Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 105

3. Clean spirit (17 u. p.), 100 galls; nitrous ether, 2 quarts; ca.s.sia buds (ground) 4 oz.; bitter-almond meal, 5 oz.; orris-root (sliced), 6 oz,; powdered cloves, 1 oz.; capsic.u.m, 1-1/2 oz.; good vinegar, 3 galls.; brandy colouring, 3 pints; powdered catechu, 2 lbs.; full-flavoured Jamaica rum, 2 galls. Mix in an empty Cognac 'piece,' and macerate for a fortnight, with occasional stirring. _Prod._, 106 galls., at 21 or 22 u.

p.

4. Malt spirit (17 u. p.), 100 galls.; catechu, 2 lbs.; tincture of vanilla, 1/2 pint; burnt sugar colouring, 1 quart; good rum, 3 galls.; acetic or nitrous ether, 2 quarts. Mix as the last.

5. Clean spirit (17 u. p.), 89 galls.; high-flavoured Cognac, 10 galls.; oil of ca.s.sia, 2 dr.; oil of bitter almonds, 3 dr.; powdered catechu, 1 lb.; cream of tartar (dissolved), 1-1/4 lbs.; Beaufoy's concentrated acetic acid, 1/2 gall.; sugar colouring, 2 to 3 pints; good rum, 1 gall.

When the above mixtures are distilled, the French brandy, colouring, and catechu, should be added to the distilled spirit.

6. To plain spirit (coloured), at 17 u. p., add a little tincture of catechu, and a sufficient quant.i.ty of eau-de-vie de marc, or of the oil distilled from wine-lees, to flavour it.

_Obs._ The oil referred to in the last formula is obtained by distillation from the lees of wine, either dried and made up into cakes, or in their wet state, mixed with about 7 or 8 times their weight of water. This oil should be kept dissolved in alcohol, as it is otherwise apt to lose its flavour. Brandy from any part of the world may be very closely imitated by distilling the oil from the lees of the wines produced in that particular district. Where black tea is cheap, as in the United States of America, it is very commonly employed to impart the roughness of brandy to the coloured spirit, and the subsequent addition of a little 'flavouring'

greatly improves it. A really good article of cider-spirit thus treated forms a pa.s.sable 'mock brandy.' In conclusion, we may remark that, as the strength and quality of ingredients frequently vary, and success depends greatly on skill in manipulation, much must be left to the experience, judgment, and discretion of the operator. In all cases he must recollect that a certain degree of 'age' is absolutely necessary to give a high character to any spirit. Indeed, to age in the one case, and its absence in the other, may be referred the reasons why French brandy and British brandy, apart from mere shades of flavour, so materially differ.

The production of a flavoured British spirit closely resembling French brandy is a subject well worthy of the attention of the ingenious chemist, rectifier, and cellarman, as a matter of profit; and of the amateur, as affording an interesting field for useful and amusing experiment.

=Brandy, Car'away.= A species of cordial commonly prepared as follows:--1.

Caraway-seeds (bruised), 4 oz.; lump sugar, 2 lbs.; British brandy, 1 gall.; macerate a fortnight, occasionally shaking the bottle.--2. Sugar, 1 lb.; caraways (bruised), 1 oz.; 3 bitter almonds (grated); spirit-colouring, 1 oz.; plain spirit or gin (22 u. p.), 1/2 gall.; as before. Some persons omit the colouring.

=Brandy, Cher'ry.= _Prep._ 1. Brandy and cherries (crushed), of each 1 gall.; let them lie together for 3 days, then express the liquor, and add 2 lbs. of lump sugar; in a week or two decant the clear portion for use.

2. To the last add 1 quart of raspberry juice, and 1/2 a pint of orange-flower water. Both the above are excellent.

3. Treacle, 1 cwt.; spirit (45 u. p.), 41 galls.; bitter almonds (bruised), 1 lb. (or more or less to taste); cloves, 1 oz.; ca.s.sia, 2 oz.; macerate a month, frequently stirring. This is the article now commonly vended in the shops and at stalls for cherry brandy.

4. German cherry juice 15 galls.; pure rect. spirits, 20 galls.; syrup, 5 galls.; oil of bitter almonds, 1 drachm.

_Obs._ Equal part of fully ripe Morello cherries and black cherries produce the richest cordial. Some persons p.r.i.c.k each cherry separately with a needle instead of crus.h.i.+ng them; in which case they retain them in the liquor, and serve up a few of them in each gla.s.s. The plan named in the first formula is, however, that usually adopted. On the small scale, the fruit is commonly bruised between the fingers. A portion only (if any) of the stones in the cherries should be crushed, to impart a nutty flavour. See LIQUEURS.

=Brandy, Ci'der.= From cider and perry; also from the marc of apples and pears fermented. It is very largely manufactured in the United States of America and Canada, where it may be purchased for about 2_s._ 1_d._ a gallon. See BRITISH BRANDY (_above_).

=Brandy, Dant'zic.= From rye, ground with the root of _calamus aromaticus_. It has a mixed flavour of orris and cinnamon.

=Brandy, Guern'sey.= Beet-root spirit flavoured.

=Brandy, Lem'on.= _Prep._ 1. Fresh lemons (sliced), 1 dozen; brandy, 1 gall.; macerate for a week, press out the liquor, and add of lump sugar, 1 _lb._

2. Proof spirit, 7 galls.; essence of lemon, 3 dr.; sugar, 5 lbs.; tartaric acid, 1 oz.; (dissolved in) water, 2 galls.; turmeric powder or spirit-colouring, a dessert-spoonful; as before. Sometimes milk is added to the above, in the proportion of 1 quart (boiling hot) to every gallon.

=Brandy, Malt.= See BRITISH BRANDY.

=Brandy, Or'ange.= As lemon brandy, but employing oranges.

=Brandy, Pale.= This article has been already referred to. (See p. 337.) That of the gin-shops and publicans is generally a spurious article, made by mixing together about equal parts of good brown French brandy, clean spirit of wine, and soft water, and allowing the whole to stand until the next day to 'fine down.' If the first is 9 u. p., and the second 58 o. p., the product will be 17 u. p. Any deficiency of strength is made up by adding a little more spirit of wine.

=Brandy, Pat'ent.= The article so much bepuffed under this name, by certain houses, is merely very clean malt-spirit mixed with about 1-7th of its bulk (or less) of strong-flavoured Cognac, and a little colouring.

=Brandy, Peach.= From peaches, by fermentation and distillation. Much used in the United States, where peaches are very plentiful, and consequently cheap. A cordial spirit under the same name is prepared as follows:--

1. From peaches, sliced and steeped in twice their weight of British brandy or malt-spirit, as in making cherry brandy.

2. Bitter almonds (bruised), 3 oz.; proof spirit (pale), 10 galls.; water, 3 galls.; sugar, 5 or 6 lbs.; orange-flower water, 1/2 a pint; macerate for 14 days. Add brandy-colouring, if required darker.

=Brandy, Rais'in= (ra'zn). See SPIRIT (Raisin).

=Brandy, Rasp'berry= (raz'-). From raspberries, as directed under CHERRY BRANDY. Sometimes a little cinnamon and cloves are added. The only addition, however, that really improves the flavour or bouquet is a little orange-flower water, a very little essence of vanilla, or a single drop of essence of ambergris.

=Brandy, White.= See BRANDY (p. 337) and PALE BRANDY (_ante_).

=BRa.s.s.= _Syn._ aeS, ae"RIS METAL'LUM, L.; AIRAIN, LAITON, CUIVRE JAUNE, Fr.; ERZ, MESSING, Ger.; BRaeS, Sax. A well-known alloy of copper and zinc.

_Prep._ Bra.s.s is now generally manufactured by plunging copper, in slips, into zinc melted in the usual manner. The former metal rapidly combines with the fluid ma.s.s, and the addition is continued until an alloy somewhat difficult of fusion is formed, when the remainder of the copper is at once added. The bra.s.s thus obtained is broken into pieces, and remelted under charcoal, and a proper addition of either zinc or copper made, to bring it up to the colour and quality desired. It is next poured into moulds of granite. Before being submitted to the rolling-press for reduction to thin plates it undergoes the operation of annealing.

The proportions of the metals forming this alloy are varied according to the desired colour, and the purposes to which it is to be applied. The following formulae are founded chiefly on a.n.a.lyses of standard bra.s.ses and yellow metals, made expressly for this work. Small fractions are omitted; the nearest whole numbers being generally taken:--

_a._ FINE BRa.s.s:--1. Copper, 2 parts; zinc, 1 part; either combined, as explained above, or the two metals separately melted, suddenly poured together, and united by vigorous stirring.

2. Copper, 7 parts; zinc, 3 parts. Bright yellow; malleable.

3. Fine copper, 4 parts; zinc, 1 part. Deeper coloured than the last; an excellent and very useful alloy.

_b._ MALLEABLE BRa.s.s:--1. Copper, 33 parts; zinc, 25 parts; as before.

2. Copper, 3 parts; zinc, 2 parts. These alloys are malleable whilst hot.

_c._ RED BRa.s.s. This name is commonly applied to all those alloys which do not contain more than 18 to 20% of zinc. In the deeper-coloured foreign varieties (RED TOM'BAC) the per-centage of copper occasionally amounts to 88, 90, or even 92%.

_d._ YELLOW BRa.s.s. See FINE BRa.s.s (_above_).

_e._ b.u.t.tON-BRa.s.s:--1. Copper, 8 parts; zinc, 5 parts. This is the 'PLATIN' of the Birmingham makers.

2. Yellow bra.s.s, 16 parts; zinc, 2 parts; tin, 1 part. Paler than the last.

3. Copper, 25 parts; zinc, 20 parts; lead, 3 parts; tin, 2 parts. Pale; used for common b.u.t.tons.

_f._ FOR FINE CASTINGS:--1. As fine bra.s.s, according to the colour desired. (See _above_.)

2. Copper, 62 parts; zinc, 35 parts; lead, 2 parts; tin, 1 part.

3. Copper, 60 parts; zinc, 36 parts; tin, 4 parts. Both the last two are rather pale and brittle.

4. Copper, 90 parts; zinc, 7 parts; tin, 2 parts; lead, 1 part. Rich deep colour.

5. Copper, 91 parts; zinc, 5 parts; tin, 3 parts; lead, 1 part; as the last.

_g._ For GILDING:--1. As fine bra.s.s (_above_).

2. Copper, 64 parts; zinc, 32 parts; lead, 3 parts; tin, 1 part.

3. Copper, 82 parts; zinc, 18 parts; tin, 3 parts; lead, 1 part.