Ginger Wine

To every gallon of water allow three pounds and a half of loaf sugar, two ounces of ginger, the juice and peel of three lemons, and one orange. Peel the orange and lemons very thin, pour a gallon of boiling water on them, and break up the fruit. Crush the ginger, and tie it loosely in a muslin bag; boil it with the sugar for a quarter of an hour in a portion of the whole quantity of water to be used. Mix the boiled sugar, ginger, peel, and fruit together, and put them into the cask, and then add the remainder of the water. Stir this up, and when tepid, put in a toast dipped in yeast. In ten days' time put the bung in the barrel, and let the wine remain for at least four months before bottling it. The colour of the wine will be improved by adding a little burnt sugar, and a bottle of gin or brandy may be put to it a month before bottling. It is a good plan to have a zinc or wooden tap in the cask, so that the wine may be tested from time to time. If it appears cloudy, tie some isinglass - two ounces to ten gallons - in a muslin bag, attach it by a string to the bung, and let it remain a month in the wine. Strength and flavour are imparted to ginger wine by adding raisins, half-a-pound to a gallon of water is sufficient. Split open, but do not stone the fruit, and put them into the cask with the ginger. This wine is excellent made on the lees of cowslip wine; and in this case it will not be necessary to use so many oranges and lemons.

Red Currant Wine

Pick fine ripe currants from the stalks, put them into a large pan, and bruise them with a wooden mallet. Let them stand to ferment for twenty-four hours, then strain the liquor through a hair sieve, and to each gallon of it put two of water and six pounds of loaf sugar. This wine should ferment without yeast, and if the quantity of sugar given is used brandy will not be required. Do not put in the bung of the barrel until fermentation has ceased.

Elderberry Wine

Pick the elderberries from the stalk, taking care they are full ripe, put them into a stone jar, and keep them in a cool oven until the juice is well drawn. Then strain the juice through a coarse cloth (squeezing the berries), and boil it with a pound and a half of lump sugar to a quart of juice, skimming it until clear and fine. Put a quart of this syrup to a gallon of tepid water, ferment it in the cask with yeast, and do not stop it until the singing has ceased. It is a good plan to make this wine on the lees of raisin wine; the syrup, if well made, will keep until required for use in this way. Half an ounce of cloves and the same quantity of whole ginger can, if approved, be boiled in a little water and be added to the wine with the syrup. If it is desired to have a very rich strong wine use rather less water than the quantity given.

Grape Champagne

For nine gallons of this wine use thirty-six pounds of half-ripe grapes, one-third of which should be black. Pour six and a half gallons of soft water upon them, bruise and stir frequently for three or four days. Strain the liquor from the grapes, and dissolve twenty-eight pounds of loaf sugar in it, then put it in the cask with a little yeast, and let it work for about a fortnight. When the singing has subsided add a bottle of brandy, and put in the bung of the cask. In six months it will be fit to bottle, and can be used in three months afterwards.

Gooseberry Champagne

For this wine the Warrington gooseberry is the best at the time when it is on the point of turning colour. When well made it is difficult to distinguish this wine from foreign champagne.

The fruit must be thoroughly broken up with a wooden mallet, a pint of water being used to each pound of fruit to facilitate the operation. Let the fruit stand to ferment in a warm place for three days, stirring it frequently with a wooden spoon. Press the liquor through a sieve, using a little water to get all the goodness from the fruit. To each gallon of the liquor thus obtained put six pounds of lump sugar and one gallon of cold water, put into a cask, and do not stop it for a month. At the expiration of this time put in two quarts of gin or brandy to ten gallons of wine, two ounces of isinglass tied in a muslin bag, and suspended from the bung. Let it stand for six months, when bottle it, tying down the corks securely.