be perceptible by its odor.

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