To Refine Deer, Ale, Wine, or Cyder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the isinglass
Soak isinglass shavings in 1 quart of liquor for a few days.
Whisk daily until dissolved.
Combine and clear
Draw off ⅓ of the cask and mix with the dissolved isinglass.
Add pearl-ashes, salt of tartar, and burnt alum to the mixture.
Stir well and return the mixture to the cask.
Stir with a clean stick and seal the cask.
In a few days, the liquor will be clear.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Fish-derived protein that binds suspended particles so they settle out, clearing the liquor.
- Pearl-ashes
- Alkaline potassium carbonate that helps the clearing agents disperse and work in the liquor.
- Salt of tartar
- Calcined potassium carbonate that adds alkalinity, aiding the clearing action.
- Burnt alum
- Acidic aluminium compound that helps particles clump together so they can settle.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass fully before combining. Isinglass must be completely dissolved before it meets the liquor; undissolved shavings will not disperse evenly and can leave the liquor cloudy instead of clear.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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