Champagne. The process of ma-Viking American and imitation French champagne is one requiring great care, especially in producing a not only clear, but bright wine. Full directions are given below for making the necessary syrup, mixing the ingredients, fining, filtering and gassing; including a number of receipts for different kinds of champagne. A careful attention to the instructions laid down will produce wines which will compare favorably with the best gsnuine importations.

714. To Make a Filter for Filtering Wines

714.    To Make a Filter for Filtering Wines. A filter for wines is usually made of felt, shaped like a cone or sugar loaf; those without any seam are the best. A lining of paper pulp is prepared in the following manner : Tear from 2 to 4 sheets filtering paper into small pieces and put it into a pail; pour over it a little boiling water, sufficient, by thorough beating, to form a fine smooth paste; then add sufficient water to fill the filter. Pour this quickly into the filter, and, 5 minutes after the water has drained through, fill up with the wine to be filtered, taking care to keep the filter always full.

715. To Make Syrup for Champagne "Wine

715.    To Make Syrup for Champagne "Wine. To 25 pounds white sugar, add 2 gallon; water and the whites of 4 eggs; stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the whole simmer to the candy degree; then strain it through a bag made of fine flannel.

716. To Prepare Isinglass for Fining Wines

716.    To Prepare Isinglass for Fining Wines. Cut up some isinglass (it must be of the very best quality), and put it in a jar, with just enough wine or water to cover it; add daily as much of the wine or water as has been absorbed by the isinglass. In 6 or 8 days it should be completely dissolved, forming a thick fluid mass. Squeeze it through a linen cloth and put it into a bottle, adding 4 or 5 per cent, of 95 per cent, alcohol to make it keep. For 40 gallons wine to be fined, take 1 wine-glassful of dissolved isinglass, add a little wine and a pinch of salt, and beat to a froth with a whisk, adding by degrees sufficient wine to make the mixture up to ■$■ gallon. "When foaming, pour it slowly into the wine, stirring till all the fining is incorporated with the wine. Isinglass thus prepared and used will precipitate completely; and, after a few days, the wine will be bright. Too much care cannot be taken in the preparation of fining, as even the finest isinglass contains fibrous matter which dissolves with difficulty; this is very apt to remain suspended in the wine, and is not visible until developed, after bottling, by the gas with which the wine is afterwards charged.

717. To Prepare Champagne Wine for Charging

717.     To Prepare Champagne Wine for Charging. Put the wine used to make the champagne into a cask, add the brandy spirit, the aroma or flavoring, and the syrup, and stir for 10 minutes. Every day for 4 days draw off 15 or 20 gallons of the mixture and pour it in again; let it rest 4 days more, then add the fining, stir for 10 minutes, and bung up the cask. In 3 or 4 days, if bright, draw off slowly, so as not to disturb the lees. Filter (see No. 714 (To Make a Filter for Filtering Wines)), and it is ready for the fountain of the gassing apparatus.