The best time for making this wine is either in March or September. Wine made early in March will be fit to bottle in June.
Ingredients
9 gallons of water
27 lbs. of loaf sugar
9 lemons
12 oz. of bruised ginger
3 tablespoonfuls of yeast
2 lbs. of raisins stoned and chopped
1 pint of brandy
Directions
Juice all of the lemons; save the rind
Boil together for 1 hour in a copper (let it previously be well scoured and beautifully clean) the water, sugar, lemon-rinds, and bruised ginger
Remove every particle of scum as it rises, and when the liquor is sufficiently boiled, put it into a large tub or pan, as it must not remain in the copper
When nearly cold, add the yeast, which must be thick and very fresh
The next day, put all in a dry cask with the strained lemon-juice and chopped raisins
Stir the wine every day for a fortnight (2 weeks)
Add the brandy, stop the cask down by degrees, and in a few weeks it will be fit to bottle
Source: The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (1859)
Ginger Beer II
