the mass fermenting until the wine has become thoroughly dry. As soon as the carbonic-acid gas has left the wine it is drawn off into closed tanks or, casks for storing. These tanks, previous to filling, should be thoroughly cleaned and sulphured. The pomace should then be handled at once, as it sours immediately when it comes in contact with the air, beginning at the top and working downward. Should the top of the pomace pile cake, it should be skimmed at once and thrown away. If the pomace is to be pressed it should be done within twenty-four hours after the juice has left it. To produce a piquette, or wash for brandy making, it should be made strong enough to pay for distilling that is, from 5 to 7 per cent in alcohol. This is generally accomplished by passing water into a tank filled with pomace, through a pipe feeding from the bottom, the overflow from this tank passing off the top and entering a second tank filled with pomace at the bottom. The overflow from the second tank is then conducted into a third tank filled with pomace, in the same The wash from the first tank generally goes between 2 and 3 per cent alcohol; from the second, 3 to 4 per cent, and from the last about 5 to 7 per cent. After the pomace has been washed twice it is thrown out and sold to the cream-of-tartar works for the manufacture of cream of tartar, the price paid being from $0.75 to about $1.25 per ton. manner. Should the fermentation cease-generally caused, as stated before, by too high a temperature and an excess of sugar in the grape-fresh must from grapes that are not so sweet should be pumped over the "stuck" wine. This should be done within six hours after the tank has ceased working, and fresh juice should be worked over it until fermentation is again started. White grapes as a rule are crushed without stemming. Six to ten hours is sufficient time to allow the must to settle from the pomace, when the juice is drawn off. The pomace is then put through the press to produce a "press" wine, after which it goes through the same process of washing as the red pomace. When first drawn off, the fresh juice is pumped into small oak casks, about two-thirds full, and allowed to ferment. These casks are closed. (See Pl. II, fig. 1.) The fermentation is watched closely each day. During the first five or six days of fermentation a heavy scum forms on top. This is drawn off and fresh juice added to take its place. After the sixth day, the violent fermentation having ceased, the casks are filled close to the bung, and a fermenting bung (which is generally a piece of block-tin pipe in the form of a gooseneck) is attached to the cask, through which the gas passes into a bottle of water. The Italians often use a bag of sand, which they place over the bunghole. The object is to allow the gas to escape, as otherwise the high pressure would burst the casks. |