In the &et case, as much as possible of the juice is obtained by moans of the press, the pulp being enclosed in bags ranged in rows, separated from each other by hurdles of wicker-work. The bags, when ta.ken from the press, are placed in a tub, and subjected to the action of a sufficient quantity of tepid water for an hour. After this first maceration, they should be removed and placed in another tub with more water, while other bags are being put into the first tub. This is con tinued until the pulp has been subjected four successive times to the action of water of decreasing density, when the contents of the first tub will have acquired the density of the natural juice. The macerated pulp is afterwards pressed, the resulting liquid being used instead of pure water for the maceration of new supplies.
In the second case, when the maceration is required to extract the whole of the juice, the apparatus is not quite so simple. It is shown in Fig. 311. The four vessels, A, B, C, and D, may be made of wood ; there may, with advantage, be six instead of four, in order to ensure the perfect maceration of the fruit. The cylinders E and F should be so constructed as to serve, should occasion require it, as receptacles, or as heating apparatus. When steam cannot be had, a coiled tube may be placed in each of these, through which may be passed the products of combustion from an ordinary stove.
If the cylinder E contains liquid which it is required to raise into A, the register or regulator, which admits the heated gases into E, is opened; the liquid thereby becomes heated, and the steam produced drivea it up the tube into A. If, on the other band, it be desired not to heat the contents to the boiling point, a small air-pump may be connected to 111, by means of which the liquid can be driven up into A whenever the requisite temperature is reached. This latter method ia preferable, since it is not advisable to heat the juice to a higher temperature than 70° (158° F.), in order to avoid the coagulation of albumen in the must.
The fruit is, of course, prepared for the process by slicing with ordinary root-cutters. The. liquid, when equal in density to the pure juice, is run directly into the fermenting vats ; the exhau.sted slices may either be pressed, or used at once as food for cattle.
All the technical and mechanical questions concerning the advisability of macerating the fruit have been answered already by the success of the process in the extraction of sugar from the beet. There is now no reason why it should not be employed with equal success in the preparation of cider.
Assuming that the juices of the apple have been extracted by either of these methods, and that all the precautions urged above have been carefully taken, the cider-maker has in his hands a must containing more or less saccharine matter, which requires only the process of fermentation to convert it into good cider. The same rules which regulate this operation in the case of wine, or
any other alcoholic beverage, are applicable to this drink also ; and all those conditions which have been previously pointed out in the article on Alcohol as indispensable to its proper conduct must be scrupulously observed by the cider-maker desirous of suc,cess. And there are other conditions which be must not neglect in order to produce an article of good quality, containing a sufficient proportion of alcehol. One of these is to avoid too slow a fermentation, which invariably tends to produce lactic acid in place of alcohol, and in a very.large proportion when the must contains much gum, dextrine, or viscous substances. If nitrogenous matter be present together with these, they will be decomposed, giving rise to myriads of fermentable germs, which cause the alteration and ultimate ruin of the product. A hurried fermentation is no less injurious : it produces the fornaation of acetic acid at the expense of alcohol, thus affording the harsh, disagree able flavour which characterizes nearly the whole of the cider made at the present time. Above everything, care should be taken to see that the must contains water and sugar in correct proper tiona before submitting it to fermentation. The cider-maker, for the sake of increasing his yield, too frequently commits the serious blunder of diminishing an already inadequate proportion of sugar by additions of water to his must, thereby rendering it impossible to produce a drink of sufficient alcoholic strength. A must containing too little sugar infallibly gives rise to a bad fermentation. Acetic, lactic, and viscous fermentations ensue, in inverse proportion to the saccharine richness of the unfermented liquor. To avoid this, the maker unlit take every precaution to ensure a sufficient quantity of sugar therein, and he must not on any account whatever diminish it by the addition of water. By observing a simple rule, he may produce a cider equal in every respect to many wines, and capable of being preserved for any length of time. This rule is as follows ;—To see that the saccharine density of the must is as high as 10°• 5 Bauind ; or, since other soluble matters are present besides sugar, which raise it as much as 1°•5 or 2°, the total density of the must should stand at from 12° to 13°•5 Baumd.