Exactly as printed, 1863
kind of cloth which carries down with it all the impurities suspended in the wine. Sulphuric acid is frequently added to weak liquors for a similar purpose, either alone, or after the addition of white of egg, or isinglass, both of which it rapidly throws down in an insoluble form. A pernicious practice exists among some unprincipled parties of using certain salts of lead and potash to clear their liquors; especially those that are expected to sparkle in the glass, as cordial gin and hock wine. For this purpose, a little sugar of lead, dissolved in water, is first mixed up with the fluid, and afterwards a little more than one half its weight of sulphate of potash, also dissolved in water, is added, and the liquor is again "roused up." By standing, the sulphate of lead, formed by this mixture, subsides and leaves the liquor clear. No person should attempt to fine by this process, as the ingredients used are pernicious poisons. Bullock's and sheep's blood is used in the same way as isinglass or white of eggs, for fining red wines, beer and porter. Blood, however, is very apt to communicate a slightly unpleasant odor or flavor to wine. Lime, alum, alcohol, the acids, and heat, act by curdling or coagulating the feculencies or impurities, and thus, by increasing their density, induce their subsidence. Plaster of Paris acts partly like the above, and partly like albumen or gelatine, by enveloping and forcing down the suspended matter. Gum arabic has this advantage over most ingredients used for fining, it is not liable to putrefaction. Ropy, stringy wine can only be clarified by the addition of tannin, as specially directed in another place. (See "To Remedy Ropiness in Wine.") Infusion, Maceration, and Digestion.
The French Wine and Liquor Manufacturer, 1863. Public domain; transcription unaltered.