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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To Remedy Ropiness in Wine

of mustard seed or sulphate of lime. One ounce of brimstone or one pound bruised mustard-seed, and about four to eight ounces of sulphate of lime are sufficient for a hogshead. This substance seldom fails of arresting the fermentation.

How to Decolor Wine.

The color of wine is subject to change: naturally it is precipitated by age and exposure to the light; artificially it is removed by the action of lime-water, skimmed milk, milk of lime, and sometimes fresh-burnt charcoal. Wines that have acquired a brown color from the cask, or red wines that have become "pricked," or dark wines of any kind, may easily be turned into white wine by employing either of the above substances. In this way brown Sherry is commonly changed to pale Sherry; for this purpose two or three pints of skimmed milk are generally sufficient to decolor a cask of wine; but when it is found necessary to change the color of red wine two or three quarts or more will be required. Charcoal is not often used as it affect the flavor as well as color of wine. A little milk of lime may sometimes be substituted for milk, especially when the wine to be decolored is very acid, and red wines may be rendered quite colorless by it.

To Remedy Ropiness in Wine.

The peculiar cloudy, stringy, oily appearance in wine, called by the French "graisse," and the Americans "ropiness," is occasioned by the presence of a glutinous substance, and is generally observed in those white wines which do not contain much tannin. M. Francois, a chemist, first discovered the cause of this malady, and pointed out the proper remedy, in the addition of tan- 1

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