Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
GENERAL TREATISE
011 THB
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR:
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL,
COXPIUSIIIO THB
CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE PREPARATION OF ACETIC
ACID AND ITS DERIVATIVES, AND THE PRACTICAL DETAILS
OF THE VARIOUS METHODS OF PREPARING VINEGAR
BY THE SLOW AND THE QUICK PROCESSES, WITH
ALCOHOL, WINB, GRAIN, MALT, CIDER,
MOLASSES, BBBTS, ETO. j :
: :::-:
loS WBLL AS " :.:
..
THE FABRICATION OF PYROLIGNEOUS ACID, WOOD VINEGAR, ETC. ETC.
TOGETHER' WITH THEIR APPLICATIONS,
AIID A
TREATISE ON ACETOMETRY.
UOE,
SOIlBTIIIB OF THB LABORATOBiis OF THB FBBI'ICH OOVBRI'IIIBIIT; AUTHOR OF
.. A GBI'IBBAL TRBATISB 011 TnB IIAIIUFACTURB OF SOAP;" .. A COII-
FLBTB TRBATISB 01'1 TANI'IIIIG, CURRYlIIG, AIID LBATHER
DRBSSIIIG," BTO. BTO.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY OAREY BAIRD,
INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHER,
'06 Walnut Stree*.
LON DON:
SAMPSON LOW, SON & MARSTON.
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET ST.
1871.
.
...-. ':.
....
' ... -
~ .
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1871, by
HENRY CAREY BAIRD,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All rights reserved.
PBILADELPBa:
COLLINS, PlUlITE&, 100 JAYNIt ST&BItT,
U;'il't. of
Ontario
APR 1 3 '34
PREF AC E.
. THE publication of this treatise having been long
delayed, and having at the same time been much in-
quired after, a few words of explanation seem necessary.
The esteemed friend of the publisher, the talented
and industrious author, died on Sunday, June 20, 1869,
at New Lebanon, N. Y., where he had for years had
charge of the extensive laboratory of Messrs. Tilden &
Co., manufacturing chemists; leaving the book in an
incomplete and imperfect state. This caused a post-
ponement of all preparations for its being sent to the
printer, and it was some time before the services of a
competent editor were obtained who would finally pre-
pare it for, and supervise its passage through, the press.
The undersigned is happy to be able to state that for
this important work he obtained the assistance of one of
the very ablest chemists in this country, who has ex-
pended upon it much conscientious care and time. He
believes that in its present form it will be found to be one
of the most valuable as well as useful technical treatises
which he has yet offered to the American and British
public.
H. C. B.
PUll.A.DELPHIA.,406 Walnut St., June 15, 1871.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL NOTICE
SECTION J.
CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES.
CHAPTER 1.
GENERAl. NOTIONS OF CUKIlIISTRY.
Chemistry .
of Bodies into Animals, and Minerals
or Molecules
Particles
l"orell .
Cohesion
States of Matter.
Solids, Liquids, and Gases .
Division of Bodies into Simple and Compound
Metallic and Non-metallic Elements
Analysis and Synthesis
Reagents
Chemical Combination
Affinity
Definite and Multiple Proportions
Generalities on Organic Chemistry
CHAPTER II.
ELIl:XKNTARY PRlIfCIPLKll.
Cellulose
Starch
Dextrin
Glncose
Gams
Sugars
\
PIoG.
17
19
21
22
23
23
24
24
24
25
27
27
28
29
30
30
32
33
39
42
44
48
48
49
VI
Alcoholic Fermentation
Ferment
Alcohol
Preparation
Properties of Alcohol
Malting
Steeping
Couching
Flooring
Drying
Brewing
Grinding
M.ashing
Boiling
Cooling
Fermentation
Cleansing
CHAPTER III.
ALCOHOL.
CH.\.PTRR IV.
ART OF BREWING.
CHAPTERV.
ACETIC FERJlKNTATION.
CHAPTER VI.
PAGE
55
61
66
67
68
71
72
76
77
77
81
81
83
86
88
89
91
ACKTIC ACID.
Hydrated Acetic Acid 105
Table showing the Proportions of Monohydrated Acetic Acid in 100
parts of Acid of different densities 108
Table of Densities of Acid at different Temperatures 109
CHAPTER VII.
METHODS OF PREPARING CONCENTRATED ACETIC ACID.
PrOCCl\s
Lartigue's Process
Baup8' Process .
Lowitz's Process
110
110
111
111
CONTENTS. Vll
PAOli:
Acetic Acid obtained by the Decomposition of the Acetates and by
Distillation III
Preparation of Acetic .Acid by the Acid Acetate or Potassa, by M.
Melsens . 112
Concentrated Acetic Acid with Acetate of Soda, and of
Lime, by M. K. Christt . 114
Preparation of Acetic Acid with the Pyrolignite of Lime. by M. Be-
ringer 115
Preparation of Crystallizable Acetic Acid. by M. Sebille-Auger 116
Process to obtain Crystallizable Acetic Acid, by M. Despretz . 118
Fabrication of Pure Acetic Acid and Acetates with Pyroligneous
Acid and Baryta 118
CHAPTER VIII.
DERIVATIVES OF ACETIC ACID.
Aldehyde
Acetone
Acetic Ether
Snlphacetic Acid
CHAPTER IX.
METALLIC ACETATF.8.
Acetates
Acetate of Potassa
of Soda
of Ammonia
of Baryta
of Strontia .
of Lime
of Alumina.
of Magnesia
of Manganese
Acetates of Iron
Acetate of Zinc
of Tin
of Cobalt
of Nickel
Acetates of Lead
of Copper
Acetate of Copper and Lime
Acetateil of Mercury .
Acetate of Silver
Table of the less important Acetates.
121
124
125
126
12j
129
130
134
135
136
136
138
140
140
141
143
144
144
145
145
152
156
156
!f8
159
viii
Ferments
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
SACCHAROMETRY.
CHAPTER XI.
ALCOHOLOMETRY.
CHAPTER XII.
HYDROMETERS.
SECTION II.
WINE AND CIDER VINEGARS.
CHAPTER XIII.
GKNERALITIES ON THE FABRICATION OF VINEGARS.
CHAPTER XIV.
MOTHER OJ' VINKGAR, OR FKRMENT.
CHAPTER XV.
WINE.
The Cultivation of the Vine
The Vine in the United States
Grape Juice
Constitnent Principles of the Juice
Analysis of the Red Tartar
Analyses of the Juice of Ripe Grapes
of Wines and Liquors .
CHAPTER XVI.
DIFFERENT MODf:S OF MANUFACTURING VINEGAR.
Boerhaave's Method
Flemish Method .
Orleans Method.
Household Process
Method of the North of France
Spanish Method
Parisian Method
Improved French Method .
191
192
]97
198
199
199
200
202
203
204
205
205
206
206
207
:
CONTENTS.
CHAP'fER XVII.
CIDER VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND WHISKEY.
SECTION III.
MALT VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XIX.
PREPARATION OF THE FERMENTID LIQUOR.
CHAPTER XX.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE FERJlINTED LIQUOR INTO VINEGAR.
Household Process for Malt Vinegar
SECTION IV.
QUICK PROCESS.
CHAPTER XXI.
OLD METHODS.
Boerhaave's Process .
CHAPTER XXII.
ApPARATUS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
GENERAL DETAILS OF THE OPERATION.
Bringing the Generators into Action .
Preparation of the Vinegar with Alcohol or Whiskey
Precautions to be taken during the Process
CHAPTER XXIV.
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN AND MALT.
Description of the Filter
Description of the Filtering Frames
Working of the Filter
ix
P"'G.
. 221
223
229
231
233
235
236
237
x
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
FABRICA.TION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN AI.ONK.
CHAPrER XXVI.
DIFFERKNT KINDS OF VINEGARS.
PAG.
Vinegar of German Brandy 242
Of Alcohol, &c. . 242
Vinegar of Sugar 243
Starch Vinegar . 245
Vinegar of Sweet Waters, Raisins, Fecula, &c. 246
"Vinegar with Cane Sugar 246
Vinegar with Roney 247
Vinegar of Molll.llses 247
Vinegar of 'Beer 247
Ale Vinegar 248
Cider Vinegar 248
Strong's American Vinegar Generator 250
Beet Vinegar 255
~ ~ Q ~ P r o ~ ~ ~ 9
Fubrication of Vinegar with Beet Sugar and Residuum, by Ruez-
Delsaux and Vanwormhoude 262
Fruit Vinegar 266
Vinegar of Rags 266
Seaweeds (Fucus) all a Source of Acetic Acia, by M. J. Stenhouse 267
CHAPTER XXVII.
IMPROVEIIIENTS IN THE QUICK PROCESS.
Ure's Process 269
Ham's Process 271
Process for preparing Strong Vinegar Economically in forty-eight
hours, by M. Dingler 271
Improvement in the Quick Process, by M. C. F. Anthon . 272
Quick Process-The Losses which are Experienced, and their
Causes, by M. F. Knapp 273
Researches on the Strength of Vinegar 275
on the Air Disengaged from the Generator. 275
New Generator of Dr. Spitaler, by M. Schweinsberg 286
New Industrial Process, by M. L. Pasteur 287
Tilden's Improvement in Generators . 292
The Author's Process 294
Decolorizing
Coloring
Clearing
Flavor and Odor
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
IIIPROVING VINBGAR.
SEOTION V.
WOOD VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Xl
PAGII
296
297
297
298
DI1"FERRlIIT PROCRSSK8 FOR DISTILLING WOOD.
Generalities 301
English Apparatus 303
French Apparatus 305
Reichenbach's Apparatus 308
Apparatus to Extract Pyroligneous Acid from Sawdnst 309
Ditrerent Modifications 312
ProportiollS of Acid and Charcoal in Various Kinds of Wood 313
CHAPTER XXX.
PURIl"ICATION 01" THB PRODUCTS 01" DISTILLATION.
Wood Naphtha
Purification of Wood Vinegar
SEOTION VI.
APPLICATIONS OF VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XXXI.
AROIIATIC Vlli'II:GAR AND HIGHLY CONCBNTRATJ:D VII'RGAR.
CHAPTER XXXII.
COMPOUND VINEGARS.
Table Vinegars .
Aromatic Distilled Vinegars
Toilet Vinegars .
:Medicinal Vinegars
316
319
32'
332
332
335
xu CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PRBSBRVUION OJ' ALIJlBNTARY SUBSTANCES.
Preservation of Animal Substances .
Preservation of Vegetable Substances
SECTION VII.
ACETOMETRY.
OHAPTER XXXIV.
PAa.
33i
. 338
ACKTOJlETRY.
Degree of Concentration of Vinegars, and Means of Ascertaining it 341
Acetometer of the Parisian Merchants 343
Descroizilles' Acetometer . 344
Frese'lius and Will's Process 347
Otto's Process 349
H. Fleck's Process 353
Salleron and R6veil's Process 358
J. J. Pohl's Process . 361
Table to Measure the Richness of Vinegars 362
Process with Carbonated Alkalies 364
Tables of Percentage of Acid in Vinegar . 366
CHAPTER XXXV.
ADULTBRATIONS OJ' VINBGAR.
APPENDIX.
The Metric System of Weights and Measures 373
Tables showing the Relative Value of French and English Weights
and Measures 3i5
Index. 383
A GENERAL TREATISE
011 mB
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
INTRODUCTION.
D U R I ~ G the past quarter of a century important pro-
gress has been made in the fabrication of vinegar, and
valuable processes have been acquired, which have
given to the work more precision and many practical
advantages.
Science has given us a better knowledge of the nature
and composition of alcohols, the principles which pre-
side over acetic fermentation, and its accompanying
phenomena.
As a natural result, chemists and manufacturers have
discovered the proper means more economically to pro-
duce acetic acid, and to obtain from grains and from
many saccharine substances a vinegar of good quality,
as well as to give sure and practical processes by which
to ascertain the quantity of real acetic acid contained
in a vinegar; also to examine if that vinegar has been
adulterated by other substances dangerous to the health
of the consumer-in other words, to prepare, by general
and systematic methods, pure acetic acid and acetates,
and test their qualities.
In this work we have availed ourselves of all these
excellent materials, and have classified them, so as to
offer to the reader a full account of the state of the
2
18 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
science, and the progress of the industry of the vinegar
manufacturer.
We have not only indicated the scientific discoveries
and the industrial progress, but have also entered into
details which are of the highest interest to the vinegar
manufacturer, and have reproduced the development.
given them by chemists and inventors.
The work is divided into seven sections.
The first treats of the chemical principles, with full
particulars relative "to acetic acid, alcohol, etc.
The second treats of wine, cider, and alcohol vinegars.
The third examines malt vinegar or vinegar made
from grains, by the same process as is practised in Eng-
land and Germany.
The fourth treats of the quick process, in all its
details, with alcohol, wine, cider, grains, and different
saccharine juices, with all the recent improvements in
this process.
The fifth details the different methods of distilling
pyroligneous acid and vinegar.
The sixth gives the various applications "r vinegar.
The seventh and last, or acetometr!f, treats of the
methods of analyzing vinegars, and gives the adultera-
tions to which this product is submitted, and the modes
by which to detect them.
We believe we have given in this work everything
of value in the art of vinegar-making-grouping the
facts in the most methodical order.
We are much indebted to Messrs. Dumas, Mus-
pratt, Booth, Regnault, Otto, de Fontenelle, Drs. TIre
and Wetherill, and many others.
Such a work was much needed by the American
public, and we hope it will fulfill the purpose we had
in view when beginning it-" Be useful and instructive."
H.D.
HISTORICAL NOTICE.
..
VINEGAR is one of the earliest known acids, and its
discovery must have immediately followed that of wine.
It is evident that, at the temperature of the Eastern
countries, where the first experiments on the juice of
the grape were made, fermentation must have set in
rapidly, and the wine been quickly transformed into an
acid compound.
If we take Milton as an authority on what took-place
at the creation of our world, we see that the fruit of
which Adam and Eve had partaken was intoxicating in
its nature, since the poet says:-
.. Soon 88 the force of that fallacions fruit,
That, with exhilarating power bland,
About their spirita had played, and inmost powers
Made err, was now exhaled."
I t would seem, then, that cider was known before
wine, the invention of the latter being generally con-
ceded to Noah. But by these remarks we do not intend
to raise any theological points, and, least of all, to solve
them; this duty properly devolving on some New Eng-
land D.D.
From the writings of Moses we learn that vinegar
was known by the Israelites and other Eastern nations.
Its solvent powers were also known in the earliest times,
and in the Proverbs of Solomon (chap. xxv. 20) we find:
20 JlANUFACTUBE or VINEGAR.
"As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather,
and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs
to a heavy heart."
We will here remark that "nitre" was very likely
the "natron," an impure carbonate of soda, found in
Egypt.
Hannibal, it is said, used vinegar for dissolving
mountains, and Cleopatra for dissolving pearls, which
shows that these distinguished individuals had expen-
sive habits.
Although vinegar was generally known, the principles
of acetic fermentation were of necessity ignored, for the
want of chemical knowledge. We owe the knowledge
of the purification and concentration of this acid, by
distillation of acetates (especially verdigris), to Albu-
cases, Basilius, .Valentinus, Tachenius, and Stahl.
Glauber distilled wood, and obtained an acid (acetic)
which he proved to be that contained in vinegar, and,
according to his own words, "Acidum aceto vini simil-
limum."
But the true nature of acetic acid, and the methods for
obtaining it from fermented liquors, such as wine or
alcohol, or from wood, &c., are due to the more recent
researches of Berthollet, Berzelius, de Saussure, Dobe-
reiner, Boerhaave, Mollerat, and Pasteur.
During the last twenty-five years great improvements
and discoveries have been made in the manufacture of
vinegar, which are described in full in the following
chapters.
SECTION I.
CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL NOTIONS OF OHEMISTRY.
CHEM:ISTRY-DIVISION OF BODIES INTO ANIM:ALS, VEGETA-
BLES, AND MINERALS-MOLECULES-ATOMS-PARTICLES
-PORES-COHESION-STATES OF MATTER-SOLIDS, LI-
QUIDS, GASES-DIVISION OF BODIES INTO SIM:PLE AND
COM:POUND-METALLIC AND NON-METALLIC ELEMENTS-
ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS-REAGENT8-CHEMICAL COM:-
BINATION-AFFINITY-DEFINITE AND MULTIPLE PROPOR-
TION8-QENERALITIES ON ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.
WITHOUT considering here the age of the science of
chemistry, and the signification first attached to the
term, we will remark that, in the present state of human
knowledge, the object of this science is the study of
the action and reaction of bodies upon each other, and
the investigation of their intimate constitution. Chem-
istry decomposes bodies, to isolate their different princi-
pIes; it destroys them; but its power does not reside
in this only; it can, by means as simple as numerous,
reproduce those bodies with all their primitive charac-
teristics.
A science, the power of which is so great, and the
results so magnificent, has, in all times, excited, to a
22 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
high degree, the interest and admiration of all those
who are not familiar with its mysteries; but what also
increases the attraction that its study inspires is the
knowledge that we soon acquire of its utility, by seeing
other branches of knowledge, such as medicine, hygiene,
industry, and the fine arts, come, one after the other, to
borrow its precepts and claim its help. How vast is the
domain of chemistry I it comprises all the phenomena
that nature presents in the immense variety of its pro.
ductions, and all the processes of the arts that are brought
to the industry of man.
Having explained the purpose of chemistry, let us
see how it proceeds, and let us first examine the bodies
on which the chemist operates.
When we study carefully the different bodies which
are found at the surface or in the bosom of the earth,
we soon see that they can be divided into three classes.
Some endowed with movement, provided with a will
which directs them, born from beings from whom they
reproduce the characteristics, and after a period, more
or less long, they cease to accomplish the acts by which
they manifest their existence. These are the ANIMALS.
Others, which appear also endowed with vitality,
which are born from similar individuals, and die after
a certain time, like animals, are essentjally distinguished
from them, in that they are obliged to live in the place
where their existence began, and are deprived of that
will which presides over the different acts of life. These
are called VEGETABLES.
Lastly, a third class of natural bodies comprises those
in which we cannot distinguish a principle of life, which
are incapable of reproduction, which exist from all
eternity, and preserve the same appearance, provided
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 23
the outside circumstances in which they are placed do
not change. These are
Every body is formed by the reunion of particles of
the same nature, and each of these particles, taken
singly, possesses all the properties of the body from which
it is derived. It is thus that in dividing a piece of
sugar into 50 or 100 parts, we find in each of those
isolated parts, no matter how small they are, all
characteristics of the sugar. If we prosecute the divi-
sion of a body as far as we can, by mechanical pro-
cesses, we arrive at an extreme tenuity, but which,
however, is not the ultimate division, as we will demon-
strate.
Let us dissolve a few grains of common salt in a glass
of water. One drop contains very little of this salt. If
that drop is thoroughly mixed with a large mass of
water, it is evident that each drop of that mass contains
a little of the salt of the first salted drop. Conse-
quently the salt has experienced a very minute division
to be thus equally diffused through the mass of water;
and to prove that this effect has taken place, we need
only to place in the liquid a few drops of a liquor
which has the property of precipitating in a solid form
the salt which is in,
To those minute divisions which are invisible to the
naked eye has been given the name of ATOMS or MOLE-
CULES. From this we see that a body is formed of MOLE-
CULES or ATOMS, exactly similar. The name of PARTICLES
is given to the agglomeration of molecules large enough
to be perceptible to the eye, and which are the result of
mechanical division. The molecules, however, are not
placed immediately in contact, even in the most compact
bodies. Water poured npon a piece of chalk is quickly
absorbed, without the chalk acquiring an increase in its
24 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
size. Now, as the matter is impenetrable, to explain
the penetration of the chalk by the water, we must con-
ceive that the water lodges itself in the empty spaces
existing between the'solid molecules of the chalk. If
bodies can be compressed, that is, be reduced to a less
apparent volume-if, also, they diminish in volume when
reduced in temperature--it is evident that the molecules
ale brought more nearly in contact, and thus form a
smaller mass. These empty spaces, these intervals,
which thus isolate the molecules, are called PORES, and
this disposition is so general that it has been made an
essential property of matter, under the name of PORO-
SITY.
A very simple and natural reflection presents itself at
first to the mind. We ask bow it is that the molecules
of a body are united one to the other, in such a manner
that we have to employ some effort to effect their sepa-
ration. This clinging together is attributed to the
action of a peculiar force, the nature of which is un-
known, but the effects of which indicate positively its
existence. This occult force has received the name of
COHESION. It is, then, COHESION which unites, which
brings together the molecules of bodies, but it differs
in intensity in various bodies. Thus, as we know
already, glass, wood, and iron are not broken with the
same facility; iron offers more resistance than wood,
wood more than glass; this demonstrates that the cohe-
sion which unites the molecules or atoms of the iron is
more powerful than that which holds the molecules of
the wood, etc.
It is the variation of this force that produces the
* By impenetrability is understood the incapability of one body
to occupy the same space at the 8ame time with aDother body.
GENERA.L NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 25
different states of matter. Matter exists in three dis-
tinct states: solid, as wood, stone, etc.; liquid, as water,
etc.; gase01J,s, as the air which surrounds us.
The same body often may assume these three states.
Water is an example. We know it in the state of
snow and ice, that is solid; in the liquid state; and in
the state of invisible vapor or gas. The air we breathe
always contains water.
Water can readily be made to take these three forms;
ice heated, quickly melts, giving a liquid that an increase
of heat reduces completely to vapor; this vapor resumes
the liquid form, and, on exposure to a yet lower tempera-
ture, freezes and again becomes solid ice.
While a large class of bodies possess the faculty of
taking these three different states, there are many which
take only two, others but one form; bones of animals
are always solid, and cannot, without alteration, take
either of the other forms; lead, usually solid, becomes
liquid by the action of heat, but such means are power-
less to reduce it into vapor; alcohol, that we generally
see in a liquid state, cannot be solidified, but the
slightest heat reduces it into gas; the air, which
surrounds us, under all conditions retains its gaseous
form.
In ordinary circumstances, the solids are the most
numerous at the surface of the earth, then come the
liquids; gases, properly 80 called, are limited, as they
do not exceed thirty in number.
The word GA.S, the origin of which is German, and
signifies S01J,I, spirit, was introduced by Van Helmond, a
celebrated Flemish chemist, born in Brussels in 1577,
and who died in 1644. He employed the term to de-
signate the vapor which is disengaged during the com-
bustion of charcoal, and the fermentation of grapes.
~ 6 MANUFACTURE or VINEGAR.
Later he applied it to all invisible substances disen-
gaged from bodies, either by the action of heat or by
chemical changes. Macquer, a celebrated French
chemist of the eighteenth century, has consecrated this
term, in the language of modern chemistry, to all kinds
of ai1's different from the atmospheric air. This latter
alone has kept the universal name of air. Thus the
air which disengages with noise from beer, cider, soda-
water, is a gas, named carbonic acid gas; that which is
so disagreeable whe? we light a match, is sulphurous gas.
There is necessarily a cause which modifies the power
of cohesion in different bodies. That cause is CALORIC,
or the fluid of heat. This is readily demonstrated by
exposing solid or liquid bodies to the action of fire, by
which they are melted or reduced to vapor, and when
removed from that action, they return to their primitive
state. Thus it is shown that the state of bodies de-
pends upon the relation existing between cohesion,
which brings together the molecules, and heat, whjch
tends to separate them; where caloric predominates
over the force of cohesion in a body, it becomes gaseous;
it is solid when cohesion is most powerful; lastly, it is
liquid when the two forces are in equilibrium.. It follows,
that in gas in which the force of cohesion is very weak,
perhaps null, the molecules are much separated from
each other, and tend ultimately to a greater divergence;
thus we are obliged to keep them in vessels, to prevent
their dispersion.
It is easy to perceive, merely by the observance of
facts, that all bodies in nature are not formed of a
single and similar matter. Thus, we readily distin-
guish lead from copper, copper from iron, and the dif-
ferent properties that we recognize in these different
bodies lead us to think that the intimate nature of
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 27
the matter which composes them varies for each one.
When we more closely examine these bodies, we soon
acquire the knowledge that some have a very compli-
cated composition, while that of others is as simple as
possible. If lead or iron is submitted to the action of
the most violent fire, or to that of other agents as ener-
getic, we will separate nothing but iron or lead. If we
place wood in the same conditions, we shall isolate dif-
ferent gases, tar, charcoal, etc. Wood, then, is a sub-
stance formed of several kinds of matter, while lead and
iron contain but one, which, however, differ in each.
These facts lead us to divide all known bodies into
two great classes, SIMPLE and COMPOUND. The
first are also called ELEMENTS, because all others are
formed from them.
For many centuries, on the authority of Empedocles,
an old philosopher, of Agrigentum, who lived 460 years
before Christ, only four elementary substances were
known, viz., FIRE, AIR, WATER, and EARTH. Robert Boyle,
an Irish chemist of the seventeenth century, was the first
to dispute this, and considered the four elements of the
ancients as complex bodies. Modem science, with its
vigorous methods of observation, has accepted the theory
of Boyle, and has discovered other SIMPLE BODIES or ELE-
MENTS, the number of which is now above sixty-five.
These elements are generally classified as METALS
and non-metallic bodies, or METALLOIDS. This division
is convenient for study, and rests on several distinctive
characteristics which belong to the first, and are generally
missing in the second. Thus, by a metal we understand a
body which is generally very heavy, opaque, very bright,
and which retains that brightness even in its smallest
particles; by a metalloid we understand a simple body
which possesses neither the weight nor the brightness
28 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
of the metals, and which is translucent or transparent.
This distinction is not so important as would at first
appear. These elements, as we have said, by their re-
union form all the various compounds that nature pre-
sents us, or that we artificially produce. Thec1ass of
compound bodies is immense. To facilitate their study,
they are subdivided into several groups, according to
the number of elements of which they are constituted;
being termed binary, ternary, or quaternary, according
as they are formed of two, three, or four elements.
To discover the proper nature of bodies, to distinguish
compound bodies from those which are not, it is neces-
sary that science should furnish us methods susceptible
of great precision. One of them, which has for its
object the isolation of the components of a body in
such a manner that they may reappear with the proper-
ties which characterize them in their primitive state,
has received the name of analysis. The other, which
proceeds in a contrary manner, by reuniting the sepa-
rated elements of a compound, so as to reproduce it as
it formerly existed, is called synthesis.
I t is a well-known fact that chalk, heated in a retort,
gives at the same time a gas and quicklime. By pro-
ceeding thus with chalk, and setting free' its true con-
stituent principles, we make the analysis of that sub-
stance. If, on one hand, after carefully collecting the
gas disengaged during the calcination of chalk, it is
again placed in presence of quicklime under favorable
conditions, it quickly unites and reproduces the chalk.
This reproduction is the synthesis, and the operation is
the proof of the first, by demonstrating that chalk is a
binary compound which has for its constituent principles
lime and a peculiar gas called carbonic acid.
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CBEJOSTRY. 29
We may say, then, that analysis is the art of decom-
posing bodies, while synthesis recomposes them.
All chemical science consists in these two operations:
destroying and creating.
In analysis, the chemist uses agents and reagents. A
body which aids in the separation of the constituent
parts of a compound is an agent. Thus, for the exami-
nation of the lime, we have employed heat; heat is then
an agent of analysis.
But when, instead of trying to completely isolate the
different principles of a compound, we only desire to
indicate their presence, we then use bodies which, by
their respective effects on each of those principles, cause
to appear one of their distinctive properties, and permit
the distinction of their different natures. Bodies acting
in this way are called reagents.
A reagent is a body which, in its contact with ano-
ther, gives rise to certain signs or characteristic pheno-
mena, which are always the same under the same cir-
cumstances.
If we pour a little syrup of violet into vinegar, into
a solution of common salt, and into a solution of potassa,
the color of the syrup will not change in the salt, it red-
dens with the vinegar, and becomes green with the po-
tassa. This mode of action, so different for each body,
reveals the existence of distinct substances.
Every body has its proper reagent. Nothing is more
easy than to ascertain the composition of the different
8ubstances which exist at the surface of the globe, or
which form its aeriform envelope. With the help of a
small number of agents or reagents, one who is possessed
of chemical knowledge can penetrate all the bodies of
nature, and decompose most and reproduce many of
them at will
30 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
l
When two bodies of a different nature are in contact,
under suitable circumstances, we observe that they unite
so as to produce a new substance in which we do not
find the distinctive properties of its components. If, for
example, we take a certain quantity of potassa, a sub-
stance so caustic and so poisonous, and unite it with a
certain amount of sulphuric acid, which, not less ener-
getic than the potassa, burns, corrodes, and destroys all
organic matters, we shall obtain from the union a com-
pound almost tasteless, without destructive action on or-
ganic substances, and which can be introduced in large
quantities into the stomach. This compound is the
Glauber's salt, or sulphate of potassa.
The act by which a compound is formed is called
COMBINATION. We say that two bodies combine when,
by their intimate union, they lose their proper charac-
teristics by giving birth to a substance having new pro-
perties. The cause which determines the phenomenon
of combination, chemists have attributed to a natural
force as unknown in its nature as cohesion, and to which
they have given the name of AFFINITY.
This force, which, like cohesion, attracts the molecules
of bodies, differs essentially from the latter in that it
acts always on heterogeneous or different parts, and gives
birth to new bodies, the characteristics of which do not
recall those of the substances which constitute them;
while cohesion, as we have said, exercises its effects
on similar molecules, simple or compound, and only
produces more voluminous or more compressed masses,
but of the same nature as those which it reunites.
Thus, in lead it is cohesion which unites the molecules,
while in chalk it is affinity which determines the union
of the molecules of lime with those of the carbonic
acid.
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 31
The intensity with which COHESION and AFFINITY ope-
rate in b r i n g i n ~ together the molecules' of bodies is
very different. Mechanical means only are necessary to
destroy the cohesion of a body, and by dividing we'
merely change its state without altering its intimate
properties. A stick of sulphur loses its cohesion by
pulverization in a mortar, but, thus reduced to a
fine powder, it has lost none of its distinctive qualities;
it retains the same color, taste, insolubility in water,
and combustibility.
To destroy, on the contrary, the affinity which unites
the constituent parts of a compound, it is necessary to
employ very energetic agents, which, by their action,
completely change the nature and primitive properties
of the compound. By acting on chalk with heat, we
separate the two principles which compose it, and by
the interposition of that powerful agent, caloric, we have
completely destroyed the substance, and, consequently,
caused the disappearance of all its essential qualities.
This result could not have been obtained by division or
other mechanical means.
To break the cohesion of a body, is simply to divide
it; to break the affinity of its constituent molecules, is
to decompose it. '.
Affinity does not act with the same intensity in all
bodies; thus all have not the same tendency to combine
with each other. Many causes prevent the action of
that force.
This power of the chemist is similar to that of the
creative genius of Him who made the world. Stones,
salts, water, fire, light, all are submitted to his will, and
in his hand all is created as all disappears. With a small
number of elementary bodies he can form thousands of
new substances, all differing from each other, and then
32 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
destroying these substances by means as simple as in-
genious; he can reproduce them by reuniting, under
favorable conditions, their constituent materials, which
he had isolated from each other. We can say. without
exaggerating. that. like a new Prometheus, the chemist
has found the secrets of nature, and vies with her in
many circumstances. More, his genius enables him to
discover the means of creating where nature cannot
imitate him. Indeed, the transformation of substances
one into the other is a play for him. According to his
will, he changes starch into gum, gum into sugar, sugar
into alcohol, alcohol into ether, and this latter into car
buretted hydrogen and water. From an inert substance
he gives birth to a series of bodies having precious pro-
perties; thus, from a piece of wood he can extract illu-
minating gas; sugar, which sweetens our food; vinegar,
which flavors it; and charcoal, which can cook it.
All these marvellous creations are very simple effects
produced by the intervention of those forces which,
under the names of affinity, caloric, electricity, attracticm,
or cohesion, are the causes of all the combinations and
decompositions.
The compounds of nitrogen with oxygen present a
very remarkable relation between the proportions of
their elements. The volume of nitrogen remaining the
same in all. that of oxygen varies as follows:-
100 volumel nitrogen with 60 yolumeB oz,YgeD form nltroua ozlde.
100" .. 100" .. .. binozide of nitrogen.
100" .. 1110" .. .. nitroua acid.
100" .. 200" .. .. h,Yponitrio acid.
100" .. 260" .. .. nitrlo acid.
That is, that the numbers which express the volume of
the oxygen, added to 100 of nitrogen, are between each
other as the numbers 1. 2, 3, 4, 5.
Similar simple relations are observed in all chemical
...
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 33
compounds, and we can say, in a general manner, that
VJhen, in a series of compounds to which the two components
are common, one ofthose components varies in proportions,
the numbers which express those proportions, in weight or in
volume, are between them as the numbers 1,2,3,4,5, etc.;
that is, i ~ multiple, simple, and constant relatio1is.
The law known by the name of the theoT!J of the multiple
proportions is remarkable for its generality, for it em-
braces not only the binary combinations of the elements,
but also compounds of a higher order. It derives, be-
sides, from that other, the theory of the definite propor-
tions, which may be thus formulated:-
Bodies form between each other but a very small number
of compounds, the elements of which are always reunited in
invariable or definite proportions.
For instance, oxygen, sulphur, and chlorine unite with
a metal only in 1, 2, 3, or 4 proportions, rarely in a
greater number, and in each of the compounds which
results, the quantities of the oxygen and of the metal, of
the sulphur and the metal, etc., are always fixed, under
all circumstances.
The discovery of these remarkable laws is entirely
due to modern chemists. The ancients had no know-
ledge of their Qxistence; and by ancients we even desig-
nate the chemists who preceded the memorable epoch
of 1789, when chemistry, in the hands of Lavoisier,
Berthollet, Monge, Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau,
Scheele, Priestley, Cavendish, and Volta, was completely
regenerated.
Generalities on Organic ChemistT!J.
In the formation of minerals, their component ele-
ments are submitted to the two great natural forces
called attraction and ajfinity. These also govern living
3
34 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
beings, which obey other forces peculiar and essential
to themselves.
Thus, vegetables, composed of organs designated by
the names of roots, trunks, leaves, flowers, fruits, and
seeds, grow, live, and die under the empire of a force
which, like the above, escapes our researches. It is the
'Vital force or the power of organization, the action of
which begins and ends with life.
Animals, provided with more complicated apparatus
or organs, some of which are specially destined for nu-
trition, and others for the reproduction of the species,
are, like the vegetables, submitted to the vital force
which is the cause of the physiological phenomena;
but, in addition, they obey the action of another force
not less powerful, sensibility, which gives the conscious-
ness of their existence, and presides over all the acts of
the intelligence.
These two forces, which act continually during life,
have great influence upon the composition of human
beings, and modify in a very extraordinary manner the
effects of the chemical forces. The mineral compounds
are very numerous and varied, but they are small in
comparison with the number and variety of the com-
o pounds which are developed in the tissues of vegetables
and animals, under the influence of the organic forces.
With organized beings we distinguish two kinds of
compounds :-
1. Inorganic compounds, which are also found in the
mineral kingdom. These compounds are due evidently
to the soil in which these beings live and remain; con-
sequently they are not productions of the bodies in
which they are found.
2. Organic compounds, which are found only in the
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 35
organs of living beings, such as sugar, gums, oils, some
acids, etc. etc.
The o-rganic matters are formed by the reunion of a
small number of elements which belong to organic na-
ture; but what is remarkable is, that few only of the
simple bodies can become constituent principles of or-
ganized beings and of their products. Indeed, oxygen,
hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen are about the only
elements useful in the formation of organic substances.
Sulphur, phosphorus, and iron, when found, are in very
small proportions. But while a single simple body may
constitute alone a mineral substance, it always requires
at least two, more frequently three or four, to constitute
an organic substance. Thus, vegetable compounds are
formed of hydrogen and carbon, or hydrogen, carbon,
and oxygen; sometimes with nitrogen, as the animal
compounds which contain all these elements, except a
few which are not nitrogenized.
In inorganic bodies, the fundamental characteristic
resides in the difference of the nature itself of the
elements which constitute them; thus the compounds
of sulphur have nothing in common with those of
chlorine, those of hydrogen can be readily distin-
guished from those of phosphorus, etc. It is not so
with organic substances, since all have for bases the
same elements, sometimes to the number of three, some-
times four. It is only in the proportions of the ele-
mentary principles the difference resides. The number
of vegetables is considerable, since it is over one hun-
dred and twenty thousand; that of animals is probably
more considerable, and however they d i f f e ~ between each
other, a very extraordinary thing is, that chemically
only very slight variations exist in the proportions of
the oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen which essen-
36 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
tially form them. To detect, to determine these slight
variations, is the great effort of the chemist.
Whatever may be the mode of combination of organic
substances, they show, in general, a great tendency to
be destroyed and changed into other compounds,among
which are sometimes found inorganic bodies. Thus,
these mineral substances, which conduce so powerfully
to the nutrition of living beings, are returned by them
to the mineral kingdom when the life of the individual
is terminated, and are used as the elements of new
generations.
How can vegetables and animals create inside these
organs, with the help of four or five elementary prin-
ciples only, that multitude of compounds, the constitu-
tion and chemical properties of which are so distinct 1
By what means did they draw from the, soil and the
atmosphere the elements suitable to generate muscular
fibre, the oils or fats, the sugar, gum, starch, etc., com-
pounds which differ between each other only by very
insignificant variations in the three, four, or five elements
which essentially constitute them 1
These marvellous results are due to that mysterious
force, unknown to dead nature, which we call life,
vital force, assimilative force. God alone knows the
secret of those successive transformations through which
the organic elements pass to constitute the frames of the
organs of living beings, as well as the numerous pro-
ducts which accumulate on them necessarily; and all
this takes place, not by an effect of chance, but with an
admirable variety, and with an extreme wisdom.
Whilst we cannot, in laboratories,proceed by the
same methods employed by nature, it is permitted us to
form artistically a certain number of products which
are found in the living organism. The artificial repro-
GENERAL NOTIONS OF CHEMISTRY. 37
duction of many substances of vegetable or animal
origin, is one of the finest results that chemists have
obtained within the last ten years.
Thus, oxalic acid is no more extracted from the sorrel,
for sugar and starch can furnish it quicker and cheaper.
The same substances, submitted to other reactions,
give that powerful acid secreted by ants (formic acid).
By treating starch, wood, straw, rags, grains, etc., with
sulphuric acid, we make at will either gum or sugar
similar to that existing in fruits.
With the blood, horn, or meat, we manufacture the
salts called cyanides, prussiate of potassa, prussian blue,
and with them we obtain urea, the principle of urine,
the direct extraction of which is so long and so disgust-
mg.
Wax may be converted into the natural acid proper
to the fat of sheep. .
With one of the products of the distillation of wood,
the wood spirit, we give birth to the essential oil of the
flowers of gaultheria. '-
We create indifferently with sugar, according to the
mode of treatment, lactic acid, butyric acid, and vale-
rianic acid.
In all cases, the list of which can be multiplied,
we transform organic products of slight stability into
products much more stable, and which come nearer and
nearer the nature of the mineral substances. And this
is due to the great mobility of the elements of organic
compounds. Nothing is more easy than to successively
convert starch into gum; the gum into sugar; the Bugar
into alcohol; the alcohol into acetic acid or ether; and
the ether into water or carburetted hydrogen.
All these transformations, all these imitations, depend
on that excessive mobility of the elements of organic
38 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
matters by which they are unable to resist the action of
energetic reagents, as nitric acid, potassa, chromic acid,
chlorine, which take their carbon and hydrogen, and thus
change them into new substances less hydrogenized,
and less carburetted. But this same mobility is an
obstacle, on the other hand, to the power of chemists,
who cannot imitate the principles of the blood, the
cerebral matter, nor other substances of a similar com-
plicated nature. They cannot directly reunite the ele-
ments of an organic substance so as to reproduce it with
all its primitive characteristics, as is so often done with
mineral substances. Thus, while sugar can be trans-
formed into alcohol and carbonic acid, and these two
products represent the composition of the former, we
are unable, in the present state of science, to make
sugar with alcohol and carbonic acid. This impuissance
is due solely to the fact that the synthetical processes
which can be used to obtain such a reproduction are
too energetic, too different from those quiet and slow
rel!'t:tions which are accomplished in the living organism,
and can be effected only under conditions where organic
matter could not exist. We have not yet the means of
imitating, in our laboratories, what nature does so easily
within the organs- of plants and animals.
The ready decomposition of organic matters, the con-
tinual metamorphoses they experience, render their
study more difficult than that of mineral substances.
These latter are not destroyed by chemical reactions, for
their essential characteristic is the stability of their ele-
ments, and with them the chemist loses none of the
principles on which his investigations are carried on,
and he can always control the results of his analysis by
synthesis; but it is very different with the organic com-
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 39
pounds. Energetic reaction is a cause of destruction or
transformation; new products are formed, differing
greatly from those which pre-existed, and with which
it is impossible to reproduce that which was organized
under the influence of life.
CHAPTER II.
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES.
CELLULOSE-STARCH-DEXTRIN-GLUCOSE-GUMS-
SUGARS.
CELLULOSE, CI2HIOQIO.
THE cellulose or cellular tissue is particularly evident
in the young organs of vegetables. The cell is formed
in the liquids which circulate through the plants, and
grows by successive agglutinations with the cells pre-
viously formed, which occasions a modification in the
original form of the cells. Sometimes they are rounded
!lnd show a certain regularity, as in the pith of the
elder, and in the potato, in which case they constitute
the cellular tissue properly so called. Sometimes the
cells form elongated tubuli communicating by their
contracted extremities. As the vegetable portions grow
old on the living plant. the vascular vessels are filled
with woody fibre, which increases gradually in thickness,
and leaves only very narrow canals for the circulation
of the sap. The whole of this mechanism constitutes
the wood.
From all the substances entering into the composition
of plants, the cellular tissue is distinguished by its great
40 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
resistance to chemical agents, a resistance which allows
of its separation in a state of purity, sufficiently perfect
to permit the study of its properties, and its
elementary composition. It is always the same, not
only in all parts of the same plant, but also in all vege-
tables. CeUulose is the name given to that
which is regarded by chemists as forming the cellular
tissue of all plants.
It is nearly pure in cotton, and in hemp and flax,
that is, in the textile fibres extracted from the plants of
these names. It is also nearly pure in paper and old
linen, made of the substances just mentioned, and which,
during their preparation and use, have been subjected
to various chemical reactions which have gradually
effected the entire destruction of the more changeable
foreign substances mixed with the cellular tissue.
Cellulose is extracted from various parts of plants by
submitting them to successive chemical reactions which
destroy the more alterable woody fibre. The substance,
when obtained in as disintegrated a form as possible, is
digested with hot solutions of caustic potassa or soda, and,
after washing, the residue is treated with weak hydro-
chloric acid, and washed with water. By a repetition of
this process a certain number of times, the woody fibre
is completely removed'; although the same result may
be obtained more quickly by subjecting the substance to
more powerful oxidizing agents, such as weak solutions
of chlorine or hypochlorite of lime, and following each
of these with an alkaline solution, and dilute hydro-
chloric acid. The operations must be carefully con-
ducted, and reagents diluted with water, alone used.
The cellulose is then washed successively with alcohol
and ether, to dissolve the fatty matter.
Pure cellulose is white and transparent, insoluble in
ELEMENTARY PRINOIPLES. 41
water, alcohol, ether, and the fixed and volatile oils.
Dilute acid solutions have but little effect on it even at
boiling point, which is also the case with weak alka-
line solutions. The resistance cellulose offers to these
reagents varies with its cohesion, recently formed cellu-
lose being much more easily changed. Concentrated
sulphuric and phosphoric acids attack cellulose, and
convert it into a soluble substance called dextrin, then
change it into a ,sugary substance called glucose. Fu-
ming nitric acid combines, when cold, with cellulose, and
converts it into an insoluble substance, eminently com-
bustible and explosive, which we have described in
another work, and is called pyroxylin or gun cotton. At
the boiling point, nitric acid dissolves it, and transforms
it into oxalic acid. Acetic acid, even in a concentrated
state, has no action on it.
Cellulose, lis it exists in the cellular tissue of plants, is
not colored by an aqueous of iodine, but when
it has been acted upon by sulphuric acid, it assumes a
beautiful blue color. After some time, a solution of
chlorine or hypochlorite completely destroys cellulose,
forming water and carbonic acid; that destruction is
very rapid if the solution is hot and concentrated.
Its elementary composition is:-
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
44.44
6.18
49.38
100.00
Its formula is C1IHIOQ10. We must remark that oxy-
gen exists in it, in the proportion constituting water
The Fabrication of Matches. Phila.: H. C. Baird.
42 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
STARCH, C
12
H
1
00IO.
Starch is the feculent matter of plants, and is found
in all parts to a greater or less degree. It is, however,
rarely found in the stems and branches of the dicoty-
ledonous plants, is always contained in the cavities of
the cellular substance, perfectly isolated, but surrounded
by an aqueous liquid. The gluten and other substances
with which it is associated are separable by mechanical
means. All that is llSed in the arts' is obtained from
wheat, com, and potatoes.
Starch has exactly the same composition in all vege-
tables, and is identical with that of cellulose. Starch
dried in vacuo at 234 contains:-
Carbon
Hydrogen.
Oxygen
44.44
6.18
49.38
100.00
which corresponds to C
1
2H
1
oQ
1
0.
Starch is always found in the form of brilliant, white
sand, pulverulent granules, varying in size from 1"h to
IT!nth of an inch in diameter. Each grain consists of
several concentric layers, decreasing in thickness and
hardness interiorly.
It is insoluble in alcohol, ether, and cold water, but
at 150 it forms with the latter a thick solution, which
. gelatinizes by cooling. At 140 starch separates into two
portions, without solution of either; or 0.003 to 0.004
is left unacted upon, while the residue forms a jelly.
The action of boiling water increases the volume of
starch thirty-fold. When the heat is raised to 395 to
430, it is converted into dextrin. If heated in a
digester with 5 parts of water at 320, a gum-like pro-
duct, similar to dextrin, is obtained; but if the tempera-
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES 43
ture is raised to 356, much sugar is formed. Hydrated
starch heated in a closed tube at 212 to 266, is
converted into a paste; at 305 it forms a transparent
solution, which on cooling deposits minute granules
soluble in water at 158 to 212, but unaltered in pro-
perties from the original starch. A continued ebullition
for several days, converts starch into a bitter matter,
and undetermined gummy principles.
The most characteristic test for the presence of starch
is iodine, which imparts to it a deep violet color when
pure and moist. The iodine must not be used in
excess. The color disappears wh.en the paste is heated,
but returns again in cooling. Starch solution is precipi-
tated by alcohol, subacetate of lead, lime, and tannin.
Starch is dissolved by dilute acids, excepting acetic
acid, and by prolonged ebullition is converted first into
dextrin, and ultimately into grape-sugar.
Strong nitric acid converts it into oxalic acid and
:I:!Jlaidin.
Concentrated sulphuric acid, when rubbed up with
starch, yields a gummy mass, which liquefies and forms
soluble compounds with lead, lime, and baryta. If the
acid is diluted with 2 parts of water, starch is carbon-
ized, and formic acid produced.
Ammonia alone has no action on starch. A lye con-
taining 2 per cent. of soda swells the grains to 60 or 70
times their original bulk. Fused hydrate of potassa
transforms it into formic, acetic, and metacetonic acids.
When rubbed with strong potassa lye, it unites and forms
a transparent gelatinous compound, soluble in water and
alcohol, from which starch is precipitated by acids.
Diastase with starch produces a series of reactions.
At first it only causes liquefaction and deposition of
minute granules at 140 to 160, when heated in a
44 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
digester. Thus far the starch continues to be blued by
iodine, but where by further reactions it is converted
into dextrin, the tint passes gradually into violet and
purple, and ultimately disappears when the dextrin is
transformed into sugar.
The principal sources of starch are wheat, corn,
potatoes, rice; it is prepared fl'om the grains of the
cereals by soaking, crushing, and fermenting them.
The acetous fermentation thus produced at the ex-
pense of the sugar present, promotes the solution of the
gluten, so that, by washing the crushed grains in baskets
with running water, the starch is carried through the
meshes as a milky liquid, which must be run upon hair
sieves into clean vats. In a short time the starch sub-
sides, and the supernatant liquor is then decanted, and
the upper stratum of slimes also removed. After re-
peated washings with fresh water, the starch is to be'
well stirred, and the milky liquor again strained upon
hair sieves of greater fineness than those first used. After
repose, the water and slimes are separated as before, the
starch strained in linen bags', and dried by exposure to
the sun or in a warm room.
Wheat contains from 56 to 76 per cent. of starch;
corn from 70 to 75, potatoes from 15 to 30, rice from 80
to 85 per cent.
Starch plays a very important part in the fabrication
of vinegar from grains.
DEXTRIN, C11lH1oQIO.
As has already been stated, starch, when treated for
some time with water containing some hundredths of a
mineral acid, sulphuric for instance, is soon completely
dissolved, being first converted into a substance closely
resembling gum-arabic, and then, if the ebullition be
ELEHENTARY PRINCIPLES. 45
continued, changing into sugar. The first product of
transformation has received the name of dextrin.
Dextrin is very soluble in water, and dissolves also
in dilute alcohol, but is insoluble in absolute alcohol.
As it dissolves but sparingly in concentrated alcohol,
which dissolves a much larger proportion of the sugar,
this solvent is frequently employed to separate dextrin
from the sugar with which it is ordinarily mixed.
Dextrin separated from its solutions by evaporation,
assumes the form of a colorless, transparent substance,
without any appearance of crystallization, closely resem-
bling gum-arabic, but possessing an opposite rotatory
power. Heated with commercial nitric acid, it gives
oxalic acid, but not mucic acid, thus distinguishing it
chemically from gum. Iodine does not color the
solutions of dextrin, which affords an easy test for
ascertaining when the transformation of the amylaceous
matter is completed, and which exhibits the action of
sulphuric acid in the preparation just indicated. By
pouring into a small quantity of the hot liquor, previous
to boiling, a few drops of an aqueous solution of iodine,
the beautiful indigo-blue color peculiar to starchy matter
is produced, while if the same experiment be repeated
some time after, the iodine produces a violet tinge, and
at a still later period, a purplish or reddish hue; lastly,
no change of color is effected, the yellowish tinge being
merely due to the aqueous solution of iodine. But at
this period a portion of the dextrin formed has gene-
rally undergone a more advanced transformation, and is
changed into sugar.
Solutions of dextrin possess some properties of solu-
tions of gum, and may be substituted occasionally for
them in the arts.
One method of preparing dextrin consists in heating
46 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
starch to a temperature of about 410, when it becomes
disaggregated and converted into dextrin; the dried
starch being spread in layers of from 1 to Ii inch in
thickness, on sheet-iron tables, in a furnace heated by a
regular circulation of hot air, the temperature of which
must not exceed 410.
The product thus obtained is called torrified starch, or
leiocomme, and exhibits the pulverulent appearance of
starch, while its color is slightly yellowish, owing to a
more advanced decomposition. Another method con-
sists in moistening 1000 parts of starch with 300 of
water containing 2 of nitric acid, and, after allowing the
substance to dry spontaneously, heating it for one or
two hours in a stove at 212 or 230 when the transfor-
mation is effected, and the acid is evaporated.
Diastase.-We have already mentioned the name of
diastase; some remarks are necessary on that important
body.
It is a peculiar nitrogenous substance, which possesses
the property of converting a large proportion of starch
into dextrin, and even into sugar when its action is suf-
ficiently prolonged. It exists in the germ of the cerealia
and tubercular vegetables. It appears to be formed at
the moment of germination, probably at the expense of
the albuminous matter contained in the grain, as it re-
sides in the very origin of the germ and in the eye of
the tuber; and its use in the vegetable economy appears
to be that of disaggregating the amylaceous matter, and
transforming it into an isomeric soluble substance, when
the vital forces then change into other isomeric, but
insoluble, substances, such as cellulose, which are to form
the framework of the growing plant.
Diastase is generally extracted from barley which has
sprouted, by digesting the powdered grain in water at
ELEIlENTARY PRINCIPLES 47
77 to 86, and, after several hours, compressing the
paste in a cloth and filtering; when the liquid contains
diastase in solution, and may be used immediately to
effect the transformation of starch. If the active prin-
ciple is to be separated from it, it must be heated to
167, a temperature which does not alter the substance,
but at which an albuminoid substance mixed with it
coagulates. Anhydrous alcohol is then poured into the
liquor as long as any precipitate is formed, when the
diastase is precipitated in flakes, which are redissolved
in water, and again reprecipitated by alcohol. The sub-
stance, dried in vacuo, is white, amorphous, soluble
in water and weak alcohol, but insoluble in concentrated
alcohol. The aqueous solution is neutral and tasteless,
and is not precipitated by acetate of lead. Diastase may
be preserved for a long time in dry air, but soon putre-
fies in dampness; and a temperature of 212
0
deprives it
entirely of its action on starch, which is very powerful,
for one part of diastase is sufficient to transform into
dextrin, and subsequently into sugar, 2000 parts of starch;
to produce which effect by the action of acid, it would
require thirty times the weight of sulphuric acid. It
cannot be supposed, on account of the small proportion
of diastase, that any ordinary chemical reaction takes
place, and the phenomenon mUtlt rather be compared to
those mysterious actions called actions by contact, and it
may also be assimilated to other phenomena, also im-
perfectly explained, known by the name offermentation.
Diastase appears to be more active between the tem-
peratures of 149 and 167, the action ceasing at a higher
degree. At 32 it still converts starch into dextrin and
sugar, but at 10,4 dextrin alone is formed. Diastase
exerts no action on cellulose, lignin, nor even cane-
sugar, which is so easily changed by diluted acids.
48 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
. The action of diastase is applied in the arts to the
purpose of obtaining dextrin with more or less s u g a r ~
the transformation being effected in a double boiler be-
tween the sides of which steam is made to circulate;
the ground barley, or malt, being suspended in water
heated at 167, the starch is added to it by small quan-
tities as it dissolves. The operation is watched, and the
liquor tested from time to time with the aqueous solu-
tion of iodine; and when a vinous color is produced, the
action of the diastase must be quickly paralyzed, as
otherwise a large quantity of sugar would be formed, and
it is done by rapidly heating the liquor to 212 by pass-
ing steam through it. It is then decanted, and evapo-
rated to a syrupy consistenc,e.
The dextrin, thus prepared, is used in the baking of
pastry, or in the manufacture of beer, cider, alcohol, and
various alcoholic liquors; that obtained from torrified
starch, or by the action of acids, is used in dyeing and
calico printing, and also in surgery in what is called the
immovable treatment of fractures.
GLUCOSE.
I ~ treating of sugars, 'we shall speak of this very in-
teresting product.
Guxs, C
12
HIOOIO.
Certain substances, as yet imperfectly understood,
which issue from trees, are called gums. Their element-
ary composition is the Bame as that of amylaceous mat-
ter, but they differ from it in several of their chemical
properties; thus, amylaceous matter forms oxalic acid
with nitric acid, while, under the same circumstances,
gums produce both oxalic acid and a peculiar acid called
mucic acid. Gums may be divided into three species:-
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 49
1. Gum-arabic or arahin.
2. The gum of our indigenous fruit-trees, or celasin.
3. Gum-tragacanth, the essential principle of which
has been called bassorin. Iodine does not color gums
when they are pure, and when gum-tragacanth assumes
a blue tinge, it is due to the presence of a. small quan-
tity of starch.
It is not our purpose to study the different gums; we
have mentioned them, as they oecupy the middle rank
between amylaceous matter and sugars.
SUGARS.
Sugars are substances soluble in water, having a
sweet taste, and possessing the property of being con-
verted into alcohol and carbonic acid, when left in con.
tact with certain nitrogenous o r ~ a n i c substances, called
yeasts, or leaven. Sugars are widely diffused through the
vegetable kingdom; and three principal species have
been distinguished by chemists:-
1. Cane sugar.
2. Grape sugar.
3. Uncrystallizable fruit sugar.
The first species is perfectly well known, while the
others are less so, and when their properties are more
accurately ascertained they will probably be subdivided.
A crystallizable substance, sugar of milk, is also found in
the milk of animals, and should be classed among the
sugars. In their composition, sugars present this re-
markable fact, that their hydrogen and oxygen exist in
exactly the proportions which form water.
Cane Sugar, C
1
2H
ll
O
ll
.-Cane sugar exists in solution
in the juice of a large number of vegetables; and may
be said ~ be found in all vegetables, the juice of which is
not acid, as acids convert cane sugar into fruit sugar. It
4
60 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
is also abundantly found in the sugar cane, the sugar
beet, melons, turnips, the stalks of corn, the sap of the
maple, as well as many tropical fruits, etc. It is prin-
cipally extracted from the sugar cane and sugar beet.
Large quantities are obtained from the maple.
Pure cane sugar is found in commerce, either in the
form of large colorless and transparent crystals, consti-
tuting sugar candy, or in that of small crystals adhering
to each other, as in the common loaves of sugar. It is
inodorous, has a very sweet taste, and a density of 1.60.
It dissolves in one-third of its weight of cold, and in a
still smaller quantity of boiling water. It dissolves in
80 times its weight of boiling absolute alcohol, but the
greater portion is deposited during the cooling; it is
nearly insoluble in cold alcohol. It dissolves more
easily in slightly diluted alcohol, for 4 parts of alcohol at
181.5 will dissolve one of sugar. Cane sugar melted in
water turns the plane of polarization of polarized light
towards the right.
Heated to 320, cane sugar fuses and forms a viscous
mass flowing with difficulty, which solidifies into a trans-
parent mass, having a vitreous fracture.
Melted sugar kept for some time at 356
0
loses the
property of crystallizing when again dissolved in water.
The composition of crystallized cane sugar corresponds
to the formula C
12
H
ll
O
ll
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES. 53
It crystallizes with difficulty, producing a compound
crystallization, is less soluble in water than cane sugar,
for it requires one and a half part of cold water to dis-
solve one of grape sugar. Its taste is less sweet. It dis-
solves more freely in alcohol than cane sugar, as one
part of it dissolves in 60 parts of boiling absolute alco-
hol, and in five or six parts of alcohol at 181.40. Its
solution turns the plane of polarization to the right.
It softens at 140, and is completely liquefied at 212,
at which temperature it loses 2 eqs. of water, and is
converted into a new sugar, C1sH1S01S, which presents
the composition of fruit sugar, although it continues to
turn polarized light to the right.
It combines less readily with bases than cane sugar,
and, when boiled with alkaline solutions, the liquor
turns brown, exhales a smell of burnt sugar, acid pro-
ducts being formed which combine with the alkali.
Slaked lime converts it into a powerful acid-glucic
acid, C8H
6
06. This acid forms salts with lime and lead.
By one and a half part of concentrated
sulphuric acid gradually upon one part of grape sugar
melted at 212, treating it with water, and, lastly, satu-
rating the liquor with carbonate of baryta, the liquid
will contain a soluble salt called sulphosaccharate.
A boiling solution of this sugar immediately reduces
the blue liquor obtained by pouring potassa and tartrate
of potassa into salts of the oxide of copper, CuO, and
precipitates from it the red suboxide of copper, Cu
2
0.
This reaction has been employed for the purpose of
ascertaining the quantity of grape Bugar existing in a
fluid.
Glucose, C
12
H
H
O
H
._If the action of diastase, or that
of acids on starch. be prolonged, the dextrin which
is first formed is converted into sugar, and the solution,
54 KANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
when evaporated, sets into a crystalline mass resembling
that formed by grape sugar. This sugar is called glucose,
and is identical with grape sugar. In the transforma-
tion, the amylaceous matter, C
12
HIOQIO, absorbs four
equivalents of water to constitute glucose, C12H
14
014, and
it is important to remark that cane sugar, C
12
H
ll
O
ll
, is
intermediate between these two substances, while it
has hitherto been impossible to arrest the absorption of
water at one equi v.; for it would be of immense com-
mercial value, if the intermediate product could be pre-
served, as it is much more valuable than glucose.
Glucose is found in c o m m ~ r c e under three different
forms-in syrup, in mass, and granulated.
The saccharification is effected by sulphuric acid
diluted with 33 times its weight of water, and heated
to a temperature slightly above 212. The operation
is performed in a wooden vat, at the bottom of which
is a lead pipe baving a great number of holes. The
tube communicates with a steam generator, which drives
steam into the water in the tub, which being two-thirds
filled with acidulated water, is rapidly heated to 212.
The starch, previously diluted with water, is gradually
added, and, in 30 or 40 minutes after the last addition
of starch, the conversion into sugar is completed. In
order to ascertain this, a few drops of the liquid are
allowed to cool, and treated with a small quantity of a
solution of iodine, which should produce no change of
color. Then the steam is arrested, and the acid satu-
rated with chalk. The liquor is allowed to rest twelve
hours, is decanted and bleached by filtration through
animal black, and is then evaporated in order to reduce
it to the degree of concentration required. If solid
glucose is to be obtained, the syrup is concentrated to
40 or 42 Baume, and, when sufficiently cool, run into
ALCOHOL. 55
barrels, in which it solidifies. To granulate it, it is
evaporated to only 3Z' B., and allowed to remain twenty-
four hours in reservoirs in which it cools as rapidly as
possible; after which the syrup is brought into vats,
the bottoms of which are pierced with small holes c l o ~ e d
,with pins, fermentation being prevented by pouring
into each vat about six ounces of an aqueous solution
of snlphurous acid. Crystallization does not commence
for eight days. When two-thirds of the mass is solidi-
fied, the pins are removed and the liquid flows out.
The .crystals are then dried on plates of plaster at a
temperature not exceeding 77.
Glucose in grains is rarely made, except for the pur-
pose of adulterating brown sugar.
In syrup and in bulk it is used in the manufacture
of beer, alcohol, and vinegar.
CHAPTER III.
ALCOHOL.
ALOOHOUO FERMENTATION....FERMENT....ALCOHOL----
PREPA.BATION-PROPERTIES.
ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION.
ANCIENT philosophers, chemists of the middle ages,
etc., had ascertained that vegetable matters deprived of
life experienced spontaneous alterations which changed
their nature, and that the new products were different
according to the nature of the vegetable itself; they
gave to those alterations the name of fermentation, and
published more or less erroneous hypotheses as to their
formation. Boerhaave was the first who explained this
56 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
l
phenomenon. He established three kinds of fermenta-
tion: 1st, the spirituous.. 2d, the acetous.. 3d, the putrid.
According to this theory, the second fermentation could
not take place until the first had manifested itself; it
was a series of movements united one to the other by
the same cause, and succeeding each other in the above "
established order. Fourcroy admitted five fermenta.
tions: the saccharine, the vinous, the acid, the coloring,
and the putrid.
The saccharine fermentation takes place every time a
saccharine matter is developed in a substance aban.
doned to itself, as at the time of the maturity of some
fruits; the second, when saccharine liquors are spon.
taneously decomposed and transformed into alcohol;
the third, when alcoholic liquors pass to the state of
acetic acid; the fourtb, when a coloring substance is pro-
duced; and the fifth, when putrefaction begins. In this
work, we shall examine only the second and third.
It is a well.demonstrated fact that saccharine sub-
stances dissolved in water, united to a ferment, are soon
converted into alcohol when they are exposed to a
gentle heat between 59 and 86. As soon as the fer-
mentation begins, the saccharine substance is gradually
decomposed, the liquor becomes muddy, carbonic acid
gas is produced, which carries with it the parts of the
ferment which rise to the surface in the form of a scum.
which again falls to the bottom of the liquitl, and is
raised anew by the carbonic acid gas. This tumultuous
movement diminishes after a time, the liquid gradually
becomes clear, and takes a vinous and an acid taste.
When the disengagement of the carbonic acid gas stops.
and the liqQid has become clear, and of a specific gra-
vit.y less than water. it is ascertained that the greater
part of the sugar is transformed into alcohol. After
ALCOHOL. 57
fermentation, there yet remains the vinous liquor, more
"
"
65
about 5 per cent. of acetic acid, remembering that a
good average practical yield is 1 part of sugar to 1 of
starch, 1 part of alcohol for 2 parts of sugar, and that 1
of alcohol will produce I! of monohydrated acetic acid.
The mash.tun is made of wood or of cast-iron plates
bolted together, of a size to suit the trade of the manu-
facturer. It is preferable to have it shallow rather than
high, and a good proportion is to give it a diameter
three times its height. In order to prevent the settling
of the grist, and to obtain a thorough mixture, the mash
tun is furnished with a stirring-apparatus, moved by
hand or by power. There is also a perforated false
bottom for draining the clear wort.
H is seldom that pure malt is employed alone for a
mash, it being too expensive a process, inasmuch as the
diastase contained in the malt may transform into sugar
a great proportion of starch. Therefore a grist for
mashing is usually a mixture of malt with other grains,
such as unmalted barley, corn, oats, wheat, &c.; the
proportions being variable' and regulated by the habit or
the fancy of the manufacturer, or the changing price of
these grains. A knowledge of the proper proportions for
a mixture may be had by consulting the results obtained
by Balling, and which give the average per cent. of
extract from the following substances:- .
Wheat or maize (Indian-corn) 70 per cent. of malt extract.
Barley 60"" \
Barley malt (not kiln-dried) 57" ..
Equal parts of wheat and
barley
Equal parts of raw and
malted barley . 58" "
According to the skill of the maltster, from 10 to 25
pounds of ground malt will saccharify one hundred
pounds of starch.
..
ART OF BREWING. H5
Oats in the grist will impart a peculiar flavor to the
alcohol produced. Potato starch may be .sefully em-
ployed, preferably with a mixture of other grains; but
whenever the proportion of raw grain is very large, a
certain quantity of chaff is added, which renders it more
easy to drain off the clear wort. A grist containing
one-eighth of malted barley and seven-eighths of un-
malted grain is a proportion very often employed.
The grist, or meal of mixed grains, is gradually added
to the water put into the mash-tun, which should have
a temperature of 140 to 150, and the mass is thoroughly
mixed so as to moisten and divide the grist equally.
Then a fresh quantity of water, at the proper tempera-
ture, is added, and the whole allowed to rest until the
starch of the grain is changed into sugar by the diastase
of the malt.
Three or four mashings are necessary to extract all
the available parts of the grist, but the proportions of
water added at each operation vary with each manu-
facturer. Those who use a great deal of water at the
last mashings, either evaporate it down afterwards, or
use it for a subsequent mashing.
The temperature of the water is better when kept
within the limits of 140 to 150 during the first mash-
ing, but it may be slightly and gradually raised in the
second, third, or fourth mashing, since most of the ex-
tractive substances have been taken during the first
mashing. The maximum temperature of water at the
last mashing is 175.
The length of time for each operation is equally vari-
dble with the nature of the grist. The more malt the
more rapid the process. With the proper temperature
and constant stirring, a mashing may be ended after
86
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAH.
two hours' time; three to four hours are sometimes re-
quired.
Each wash, or the worts of each mashing, are drawn
off by a faucet under the false perforated bottom, into
under tanks. The specific gravity of the first wort is
generally about 1.1050; that of the second is about
1.012; that of the third, 1.008; and that of the fourth,
only slightly above water.
Dr. Ure gives the following examples of proportions
of grain and water in moderate-sized factories: Five
hundred bushels of malt and '000 gallons of water at
160
0
for the first mashing, to wh,icli are added 5000
gallons at 180
0
for the second, and 4500 gallons for the
third mashings. The first and second worts are mixed
together, and make about 9000 gallons. The third
wort is reserved for mashing a fresh quantity of 500
bushels of malt.
If rye is used instead of malt, 90 bushels of it are
mixed with 190 of raw wain, and 5200 gallons of water
are employed, the temperature of which must not be as
high as when pure malt is used, but the operation lasts
longer.
Boiling.-The worts are a solution of sugar, unde-
composed starch, and a certain percentage of glutinous,
gummy, ahd albuminous substances:
The object of boiling is twofold: to concentrate
worts which are too diluted, and which, without this
operation, will give too weak a vinegar; and to eliminate
part of the nitrogenous substances by the coagulation of
the albumen. This latter circumstance is more important
to the beer and ale brewer than to the vinegar manufac-
turer, because beer containing nitrogenous substances
will not keep well, and will always have a tendency to
turn sour; nevertheless, although the process of acetifi-
ART OF BREWING. 87
cation is aided' by the presence of these nitrogenous
substances, the vinegar produced has not the same
pleasant taste and smell as when they have been
removed.
Therefore, boiling the worts is llseful for concentrating
weak worts, and for getting rid of the albumen and other
impurities; besides, the undecomposed starch is trans-
formed into sugar; but if the worts have the proper
strength, boiling shouJd not last more than the time
sufficient to effect the coagulation.
Certain kinds 'of instruments called saccharometers
are employed by brewers to ascertain the quantity of
malt extract or of sugar in their worts. The annexed
table giyes the per cent. of sugar (glucose) for varying
specific gravities. In the absence of the saccharometer,
an hydrometer giving the specific gravities may be
employed.
Table giving the specific gravity of Saccharometer degrees at the
temperature of 63.
8 ~ 1 . 8 a r o ~ 1 1 l
Bagarlll 8agarla
SpecUla 8peeilia 100 8peeille' 100 Specilia
part. of ,rani,.. part> of r&1'It,.. part> of .rnlt,.. part> of ,rnlt,..
IOlatioll. oolatloll. olatloll. lolatloa.
---
0 1.0000 20 1.0832 40 1.1794 60 1.2900
1 1.0040 21 1.0877 41 1.1846 61 1.2959
2 1.0080 22 1.0922 42 1.1898 62 1.3019
3 1.0120 23 1.0967 43 1.1951 63 1.3079
4 1.0160 24 1.1013 44 1.2004 64 1.3139
5 1.0200 25 1.1059 45 1.2057 65 1.3190
6 1.0240 26 1.1106 46 1.2111 66 1.3260
7
1.0281 27 1.1153 47 1.2165 67 1.3321
8 1.0322 28 1.1200 48 1.2219 68 1.3383
9 1.0363 29 1.1247 49 1.2274 69 1.3445
10 1.0404 30 1.1295 50 1.2329 70 1.3507
11 1.0446 31 1.1343 51 1.2385 71 1.3570
12 1.0488 32 1.1391 52 1.2441 72 1.3633
13 1.0530 33 1.1440 53 1.2497 73 1.3696
14 1.0572 34 1.1490 54 1.2553 74 1.3760
15 1.0614 35 1.1540 65 1.2610 75 1.3!i24
16 1.0657 36 1.1590 56 1.2667 75.35 1.3847
17 1.0700 37 1.1641 57 1.2725
18 1.0744 38 1.1692 58 1.2783
19 1.0788 39 1.1743 59 1.2841
88 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
We will remark that the determination of the propor-
tion of sugar is performed by volumetric analysis much
more exactly than by any kind of hydrometer, since
albuminous and gummy matters and undecomposed
starch influence the specific gravity of the worts, and,
therefore, vitiate the indications of the instrument. At
best, a saccharometer will give but approximate results,
and its use will continue to be one of those" rules of
thumb" so much relished by so-called practical men.
The boiling is performed in copper boilers, and the
impurities are skimmed off the surface, and further
separated by passing the wort through strainers made
of a fine sieve or of packed straw.
Cooling.-The object of this operation is to prevent a
too rapid fermentation of the worts, by which acetic
acid will be formed before all the sugar is transformed
into alcohol. At the same time, if the temperature
during the fermentation is too great, a part of the alcohol
may evaporate.
The tendency to acetification is greater with grain
worts than with malt worts.
Several processes of c o o l i n ~ are employed. The older
method consists in running the boiled clear worts into
shallow pans of wood or cast-iron, and forcing air on
the surface by means of ventilators made like horizontal
windmills. Not only is the wort cooled, but a great
deal of the liquid is evaporated, which is an inconve-
nience in some cases, since the specific gravity of the
wort is increased. Another method, which retains all
the water of the wort, consists in passing it through tin
pipes cooled externally by fresh water. A third process,
which partakes of the preceding two; employs the
shallow pans, but a stream of cold water passes through
pipes immersed in the wort. A great deal of ingenuity
ART OF BREWING. 89
has been exercised and many patents granted for cooling
worts and beer, but it would be too long to mention
them here, the principal point being to assert the
necessity of a rapid cooling.
Fermentation.-This operation is the most difficult of
the art of brewing, and requires skill and great attention
on the part of the vinegar manufacturer. A tumultuous
or too rapid fermentation causes a loss of alcohol by
volatilization, and sometimes of w'ort, when the liquors
run over the fermenting-tun. On the other hand, if the
temperature is suffered to fall low, if the yeast is poor,
the fermentation will cease, and it will be extremely
difficult to revive it, even with the addition of fresh
yeast dissolved in hot wort.
The conditions of a good fermentation are: A good
wort of proper strength, since, if it is too diluted, acid
fermentation may take place at the same time as the
alcoholic one; on the other hand, a heavy wort, too rich
in extractive substances, will retain a considerable pro-
portion of sugar unconverted into alcohol, because the
alcohol already produced prevents the further decompo-
sition of the sugar. In worts properly diluted it has
been found, practically, that nearly one-fifth ofthe sugar
is not converted into alcohol.-A good yeast which will
rapidly cause the fermentation of the wort. The pro-
portion of yeast varies with its strength, and the specific
gravity of the worts; generally from 1 to 2 per cent. of
fresh yeast is employed, and only a portion of it is mixed
with the wort in the fermenting-tun, the remainder being
gradually added afterwards. Sometimes, instead of
fresh y e ~ s t , which is always employed at the beginning
of the fermentation, old yeast is added at the last stages
of the operation.-A proper temperature of the room
(60) and of the liquid in the tun, varying from 60 to
90 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
85. The lowest temperature is that advisable at the
beginning of the fermentation, and the highest at the
end. It must be remembered that the fermentation
itself raises the temperature of the wort considerably,
and that worts which when" charged mark 60, may
have their temperature raised up to 80. If the tem-
perature is raised, it must be done gradually. Small
fermenting-tuns require a higher dpgree of heat than
large ones.
The fermenting-tun is usually made of wood, but im-
proved ones are of iron within another of wood. The
space between them may be filled with cold or hot water,
in order to keep the temperature at the desired point.
A few hours after the worts and yeast have been put
into the fermenting-tun, bubbles of carbonic acid appear
at the surface; their number increases rapidly, the tem-
perature naturally rises, and the nitrogenous substances
are seen going up with a rapid motion. The foam thus
formed, and which is called yeast, settles at the top and
is never removed from the tun, while some brewers, at
the beginning of the operation, break it and force it
down. It soon comes up again, becomes harder, and is
allowed to remain undisturbed until the end of the
operation, although the denser parts of it fall to the
bottom when the specific. gravity of the liquor has
diminished. The end of the operation is near when
the top yeast separates from the sides of the tun and
becomes darker, when the movement of gas diminishes,
and the temperature of the wort subsides.
During the operation, the specific gravity of the fer-
menting wort is frequently examined, and constantly
diminishes, by the fact that sugar becomes transformed
into alcohol, and the specific gravity of the latter sub-
stance being smaller than that of water, it follows that
ART OP BREWING. 91
the specific gravity of the worts must become lower and
lower as the proportion of alcohol increases.
Muspratt gives, as an example, the observations of
Donavan on the variations of specific gravity, called
degrees of attenuation, of a wort after five days' fermen-
tation, the original specific gravity being 1.050.
Pinlt morning, temperature 700; specific gravity of wort, 1.050
"
evening,
"
70
" " "
1.050
Second morning,
"
72
" " "
1.046
"
evening,
..
76
" "
"
1.032
Third morning,
u
80
u u u
1.022
..
evening,
u
84
u
"
u
1.012
Pourth morning,
u
88
.. u u
1.007
u
evening,
..
88
"
"
u
1.005
Fifth morning,
"
88
u u
"
1.003
u
evening,
"
86
u
"
u
1.001
The time of fermentation varies with the quantity of
wort to be fermented, the temperature, the yeast, and
the season of the year. A fermentation should not be
hurried, but should be kept constantly brisk until its
natural termination. From three to six days are gene-
rally necessary for a proper fermentation, and if the
temperature in the tun at the end of the operation is
high, it is proper to cover the tun tight, in order not to
lose the alcohol produced.
Cleansing.-This last operation of our process of
brewing consists in racking the fermented wort, called
wine or wash, from the tun into casks, where a second
slow fermentation, or rather the continuation of the
first, takes place with the aid of a certain proportion of
the yeast, fallen to the bottom of the fermenting-tun.
If care be taken to keep the casks constantly full, the
impurities raised by the fermentation escape by the
bungs, and the liquid below becomes cleansed, besides
gaining a little more alcohol from the sugar, which was
not decomposed in the fermenting-tun.
92
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
CHAPTER V.
ACETIC FERMENTATION.
THE acetic fermentation may be regarded, as a trans-
formation of alcoholic liquors into acetic acid. In the
alcoholic fermentation, if the air plays any part, it is
of small importance; while the acetic fermentation
cannot be established and continued without the pre-
sence of this fluid. The circumstances without which
that fermentation could not take place, and those which
favor it, are the following:-
1. The contact of the air with the liquid. This is
absolutely necessary; yet Becken, Stahl, and Lepechin
have announced- that they have converted wine into
vinegar by bottling, hermetically sealed, and keeping it
exposed at a gentle heat; but, as it will be observed that
the conversion was slow and the vinegar not very strong,
it is easy to explain it. Air was present in the neck of
the bottle, and, without doubt, the porosity of the cork
permitted the entrance of more. Messrs. Struve and
Bertrand, have advanced that heat alone was sufficient
without the access of air, to transform wine into vine-
gar. Such assertions, so contrary to experience, to I
obtain credit, should be accompanied by strong proofs,
yet these chemists give none. Although daily practice
and the theory of the acetification, so well studied by
* Beclcen, Phys. Soaterraioe, book i., sec. 5. Demacll.g, Art da
Vioaigrier.
ACETIC FERMENTATION. 93
modern chemists, were more than sufficient to refute
such an error, M. J. de Fontenelle has demonstrated its
absurdity by a direct experiment.- He kept wine in
vacuo under the receiver of the pneumatic machine,
without perceiving the least traces of acetification.
During the time, a remarkable fact occurred; the wine
was partly decolorized, and deposited on the edges of the
vessel bitartrate of potassa and lime united with the
coloring ma'tter.
Whatever may be the utility of the air in the act of
the acetic fermentation, the alcoholic liquid must not
be exposed to a current of this fluid, because it would
volatilize some alcohol. But, as a general rule, the
larger the surface exposed to the air the quicker the
acetification. It is accelerated by stirring the liquor
, from time to time.
2. To cause the establishment of the acetic fermenta-
tion, the wine must be exposed to a temperature be-
tween 50 and 86. Demachy believes that the alco-
holic liquor must undergo a heat of 77 to 81, to be
susceptible of acetification, and that the heat must not
be above 88. This chemist is mistaken j that elevation.
of temperature, it is true, favors the fermentation, but it
can equall)' well establish itself much below this degree,
since in the south of France vinegar is made in cellars,
the temperature of which is constantly at 50. Lepechin
says the most convenient temperature is 84, and that
above 90 it is noxious, for at a higher temperature he
had obtained a vinegar which, by the little taste it had,
was not deserving of that name. This effect can be attri-
buted to the volatilization of a part of the alcohol, and,
from what experience has demonstrated, we believe the
* Chimie MMicale, p. 568.
94 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
temperature the most favorable to fermentation is .that
of 68 to 86. This elevation of temperature is so
suitable to the acetification, that it is sufficient to expose
to the sun a barrel containing one-third of wine, mixed
with a little of good vinegar, to convert it in a few days
into a very strong and aromatic vinegar.
3. The presence of the ferment is absolutely neces-
sary; for alcohol diluted with water, and placed in the
above circumstances, would never ferment; if brewer's
yeast or any other kind is added to it, it will be con-
verted into vinegar. As soon as the acetic fermentation
begins, the liquor becomes muddy, and its temperature
rises the first day as high as 93 to 104, then it diminishes
each day, and remains stationary at that at which the
fermentation takes place. At the same time, filaceous
substances are formed, which move about, and deposit
in the bottom of the vessel, and on its sides, where they
form a slimy mass, which carries off a part of the color-
ing-matter, united with bitartrate of potassa and lime.
While the action lasts, there is a production and disen-
gagement of carbonic acid gas. The liquor gradually be-
comes clear, loses its vinous odor and flavor, and acquires
the acid taste and odor peculiar to acetic acid or vinegar;
it is then that the vinegar is regarded as perfect. . This
is an error; there yet exists in this product a part of the
alcohol and ferment which have escaped the decomposi-
tion. As in the alcoholic fermentation, a secondary acid
fermentation takes place, which is as much longer as the
liquor was more spirituous. In the new fermentation, the
decomposition of the alcohol continues, and, at the same
time that carbonic acid gas is disengaged, a membranous
substance is formed in the vinegar, which is of a dirty
white color, firm, translucid, elastic, and often volu-
minous enough to occupy a part of the capacity of the
ACETIC FERMENTATION. 95
vessel. This substance is known by the name of
mother of vinegar, and can be used as a ferment to
determine the acetic fermentation of alcoholic liquors.
Just as the presence of sugar is necessary to produce
alcohol, so is alcohol an absolute necessity to obtain
vinegar by the fermentation.
Stahl was one of the first chemists who attributed the
production of acetic acid to the decomposition of
alcohol; Venel, Spielman, etc., were of the same
opinion, and that opinion-has been held by Boerhaave.
But Venel and Spielman believed that the bitartrate of
potassa had also some action. The acetification of
vinous liquors, obtained by the fermentation of sugar,
proves the contrary. Some have pretended that car-
bonic acid could also be converted into acetic acid.
They quoted in support of their opinion the experiment
of Chaptal, who having dissolved a volume of carbonic
acid gas, disengaged from beer in fermentation, in a
volume of water, and having exposed the solution for
some time to the air, obtained acetic acid. This fact
can be easily accounted for, since the carbonic acid
gas which disengages from the fermenting-vats always
carries with it an alcoholic water marking 14, and
it is, to this alcohol, and not to the carbonic acid, that
the vinegar thus obtained is due. Lavoisier, thought
that the alcohol and this acid equally contributed to
the formation of the vinegar. The alcohol, he says,
furnishes the hydrogen and a portion of the carbon; the
carbonic acid furnishes some carbon and the oxygen;
lastly, the atmospheric air must furnish the balance of
the oxygen to transform the mixture into acetic acid.
This theory is inadmissible, because it does not agree
with the results of modern observation.
Glaser, Boerhaave, Spielman, and nearly all the
96 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
ancient chemists, thought that the wine, on being trans-
formed into vinegar, absorbed air. Lavoisier, on the
contrary, announced that a single principle of the air,
the oxygen, was absorbed, and consequently that the
acetic fermentation was nothing more than the acidifi-
cation of the wine by the absorption of the atmospheric
oxygen, and that it was only requisite to add hydro-
gen to carbonic acid, to transform it into acetic acid.
His opinion on the absorption of o x y ~ e n by wine was
adopted by nearly all chemists, until M. de Saussure had
ascertained that by acidifying wine in a known quantity
of air, the air afterwards contained a proportion of
carbonic acid equal to that of the oxygen absorbed.
According' to these facts, so contrary to the theory of
Lavoisier, no oxygen would have been absorbed in the
formation of the vinegar, but carbon taken from the
alcohol. Thus, if it is sufficient to take carbon from
the alcohol to convert it into vinegar, in the experiment
noted by Chaptal, the alcohol does not require the carbon
of the carbonic acid to be transformed into vinegar. It
must be remembered that, according to the experiment
of Saussure, the alcoholic liquid would not absorb an
atom of the oxygen of the air, since it had formed and
disengaged a volume of carbonic acid gas equal to that
of the oxygen which had disappeared, and that, accord-
ing to the most exact analysis, a volume of carbonic.
acid is composed of a volume of oxygen gas and one
volume of vapor of carbon condensed into one volume.
We have said that vinegar contains a certain quan-
tity of alcohol which has escaped acetification, and we
may add that old and strong vinegar contains less of it,
bllt yet some will be found. 1\1. de Fontenelle distilled
* Traite Elementaire de Chimie, vol. i. pp. 159-160.
ACETIC FERMENTATION. 91
twenty quarts of vinegar obtained from a very spirit-
uous wine, and he obtained for the first product nearly
one quart of an inflammable liquid, which was scarcely
acid, lighter than water, and with a very pronounced
taste and odor of acetic ether. Six months afterwards
he distilled very strong vinegar, and obtained less ether.
He at first thought that this ether was due to the alco-
hol contained in the vinegar, w:hich, by reacting on the
acid, formed ether; but he was soon undeceived, for, after
the ether had ceased to distill, he added two quarts of
good wine and obtained alcohol at 20. In another
case he substituted one quart of brandy for the wine,
and also obtained alcohol at 20. He concludes from
these facts that the vinegar does not contain alcohol,
but acetic ether formed during the acetification.
We know that alcohol experiences different modes of
decomposition: by oxidation, by losing hydrogen, by
the separation of a simple equivalent of water, by the
substitution of haloid bodies for the whole or a part of
its hydrogen, with or without elimination of oxygen, and
lastly by the substitution of a metal for its hydrogen.
The bodies resulting from these decompositions are
known by the names of acetal, aldehyde, meta-aldehyde,
para-aldehyde, etc., and lastly of acetic acid, which is the
only product which interests us.
Blondeau has given a new theory of fermentation:
" Acetic acid is one of the bodies the most frequently met
with in nature, where it is formed under the most varied
influences, and which establish the fact that the ele-
ments of organic substances have the most pronounced
tendency to reunite to constitute that acid. Thus, if
we submit an organic substance to distillation, it is very
rarely that acetic acid is not produced. If an organized
body is abandoned to fermentation, this acid will appear.
7
98 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
It is found in the products of a multitude of animal'
secretions, and lastly, it results from the oxidation of
certain substances, and particularly of alcohol under the
influence of platinum black. According to this, we are
led to believe that an acid, which is met with under
such different circumstances, must owe its origin to
causes which are not always the same." However, but
one of these causes has generally been studied, that
which results in the oxidation of alcohol.
M. Blondeau does not admit the theory of simple
oxidation, which to him appears too exclusive, in en-
deavoring to determine some of the circumstances under
which acetic acid is produced. He believes that when
sugar-water is placed in contact with an albuminoid sub-
stance, such as casein, certain mycoderma are developed,
which find in the nitrogenized matter the elements
necessary to their development, whilst they transform.
the sugar into acetic acid.
It is to the same cause that we must attribute the
production of acetic acid, which is found so in
the vats of' starch-makers, and which has resulted from
an isomeric transformation which has been produced in
the starch.
The changes in and starch, which, under the
influence of the microphytes, become acetic acid, seem
to constitute a special phenomenon to which M. Blon-
deau proposes to give, by analogy, the name of acetic
fermentatioR, for these two substances appear to pass
from the neutral state to that of acid without change of
composition.
Another phenomenon is exhibited when the acid re-
sults from the combustion of a part of the elements of
organic substances which are burned by the oxygen of
the air under an influence which has not been suffi-
ACETIC FERMENTATION. 99
cientlyexamined. It is true M. Pasteur advanced the
theory that there existed certain mycoderma, and in
particular the mycoderma aceti, which possessed the pro-
perty of taking the oxygen of the air and of transferring
it to organic matters, such as alcohol, which is thus
partly burned and transformed into acetic acid; but the
experiments of M; Blondeau demonstrate that this only
occurs when the mycoderma have advanced to the mem-
branous state. It is then an inherent property of the
membranous state, and not a physiological action. which
determines the change.
M. Pasteur has lately thrown much light on the
phenomena of acetic fermentation. He has exhibited
before the Chemical Society of Paris the first results of
his researches on the acetic fermentation, having dis-
covered in the cryptogamic plants of the genus myco-
derma (of which he mentions three of the most interest-
ing species) a remarkable property which gives a com-
plete explanation of the acetification of alcoholic liquors.
On the surface of an organic liquid, containing princi-
pally phosphates and an albuminoid matter. he developlJ
a species of the genus mycoderma, until the whole surface
of the liquor is covered with it. Then with a syphon
he draws off the generative liquor, in such a manner that
the veil formed by the mycoderma reaches without in-
jury the bottom of the vessel. Afterwards the liquid is
substituted by pure alcohol diluted with water, marking
about 10. The mycoderma, wetted with difficulty by
liquids on account of its fatty principles, is raised, and
covers the surface of the new liquid. The little plant
is then placed in exceptional conditions. Its life is
antagonized, if it is not rendered entirely impossible,
because it has only for food the principles found in
its own substance, especially if care has been taken
100 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
to wash it beneath with water before the addition of
the alcoholic liquid. Experience demonstrates that the
plant, under these abnormal circumstances of life or of .
death, immediately causes the reaction of the oxygen of
the air upon the alcohol of the liquid. The acetification
immediately begins, and sometimes with much activity.
After a few days the action of the plant slackens, but it is
far from being exhausted. If the liquor is drawn off and
substituted by a new portion of alcohol, the acetification
continues for the second liquid, and the operation may
be prolonged for months. On the other hand, when the
acetification stops in a liquor already acetic, it may be
renewed if fresh mycoderma plants are introduced into
that liquor.
During this entire operation the plant experiences
profound modifications without increasing in weight.
On the contrary, it experiences a kind of combustion
which dissolves its materials in such a way that the
liquid becomes apt by degreee to feed the plant or one of
the species of the same genus mycoderma. At this time
phenomena entirely different in appearance take place.
The acetic acid and the alcohol completely disappear,
with the greatest rapidity. Five days are sufficient to
take off all the acidity of the liquor, which is then
neutral and ready to give birth to different infusoria,
and consequently to a putrid alteration.
All the second part of the phenomena, announced by
M. Pasteur, can be produced when mycoderma are de-
veloped upon alcoholic liquids which contain elements
proper to the feeding of the plant, such as wine, beer,
and fermented liquors in general, except when, by cir-
cumstances unknown or determined by the operator, the
plant is placed in conditions similar to those indicated.
in the first part of the experiment.
ACETIC FERMENTATION. 101
To resume. acetification is produced by a sppcies of
the genus mycoderma. When the plant is in full life
and health. it does not give an effective a ~ e t i c fermen-
tation. Indeed, if that acid exists in the liquor; the
plant destroys it as well as the alcohol; on the con-
trary, if the plant be sick. if food is refused to it, it
transforms alcohol into aldehyde and acetic acid.
All that has been maintained in regard to the influence
of ordinary organized porous bodies is without founda-
tion, and the following experiments prove it:-
M. Pasteur allowed to run along a rope alcohol di.
luted with water. The drops which fell from the end of
the rope did not contain any traces of acetic acid. The
experiment lasted more than a month, with a very slow
speed of running, a drop every two or three minutes.
But when the experiment was repeated after having
dipped the rope, at the beginning of the experiment, in
a liquid, on the surface of which was a pellicle of myco-
derma. which partly remained on the rope, the alcohol
which drained from the rope in contact with the air
was transformed into acetic acid, and the acetifying
power lasted several weeks.
It is evident, from these two experiments, that in the
quick process the shavings are without acetifying action,
and have no other part than to support the plants.
In the fabrication, as performed at Orleans, the
acetification, according to M. Pasteur, is due only to a
nearly insensible pellicle, very thin, which covers the
liquid of the barrels, and which is formed by the smallest
~ p e c i e s of the mycoderma. The mothf!1' of the vinegar, that
is, the deposit which is at the bottom of the barrels, and
on which are poured every eight days ten quarts of wine,
after drawing ten quarts of vinegar, has no influence on
this phenomenon. All the work is done at the surface,
102 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
by the pellicle which covers the liquid. But if this
pellicle becomes thicker and develops itself, the alcohol
and acetic acid disappear. The vinegar left in the
barrel has precisely the effect to moderate the develop-
ment of the plant, and to render it sickly; but it does
not otherwise interfere with the acetification.
The connection of the mycoderma with the oxygen
is not confined to the phenomena already described.
M. Pasteur has ascertained that when put in presence
of sugar without the contact of oxygen, they have the
power to develop themselves. Their respiration without
doubt is then effected by the oxygen taken from the
sugar, and it is very remarkable that under these cir-
cumstances the sugar will ferment. These facts add
new support to the theory of M. Pasteur. At the same
time they give an -explanation of all the changes of
form of brewer's yeast, and of the sporules of muce-
dinre which often, have attracted the attention of micro-
. graphers. Indeed, in these new conditions of life and
development, the mycodelma experience modifications
in the size of their parts, and in their mode of propaga-
tion, which at first would induce a belief in the transfor-
mation into new species. It is somewhat similar to the
metamorphoses of insects and intestinal worms.
CHAPTER VI.
ACETIO ACID.
THIS acid is the most interesting of all the organic
acids, as it enters more than any other into the indus-
trial arts, and is fonnd the most frequently in nature,
8::
t'
8';
t'
81!
t' ... :5 '0":
... :5
'0>
.
"e. .d! "e.
8:!
"e.
l!lf
.. :!
--
..
--
,,"
--
l!o'
...
0'0 -0'0
,,"
0'0
3.
8=
fg
1i
fO;
fil
.:ie.
.:ie.
...
-'"
;;6
-'" -'" ;;; -'"
:<is II: A A :<is
'"
A
'"
Q
--
--------------
0 .9991 00 26 .9689 11 52 .9295 20 78 .8685 27
1 .9976 15 27 .9679 10 53 .9275 20 79 .8658 27
2 .9961 15 28 .9668 11 54 .9254 21 80 .8631 27
3 .9947 14 29 .9657 11 55 .9234 20 81 .9603 28
4 .9933 14 30 .9646 11 56 .9213 21 82 .8575
28
5 .9919 14 31 .9634 12 57 .9192 21 83 .8547 28
6 .9906 13 32 .9622 12 58 .9170 22 84 .8518 29
7 .9893 13 33 .9609 13 59 .9148 22 85 .8488 30
8 .9881 12 34 .9596 13 60 .9126 22 86 .8458
3(\
9 .9869 12 35 .9583 13 61 .9104 22 87 .8428 30
10 .9857 12 36 .9570 13 62 .9082 22 88 .8397 31
11 .9845 12 37 '9556 14 63 .9059 23 89 .8365 32
12 .9834 11 38 .9541 15 64 .9036 23 90 .8332 3.1
13 .9823 11 39 .9526 15 65 .9013 23 91 .8299 33
14 .9812 11 40 .9510 16 66 .8989 24 92 .8265 34
15 .9802 10 41 .9494 16 67 .8965 24 93 .8230 35
16 .9791 11
42 .9478 16 68 .8941 24 94 .8194 36
17
.9781 10 43 .9461 17 69
.8917124
95 .8157 37
18 .9771 10 44 .9l44 17 70 .8892 25 96 .8118 39
19 .9761 10 45 .9427 17 71 .8867 25 97 .8077 41
20
.9751 10 46 .9409 18 72 .8842 25 98 .8034 43
21 .9741 10 47 .9391 18 73 .8817 25 99 .7988 46
22 .9731 10 48 .9373 18 74 .8i91 26 100 .7939 49
23 .9720 11 49 .9354 19 75 .8765 26
24 .9710 10 50 .9335 19 76 .8739 26
25 .9700 10 51 .9315 20 77 .8712 27
ALCOHOLOMETRY. 167
If the precise specific gravity sought cannot be found
in the table, the difference between it and the next
greater specific gravity must be taken for the numerator
of a fraction having for its denominator the number
found in the third column against the next greater spe-
cific gravity. This fraction added to the percentage of
alcohol in the first column of the table against the said
greater specific gravity, will give the true percentage
sought. Thus, if the specific gravity of a spirit be
0.9605, what is the alcohol content 1 .9605 is not in the
table, and the next greater number is .9609; the former
must therefore be deducted from the latter, and the
difference (4) put as the numerator of the fraction
having for its denominator the number (13) in the
column of differences against .9609. The fraction r\ so
found, added to the percentage against .9609 in the
fitst column, gives 33
1
\ as the true percentage of alcohol
in the given sampIe.
168 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
TABLE H.-Showing thp. Alcoholic contents per cent. by weight of
Spirit8 of different specific gravities. B!J Fownes. With an addi-
tional column, by Cooley.
'0
... .
.... ] t' .
....
t' '0.: .........
198
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Juices are more or less rich in saccharine principles,
and also in the principles causing fermentation. Seve-
ral chemists have thought that the ferment existed ready
formed in the juice, but it is an error; the ferment is
composed of albuminoid 8ubstanceswhich are found in
nearly all the vegetables, and no direct experiment has
isolated it. .
The production of the ferment has been attributed to
a peculiar substance in the juice, very soluble in water,
which, by uniting with the oxygen of the air, is trans-
formed into ferment. The quantity of saccharine matter
in the poorest juices marks only 9 to 11 of the areo-
meter.
All the species of grapes in the same vine-growing
district are not equally rich in saccharine principle;
they present variations which sometimes amount to
three degrees. It has also been ascertained that some
contain larger proportions of ferment; and that the fer-
mentation is as much quicker as this last principle is
more abundant.
Constituent Principles of the Juice.
Saccharine matter from 12 to 26 per cent.
Gummy "
Mucons "
Coloring "
Extractive II
Alhuminoid " or ferment.
Vegetable albumen.
Malic and citric acids.
Bitartrate of potassa and tartrate of lime, chloride of
sodium, sulphate of potassa, and water.
Such are the substances indicated by several chemists,
and it is evident that their number is larger, since Bra-
connot ascertained that 100 parts of dried wine-lees
contain the following substances :-
WINE.
Vegetable albumen
Chlorophyl
Waxy matter
Phosphate of lime
Tartrate .. "
" " magnesia
Bitartrate of potassa
Sulphate and phosphate of potassa
Coloring-matter, gum, silica, and tannin,
M. John found in the red tartar:-
Tartar
Boft resin soluble in ether.
Resinous matter (oxygenated)
Gum
Saccharine matter
Ligneous matter
199
20.70
1.50
0.50
6.00
3.25
0.40
60.15
2.80
Unknown quantity.
90
1
2
2
1
4
Ana{ysis of the Juice of Ripe Grapes.
Crystallizable and nncrystallizable sngar.
Extractive matter.
Glutinous matter.
Gum.
Malic acid.
Sulphuric acid.
Tartar. (Pronst.)
Another.
Odoriferous principle.
Sugar
Gum.
Glutinous matter.
Malic acid
.Malate of lime
Acid tartrate of lime and potass&. (Berard.)
WINE.
Wine is too well known for it to be necessary to
study its properties here. We must eonsider it only
200 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
as being the product of the fermentation of the juice,
and being the liquor which by a new. fermentation is
converted into vinegar.
Wines differ in their proportions of alcohol, saccha-
rine matter, carbonic acid, taste, etc.
The wines which are richest in alcohol are called
generous wines by the French.
The name of cordial u:ines has been given to those
which contain an excess of saccharine matter, which has
not yet experienced the effects of the fermentation, on
account of the insufficiency of the proportion of the
ferment.
The gaseous wines are those which are more or less
saturated with carbonic acid.
Analysis of Wine.
As yet, more attention has been given to ascertaining
the alcoholic richness of wines than to determine the
number and quantity of their constituent principles;
however, some chemists have made a special study of it,
but those results are not yet very complete.
From their investigations, it is ascertained that wine
contains :-
Alcohol at 20, from 10 to 26 per cent.; unfermented
saccharine matter; extractive matter; gummy matter;
blue coloring-matter, turned red by the acids of the
wine; yellow coloring-matter; tannin; citric, malic, tar-
taric acids, and acetic acid when a part of the alcohol
has begun to experience the acetic fermentation; car-
bonic acid; bitartrate of potassa; tartrate of lime; tar-
trate of alumina and potassa (principally in German
wines); chloride ofsodium; sulphate of potassa ; ammonia.
In Trommsdorf's Journal we find the following ana-
lysis of wine:-
WINE. 201
Alcohol; volatile oil; coloring matter; extractive
matter (tannin and bitter principle); sugar; mucilage;
albuminoid matters; acetic acid; malic and tartaric acids;
bitartrate of potassa; tartrate of lime; carbonic acid;
water.
The quantity of absolute alcohol in weak Rhine wine
is 7 per cent.
As it cannot but be of interest for the vinegar-m"aker
to know the amount of alcohol contained in different
liquors, we append the following:-
TABLE.
Results obtained by BRANDE in his researches on the
quantities of alcohol contained in different fermented
liquors. The density of the alcohol obtained being of
825 at 60.
Hock
do.
Grave
Frontignan
Gooseberry
Elderberry
Cider
Perry
Red beer
Ale
Rum
Holland Gin
100 parts of Give In volume
Port 25.R3
Madeira 25.. 2
Xeres . 19.83
Claret* 16.32
Lisbon '. 18.94
Malaga. 17.26
Red Madeira. 18.40
Madeira 16.66
Mnscat 25.87
do. 17.26
Cote Rotie n.32
Ronssillon 19.26
Madeira (of the Cape) 18.11
Muscat do. 18.25
Constance 19.75
Syracuse 15.18
Nice U.63
Tokay . 9.88
Currant 20.58
100 parts of Give In volume
Red Champagne 11.30
White do. 12.80
Burgundy U.53
do. 11.95
White Ermitage 17.43
do. 12.32
14.38
8.88
12.80
12.79
11.84
9.87
9.87
9.81
6.80
8.83
53.68
51.60
* These first four wines were very likely ,trengt/iened.-Editor.
202
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
TABLE.
Quantitie, of ..4.kohol in tJariOUl ..4.koholic Liquor,.
By M. J. DB FONTEN1CJ.LJ:.
100 parts of Give In volume 100 parts of Give in volume
Currant 11.60 Brown beer, French 5.40
Orange 11.26 Ordinary 5.00
Cider, 1st qual. 11.63 Average 5.50
/I 2d /I 9.16 London smallbeer 1. 28
Ie 3d u 7.10 Porter. 4.20
Average 9.34 Burton ale 8.88
Perry, 1st qual. 11.36 Edinburgh ale 6.20
/I infer. .. 7.46 Dorchester ale 5.56
Average 9.41 Hydromel 10.40
Brown beer, Eng. 6.80 do. 8.60
.. /I French 6.10 do. 7.10
We may observe that all these analyses do not exactly
determine the proportions of alcohol in the .wines of a
locality, because, as we have before said, the wines of the
same vineyard vary according to the quality of the plant,
its age, exposure, season, etc.
CHAPTER XIV.
DIFFERENT MODES OF MANUFACTURING VINEGAR.
BOERHAAVE'S METHOD-FLEMISH METHOD
-HOUSEHOLD METHOD-METHOD OF THE NORTH OF FRANCE
-SPANISH METHOD-PARISIAN METHOD-IMPROVED FRENCH
METHOD.
Boerhaave's Method.
THE plan of this chemist is to have, in a suitable room,
two vats of oak placed vertically on posts, at about
ORe foot from the ground; at the distance of one foot
-- -
-.. .
DIFFERENT )lODES OF MANUFACTURING VINEGAR. 203
from the bottom of each place a wooden grate, on which
a layer of young branches of vines with their leaves is
spread; fill the vats with the stems of grapes, being care-
ful to leave an empty space of one foot at the upper part.
The apparatus being ready, fill one (1) of the vats with
wine, and the other (2) half full. Towards the second
ot third day, according to the temperature, the fermenta-
tion begins in the vat (2) half full, and when it is well
established, which takes place in about twenty-four hours,
fill this vat with wine from the full vat (1 ), and every day
fill the one that has remained half full with a part of the
wine of the other. By this means we transfer daily half
of the contents of a vat into the other, and thus the
vinous liquid is brought in contact, with the air, until
the acetification is completed. During the summer in
France, Italy, or Spain, the first acetic fermentation lasts
about fifteen days. When it is very warm, and the fer-
mentation is well established, the loss of a part of the
alcohol is prevented by covering the vat which is half
full with a wooden cover. When the temperature is
not very high, or the wine is very rich in alcohol, its
transformation into vinegar is more or less retarded.
Flemish Method.
This method differs but slightly from the above.
Dispose on posts, at one foot and a half from the ground,
casks in each of which is placed a movable false bottom,
at a third of the height of the casks. On that false
bottom, which is pierced with many holes, put the resi-
duum of the preparation of wine, acrid plants, such as
horse-radish, and then fill the casks with wine. Next
day draw it off, by means of a cock placed at the lower
part of the cask, into an empty one, and pour it back
into the cask used for the acetification; repeat the
204: MANUFAGTURE OF VINEGAR.
operation twice a day, until the wine is well acidified; it
is then transferred to another cask to settle. To hasten
clarification, introduce beech-wood shavings, which ac-
celerate the fermentation, and help to separate the solid
matters.
Orleans Method.
It is well known that the Odeans vinel{ar is of a
superior quality. It was natural to believe that the
manufacturers possessed a better process, and that it was
a secret. It is not so; the superiority of that vinegar ,
results from the choice of the wines.
The manufacturers reject the sick and sulphuretted
wines, choose the clearest, and when they are not suffi-
ciently clear, filter them on beech shavings. The manu-
facture is very simple. In a large cellar are placed two
rows of barrels, having an opening of about one inch in
diameter in the upper end. There are also a few mea-
sures of about gallons capacity. The barrels are filled
to half their capacity with very good vinegar, and to
each are added 2i gallons of good wine; eight days after,
add again 2i gallons of wine; and continue thus every
eight days until the barrels are entirely full. It must
be observed that if the operation is performed during the
great heat of summer, we may add every time five
gallons of wine. The opening in the upper end must
always remain open, for the air to have free access.
As soon as all the wine is acidified, draw off half of
the vinegar, and begin the operation anew with more
wine. It is easy to see that this method is very simple.
This process is capable of which would
accelerate the conversion of the wine into vinegar. The
first consists in making- the opening at the bottom twice
as large; the second is to blow air into the barrels. by
DIFFERENT MODES OF MANUFACTURING VINEGAR. 205
means of a blower, through that hole. During the
acetification a large quantity of carbonic acid gas is
formed. As this gas is heavier than the air, it forms a
denser atmosphere at the surface of the liquid, which
prevents the contact of the air, and consequently retards
the operation. It is easy to see that by blowing air into
the barrels, this gas is driven off.
Household Process.
We have said that wine contains naturally all that is
necessary for its transformation into vinegar. 'Vine not
well corked is converted into vinegar, and the residuum
of grapes, which rises at the top of fermenting-vats, is
often entirely acidified. The vinegar exhausted from it
by pressure is used in households. F ~ r m e r s and vine-
yard proprietors keep in their cellars several barrels of
about twenty to twenty-five gallons capacity, in which
they deposit the lees of their wines, and then they add
the remains of wine in bottles, in a word, a l ~ the wines
unfit to drink. They follow no regular operation, and
draw off vinegar every time they want it; and while
the cellars are constantly at a temperature of 50, the
vinegar thus. obtained is very strong. It is the only
process used in the south of France and in Spain, where
there are no manufacturers of vinegar. The reason for
this is that it is more advantageous to distill the bad
wines to extract the alcohol, than to convert them into
vinegar.
Method of the North of France.
The process followed !n several northern cities of
France is 'very simple. Long barrels are constructed,
the circumference of which decreases towards each end,
forming a kind of double truncated cone. These barrels
...
206 YANUFACTURE or VINEGAR.
..
have a capacity varying from fifteen to twenty-five
gallons. They are placed on two parallel bars, united
together by strong posts, and so fixed as to make a
quarter of a circle; this kind of apparatus is from six
to seven and a half feet long. Place one barrel on each
of these apparatus; fill it to three-fourths of its capacity
with two parts of wine and one of vinegar; close the
barrel, and draw it in front, so as to bring it to one end
of the curve; then push it, and it will roll from one
end to the other and finally stop at the lower place;
repeat the operation three or four times every twenty-
four hours, for five or six days. After this, leave the
barrels to rest for the same length of time, and decant
two-thirds of the vinegar into smaller barrels.
Spanish Method.
In Spain, as in the south of France, they extract the
vinegar from the acidified residuum of grapes, or they
mix in barrels containing vinegar the remains of damaged
wines. In households they draw off the vinegar as fast
as wanted, and pour into the barrels an equal quantity
of warm water, with pepper and other condiments, which
give a sharp taste to the weakened vinegar.
Parisian Method.
The manner of manufacturing wine vinegar in Paris
is very defective, because, instead of using good wines,
the manufacturers employ wines of inferior quality, on
account of their low price. They use barrels with false
bottoms, as in the Flemish method; on these bottoms
they put acrid substances, over which are poured prin-
cipally the drainings of wine-lees. As soon as the vine-
gar becomes muddy they add what is called the bread of
the vinegar-makers, formed with pimento, long pepper,
DIFFERENT KODES or MANUFACTURING VINEGAR. 207
white pepper, cubebs, and ginger; the dose of which is
from one-half to one ounce per quart. 'Vhen the liquor
becomes clear, the vinegar is drawn off.
This vinegar quickly alters, and has to be sold imme-
diately.
Inlproved l7rench llfethod.
This method is followed pl'incipally at Orleans and its
vicinity, where a great deal of wine is manufactured
which is considered of second quality in regard to flavor,
but which is rich in alcohol, and produces a vinegar
of excellent keeping qualities and taste.
Large, dry cellars, or low-roofed buildings with a
southern exposure, are so constructed as to regulate the
temperature and ventilation according to the weather.
A temperat.ure of 86 is considered the best, although
it may be raised somewhat higher when the acetification
is too slow.
The vessels employed are strong oaken casks, with a
capacity of from 50 to 100 gallons, which rest upon
long wooden sleepers, raised one to two feet above the
ground by stone or brick pillars, so as to facilitate the
filling of barrels from above, and to avoid the damp-
ness of the ground. Indeed, the nearer the ceiling the
fermenting-casks are, the more rapid is the acetification.
New casks are washed several times with boiling
water, and then filled to one-third of their capacity with
strong boiling vinegar; then they are ready for their
work of acetification. The work-room is therefore filled
with several parallel rows of casks which do not touch
each other, and between each row is an alley f01" the
men to add the wine and siphon the vinegar. The
upper part of the cask-head fronting the alley has two
holes bored in it-a small one for the entrance of air,
208 KANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR
and alarger one for introducing the wine, and siphoning
off the vinegar.
The operation is conducted in this manner: every
week or eight days ten litres (about 10 quarts) of wine
are added until the cask is two-thirds full at most, when
the vinegar produced is sil'honed off, leaving always
enough vinegar to keep the cask one-third full. Some-
times as much vinegar is removed at each operation as
there is wine to be added, but in this case the cask
should remain always half filled.
'Vhen the acetification is too slow, the temperature
of the room may be raised; but if this produces no
change, it is better to empty the cask, fill it with fresh
boiling vinegar, and proceed as before. Wines poor in
tannin have a tendency to become ropy in the casks, in
which 'case it is necessary to filter the ropy vinegar
through shavings of beech-wood, or through pressed
grape-mash (skins and stalks).
The wines used may be either white or red, but they
must always be clear, and if they are not, they must be
filtered as above indicated. They do not give the same
results according to their age or richness in alcohol; the
best wines are those one year old, as newer wines con-
taining a certain proportion of sugar unconverted into
alcohol do not acidify so readily. Wines too rich in
alcohol are difficult to work; hence they must be diluted
either with water or weaker wines till they contain about
10 per cent. of alcohol in volume. Wines too much di-
luted are quickly acidified, but they give a weak vinegar.
The vinegar in the casks is considered ready to be
siphoned off when a white stick, being plunged into it
and drawn off as horizontally as possible, is covered with
a white froth. If, on the' other hand, this froth is
brown or reddish, the acidification must be allowed to
go on.
CIDER VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XVII.
CIDER VINEGAR.
209
ALL natural 'spirituous liquors are capable of being
transformed into vinegar, and it is not astonishing to
see cider, perry, and other similar liquids employed in
the preparation of vinegar.
The acetification of cider and similar liquids is very
simple; it is effected by one of the methods we have
described for wine, but the products thus obtained,
being more loaded with extractive matters, require
more care for their clarification. When describing the
quick process for making vinegar, we shall indicate the
process of treating, clarifying, and fermenting cider.
In large cities, where the establishments of wine and
cider merchants are near each other, the fabrication of
vinegar is similar to that we have described. This indus-
try utilizes all the residua of wine or cider left in the
bottoms of barrels. All these liquids are carefully mixed
together, filtered on shavings to separate the mucilagi-
nous and s01id matters; they are then diluted with water,
or concentrated with alcohol, until they contain 10 per
cent. in volume of that substance. They are then acetified
by one of the methods already described, or by the quick
process.
14
210 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND
WHISKEY.
A FEW years ago all the vinegar made in this country
was manufactured from cider, alcohol, whiskey, or other
spirituous liquors; but since heavy taxes have been put
on most of these substances, manufacturers have had re-
course to other processes, and grains have been proposed
instead of alcohol. The author himself was the first to
introduce the preparation of vinegar by corn alone. This
preparation will be described hereafter. This process
possessed great advantages, but unhappily the manufac-
turer does not now derive any more benefit from using it
than if he were using alcohol. The reader at first will
be surprised, but the taxes on alcohol have been so
modified that the manufacture of vinegar from corn
or other grains must cease. Indeed, the law reads
thus:-
"And no person shall use spirits or alcohol or any
vapor of alcoholic spirits in manufacturing. vinegar or
any other article, or in any process of manufacture
whatever, unless the spirits or alcohol so used shall have
been produced in an authorized distillery, and the tax
thereon paid."-See sec. 4, An act imposing taxes on
distilled spirits and tobacco, and for other purposts,
approved July 20th, 1868, as amended by act approved
April 10th, 1869.
* One of the special aims of this clause is to prerent the manufac-
ture of vinegar direct from corn.
VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND WHISKEY. 211
After reading such a law, we cannot help thinking
that never, in our experience and in any country we have
visited, have we seen such a prohibition placed upon
science and industry. We have no objection to a tax
on alcohol and whiskey; the ~ o v e r n m e n t must be sup-
ported; but that chemical reactions should be taxed out
of existence, is a most extraordinary proceeding.
Let us demonstrate the absurdity of the law, and how
it prevents the progress of science.
In 1864 a large chemical manufacturer and the author
discovered a new process for manufacturing ether directly
from a mash, and at large expense fitted up apparatus.
They were just beginning to start in a good shape,
when the revenue department interfered, on the pre-
tence that they were distilling. All the apparatus, ma-
chinery, even the secrecy of the process, were explained
to them, but it was impossible to make them understand.
The case was referred ~ Washington, and the result
was, "that all chemical works say that to make ether, alcohol
has to be used, and consequently the inventors must pay tax
on the quantity of alcohol which would have been necessar:1J
to produce the ether obtained." At that time ether made
by the known process was worth $1 25; by their new
process they could produce it for forty or fifty cents per
pound; but, thanks to the ignorance and stupidity of
officials and of the law, a new industry was stopped and
an improvement in science was prevented.-
The author knows a vinegar manufacturer in Illinois,
who built his factory to make thirty barrels daily from
corn alone. This man is very intelligent, but entirely
ignorant of the principles of chemistry. Four weeks
after starting he was stopped by the revenue department,
* The clause in the new law, subsequently passed, relative to ether,
was purposely inserted against tile inventors.
2 1 ~ MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
on the ground that because he was mashing grain, he
ought to pay a distiller's license, and a tax on the
quantity of spirit that that mash would have produced.
Vainly did he state that he was not making alcohol (not
a single distilling-apparatus was in his manufactory), but
vinegar; it was of no use, he had to stop.
Weare not politicians, and do not enter here into a
political question-we only try to defend the interests
of the people and manufacturers at large, without any
question of party; but we cannot help saying that this
state of things will last while the people are blind
enough to fill the halls of congress with lawyers and
politicians who are ignorant of the business and the
wants of the people and the country. Let districts elect
agriculturists, manufacturers, merchants, and financial
men, and then they will work for the interests of the
country. These law.makers are all the time' boasting
of their patriotism, and denopncing France, England,
and other countries* as countries of despotism, and at
the same time at home make the fortunes of the foreign
manufacturers, by imposing upon our own manufacturers
such arbitrary prohibitions that it is cheaper for the
community to purchase imported goods than to use those
of home manufacture.
The author is in daily communication with manufac-
turers all over the country, and the same complaint is
constantly made to him.
A new administration has come into power, and with
it a new congress, and we hope this shameful law will
be repealed; we trust that no tax will be placed on the
intelligence and ingenuity of men. It is not a reason
* In those countries industrial and scientific discoveries are re-
warded i here they are taxed, often, as in this case, out of existence.
VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND WHISKEY. 213
that because a product has been made in a certain way
for a hundred years, that a new process shall be taxed
upon the material which would have been used by the
old process. Could anything exhibit a more concen-
trated combination of ignorance and absurdity 1 The
way for a nation to become rich is to protect the in-
dustry of its own people, and not by absurd taxes to
gi ve a bounty to foreign countries.
As we expect to see these ridiculous laws abolished, we
will here give the process of making vinegar with alcohol
and whiskey, begging the reader to excuse the above
little economical digression:-
The casks are arranged in tiers, with a hole in each
for the ventilation, and a wooden faucet to draw off the
vinegar. The room is heated either by steam or by a
stove, so as to keep the temperature between 75 and 85.
If the fermenting-casks are new, they are treated in
a manner similar to that which we have described in the
French process followed at Orleans for wine, that is to
say, they are washed several times with boiling water,
and finally with hot strong vinegar. Some put a small
quantity of alcohol into them before they are used.
They are then filled about two-thirds with the mixture
of alcohol (or whiskey) and water necessary to obtain a
vinegar of desired strength. We shall give at the end
of this process the manner of calculating the proper
amounts of alcohol and water, but we now repeat what
has already been stated, that in practical operations, about
one-fifth of the alcohol employed does not become vinegar,
either from evaporation, or because it escapes the trans-
formation into acid. Therefore, one-fifth more alcohol
should be added to that calculated for making a vinegar
of a certain strength.
The alcoholic mixtnre should have a temperature of
90 to 100 before filling the casks. After a few days'
214 KANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
rest, the transformation into vinegar begins, and the room
is filled with an agreeable acid smell, which continues
until the operation is ended. A regular and gradual
lowering of the temperature in the fermenting-easks is
another indication of a complete acetification.
Nevertheless, everything does not always go on so
smoothly, and a great deal of attention is required to see
if every cask works properly. If one appears lazy, this
may arise from its being in a cool place, and by changing
its place or adding a certain proportion of alcohol and
hot "inegar, its activity may be restored. On other
occasions this laziness may be due to the putrid fermen-
tation being ready to begin, in which case it is neces-
sary to remove rapidly casks and contents, otherwise the
sickness may attack the other casks.
There is no practical remedy for this accident, although
some persons recommend burning sulphur, &c.; the best
is to throw out the contents, then wash the cask tho-
roughly with boiling water, and allow it to dry in another
part of the works. As a greater precaution, the scouring
water may be acidified with hydrochloric acid, or sulphur
may be burned in the cask. Common salt and ash Iyes
are 1\180 employed to destroy the putrid ferment. But
before the cask is used again, it must be finally scoured
in boiling water and hot vinegar.
When all the contents of the cask have been trans-
formed into vinegar, this is decanted carefully into other
vessels for storing in a cold room or cellar. The mother
of vinegar is restored to the casks for the next operation,
and, before filling the barrels for sale, it is a good pre-
caution to filter the vinegar through beech shavings or
grape mash, as has been explained in the process used
at Orleans for making wine vinegar. A small propor-
tion of tannin is said to aid the keeping of vinegar.
Instead ofremoving at once all the contents of the casks,
VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND WHISKEY. 215
the manufacture of vinegar may proceed as at Orleans,
that is to say, the casks are kept one third or half full o(
vinegar, and, at regular intervals of eight to ten days,
a certain proportion of alcoholic mixture is added, while
a corresponding quantity of vinegar has been drawn off.
The temperature of the room where the acetification
takes place has a great influence on the rapidity of the
operation. Otto gives a few striking examples:-
Tempolratnre of room.
100_95 F.
95-86
86_80
80-73
below 73
Weeks reqnlred.
,to 6
6 to 10
10 to 12
12 to 20
8 to 10 months.
The same author calculates that, with the high tem
perature in the rooms necessary to finish the operation in
four weeks of six days each, 96 fermenting-casks will pro-
duce one forty-gallon barrel per day, or 24 barrels during
the four weeks. Therefore, if it is thought preferable
to keep the temperature of the rooms between 80
0
and
~ 6 , the production of one barrel of vinegar per day
will require t h r ~ e times more fermenting-casks, or
96 X3=288 casks.
We now pass to the manner of calculating the propor-
tions of water to be added to the alcohol. or whiskey
bought by the vinegar-maker, in order to obtain an acid
of desired strength.
E.rample.-How many gallons of water and of alcohol
at 84 per cent. are to be mixed in order to have 100
gallons of mixture containing 4 gallons of absolute
alcohol t
Rule.-Multiply the number of gallons of the desired
mixture by its percentage of alcohol in volume, and di.
vide by the number which indicates the percentage of
the alcohol used.
216 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
100x4
We have (1) -M = 4.76 gallons of alcohol.
95.24 .. "water.
(2) 100-4.76=1-00-.00 II "
mlxtore.
If we desire to know how many gallons of a given
mixture will be produced by 1 gallon of alcohol (or
whiskey), we divide the percentage in pure alcohol of the
spirits employed by the desired per cent. of the mixture.
Example.-l gallon of spirit marking 84 per cent. of
pure alcohol will produce 21 gallons of a mixture con-
taining 4 per cent. in volume of absolute alcohol, because
8
4
4=21.
If, instead of 21 gallons of mixture, we desire 60,
we have the rule of three by which 1 : 21 : x: 60, or
21 : 1 : : 60 : x.
'Vhence x=H=2.86 gallons of spirits at 84 per cent.
The above rules may be employed for mixtures by
weight; the spirits must then be weighed the 8ame as the
water, and the per cent. of absolute alcohol transformed
into per cent. in weight, as has been already explained.
The following tables give ready-made calculations,
but, as the numbers are theoretical results, there must be
added to them the practical loss of about -l of alcohol.
For weights per cent. of Alcohol.
Vinegar mixture or Yield.
I
Per cenl"", or
IEqnalo Tlnepr. anhydro,," acId
Alcohol. Water.
Anhydrous I
Water. In .Inesar.
acellc acid.
-----
1 99 1.108 99.587 100.6:15 1.100
2 98 2.216 99.174
. 101.390 2.185
3 97 3.324 98.761 102.085 3.251
4 li6 4.432 98.348 102.780 4.312
5 95 5.540 97.935 103.475 5.354
6 94 6.648 97.522 104.170 6.382
7 93 7.756 97.109 104.865 7.397
8 92 8.864 96.696 105.560 8.399
9 91 9.9i2 96.283 106.255 9.385
10 90 11.080 95.876 106.950 10.360
VINEGAR WITH ALCOHOL AND WHISKEY. 217
If the alcoholic mixture contains five per cent. in
weight of alcohol, one hundred pounds of it will be
transformed into 103.475 lbs. of a vinegar whose com-
position is 5.540 of anhydrous acid and 97.935 of water.
The percentage of this vinegar in anhydrous acetic acid
will be 5.354.
FOT volume per cent. of Alcohol.
A mixtore
.ontalnlng Ie oompoe.d by .....Ight of And yI.lds
Tolal Percentage
the follo.... ing
percentage of
Tloegar. of anhydrous
&1rohol by
Alcobol. Water. Acetic acid Waler.
acetic acid.
volume
1 0.795 99.205 0.881 99.671 100.552 0.876
2 1.592 98.408 1.764 99.342 101.106 1.744
3 2.392 97.608 2.650 99.012 101.662 2.607
4 3.195 96.805 3.540 98.680 102.220 3.4ti3
5 3.995 96.005 4.426 98.350 102.766 4.306
6 4.804 95.196 5.323 98.066 103.389 5.147
7 5.613 94.387 6.219 97.681 103.900 5.985
8 6.422 93.578 7.115 97.348 104.463 6.811
9 7 92.766 8.015 97.012 105.027 7.631
10 8.047 8.916 96.676 105.592 8.4:39
11 8.865 91.135 9.822 96.338 106.160 9.252
12 9.680 . 90.320 10.725 96.002 106.727 10.049
If the mixture contains five cent. of absolute
alcohol in volume, one hundred pounds of it will pro-
duce 102.766 lbs. of vinegar with a percentage of
of anhydrous acetic acid.
As some persons calculate the per cent. in anhydrous
acid, and others in monohydrated acid, we shall state here
that the equivalent of anhydrous acetic acid (C
4
H
3
03) is
51, while that of the monohydrated (C
4
H
3
03,HO) is 60.
Therefore, fifty-one parts in weight of anhydrous acid
are equal to sixty parts of the' monohydrated one.
SECTION III.
MALT VINEGAR.
WE call malt, barley in which germination has
developed a certain quantity of diastase. We have
already described the different phenomena which occur.
rrreated a(terwards with water at different temperatures,
the grain is much modified, the starch is transformed
into glucose, then into alcohol.
This kind of vinegar is much used in England and
Germany, and begins to be employed here since the
heavy taxes on spirits prevent the manufacture of
vinegar with that substance. This fabrication comprises
two operations: the preparation of the fermented liquors,
and its transformation into vinegar. We shall describe
the process with some care.
CHAPTER XIX.
PREPARATION OF THE FERMENTED LIQUOR.
WE have already examIned at length the processes of
malting and of alcoholic fermentation. We shall, there-
fore. in this chapter speak briefly of the principal
operations relating to the fabrication of the malt wort
which is to be transformed into malt vinegar.
PREPARATION OF THE FERMENTED LIQUOR. 219
We shall use here only good barley malt. The dry
malt, as.it comes from the m,alt-house, is stored in rooms
or bins, whence it is taken to be ground into meal by
means of crushers or grindstones. The meal is then put
into the mash-tuns, where it is stirred with water at
160 at the first mash, and subsequently, to deprive it
of all its saccharine contents, with one or two additions
of water at 1 ! : ~ 0 . A good proportion for vinegar-makers
has been found to be six bushels of malt and one hundred
gallons of water, used in three portions, forty, thirty, and
thirty gallons. The wort, or liquor containing the ex-
tractive portions of malt, is allowed to stand in the mash-
tun after each mash, so as to allow the settling of the
insoluble parts, and then drawn off into under-tanks,
from whence it passes through pipes cooled externally
by fresh water.
When the clear wort has been cooled down to about
75, it is thoroughly mixed with about four per cent. in
volume of beer yeast, when the alcoholic fermentation
is allowed to proceed, and is carefully watched.
In large establishments there are the' appropriate
apparatus for cooling rapidly, pumping the liquors from
one portion to all other parts of the works, which give
a nice field to the constructor of such works to show
engineering ability and judgment in appliances for
saving labor and working properly, but here we confine
ourselves to the chemical part.
When the alcoholic fermentation, that is to say, the
transformation of the saccharine matter into alcohol, is
finished, the alcoholic mixture or wash is transferred to'
large casks, where it cleanses itself of any remaining
impurities, and is ready to be transformed into vinegar.
220 lU.NUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
CHAPTER XX.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE FERMENTED LIQUOR INTO
VINEGAR.
WE may here again refer to the description of the
process followed at Orleans for the manufacture of wine
vmegar:-
The fermented malt wort is run into oaken casks up
to two-thirds of their contents, and there the acidifica-
tion takes place.
The casks are ranged in parallel rows, rpsting upon
long wooden beams elevated about eightp.en inches from
the ground, and have their bungs uppermost, while a
small hole on top of the front head of each causes the
circulation of the air.
If the operation takes place in the yard (fielding), it
generally begins during spring and continues' during the
summer. For the remainder of the year it is better to
operate in apartments c a l l ~ d stoves, since they are heated
by stoves or steam, at a temperature ranging from 70
to 80. We have already seen that the acetification
proceeds much more rapidly in heated places than at the
ordinary temperature, and that if there is an expense in
fuel, the capital invested in space and apparatus, casks,
etc., is considerably less.
In large establishments, and, indeed, in small ones, a
large saving of labor will be effected by connecting ele-
. vated tanks, holding the fermented wort, with pipes
and movable flexible hose which will allow of the rapid
TRANSFORMATION OF LIQUOR INTO VINEGAR. 221
and easy filling of the casks. The vinegar produced is
siphoned off into inclined troughs, which deliver it to
a central underground tank, from which it is pumped
into the storing-tanks.
A store-room should be cold, and have all the appli-
ances necessary for filtering the vinegar, coopering the
barrels, &c. .
Malt vinegar generally contains a great deal of muci-
laginous matter difficult to settle. preventing its keeping,
while giving nourishment to vinegar-eels. It is therefore
necessary to filter it, and the best substance as a filtering
medium is still the grape mash, which probably acts
mechanically and, at the same time, chemically by its
tannin.
Where there is power, and a large quantity of vine-
gar is manufactured, the filterinR is effected under a
considerable hydrostatic pressure. The stalks and skins
of the pressed grapes are placed in a closed vessel,
between two false perforated bottoms. A circuit of
pipes is connected at the lower and upper part of the
vessel, and; by means of a pump, the vinegar is made
to pass again and again through the grape. This pro-
cess allows the filtering medium to be quite compact,
and no impurities can pass with the vinegar..
Household Process for Malt V'inegar.
Malt is crushed, then mashed with water, and the
wort, with an addition of yeast, is poured into an up-
right cask, with a perforated false bottom, one foot dis-
tant from the lower head. The cask, above the perforated
bottom, is filled with grape mash. The alcoholic fer-
mentation takes place there, and after twenty-four hours,
the contents are cleansed into another barrel. When the
222
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
liquor has become clear, it is decanted into another cask,
where the acetification takes place at a temperature of
about 70. Sometimes from one.half to two per cent.
of argol is added to the worts, in imitation of the tartar
found in true wine vinegar.
SECTION IV.
QUICK PROCESS.
THERE is no chemical difference in the reactions which
take place during the manufacture of vinegar by the
slow or by the quick process. In either case, the alco-
hol of the wash is transformed into acetic acid by the
oxidizing action of the air, aided by the mother of vine-
gar. In the slow process, the alcoholic mixture of the
fermenting-easks has only its upper sUlface in contact
with the air; in the quick process, the same mixture
offers an enormous surface to the action of the air, since
it is diffused through the pores and the surface of wood
shavings, or of pieces of charcoal, or of pumice-stone.
Indeed, it has been calculated that one gallon of alco-
holic mixture, diffused through beech shavings, offers a
surface of about 100 square yards.
We may understand, therefore, how it is possible to
produce, by this method, vinegar in forty-eight hours, .
while, by the slow process, three or four months would
be necessary.
CHAPTER XXI.
OLD METHODS.
I
Boer/wave's Process.-We have already described this
process in preceding pages, relating to the manufacture
of wine vinegar by the slow process. As devised by
224
,
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Boerhaave, the method was comparativply.slow, although
more rapid than the old modes. But by employing
the ,jame apparatus, we may work it more rapidly, by
drawing part of the contents several times a day, and
throwing it into the other cask. Boerhaave!s method is
an intermediate step between the slow and quick pro-
cess; this is the reason why we mention it under both
methods.
Doebereiner's process has also been mentioned as being
based on the oxidation of alcohol by the air in glass
rooms under the influence of platinum black, also called
platinum sponge. It is a quick process if a very large
quantity of platinum is employed; but then we require
a considerable capital, which, added to the necessity of
using a heavily taxed alcohol, renders the method im-
practicable in such conditions. 'Ve must, therefore,
wait until we have cheap platinum, and cheap alcohol.
CHAPTER XXII.
APPARATUS.
THE apparatuses required by the manufacturers of
vinegar by the quick ptocess are quite simple in their
construction, and their number varies with the impor-
tance of the fabrication.
. The generator, in which the oxidation of the alcohol
takes place, is sometimes of enormous dimensions, in
which case, power is employed for injecting the air
through the PIass, and pumping the alcoholic wash over
and over again through the porous contents, until the
transformation into vinegar is complete.
APPARATUS.
,
225
As most generally employed, a generator consists of a
wooden tun (oak, beech, or white pine) having the shape
of an inverted truncated cone. Although this forlll is
troublesome for keeping the outside hoops (wooden or
iron) tight, it is generally adopted, under the belief that
the liquid falling from the larger diameter will be sure
to moisten equally the whole contents. The lower
diameter is 3 feet 6 inches, and the upper one 4 feet,
corresponding to a height of 8 feet.
Fig. 9.
The generator A (Fig. 9) r ~ s t s upon supports, d ~ d,
elevated so as to give room for filling a cask, barrel, or
tub, H, in which the vinegar is received. B is the hoop
corresponding to the height (about 18 in.) of a perforated
false bottom, which supports the beech shavings. This
15
c Coogle
226 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
VANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
alcoholic liquors are rapidly transformed into vinegar.
We will, therefore, put a portion of the whiskey (or
alcohol) at each passage through the generators (three
in this case), and experience has taught us that a proper
distribution will be i! of the whiskey (or alcohol) for
the first passage, -h for the second, and 71% for the third.
Another arrangement may be 11f' T%' and -h for the sake
of more easily remembered numbers.
Therefore, taking the latter figures, we find our five
gallons of whiskey distributed as follows:-
1ST WASH.
Gallo....
Water ==31
Vinegar = 4
Whiskey!uor5= 2.
2D WAJlH.
Gallon.
Wash No.1 - 3 7 ~
Whiskey ! ~ or 5- 1.
89
3D .....all.
Oallrm.
Wul1 No.2 - 39
Whiskey 1\ or 5 - 1
37'
This method of graduating the liquors being well
understood, the operator begins by heating the first wash
to about tmO, and charging with it the sieve of the first
generator. The liquor passes along the knotted threads,
falls upon and percolates slowly through the shavings, .
where, under the influence of the air and the vinegar-
mother which coats the shavings, the alcohol becomes
oxidized and gradually transformed into vinegar. When
the liquors reach the bottom of the generator, the excess
of liquor above the level of the bend of the siphon or
goose's neck, runs ip.to a proper vessel large enough to
hold the contents of a day's work. These liquors, with
the addition of whiskey (or alcohol), form the second
wash, which is heated to 80 and run through the second
generator, whence it goes out to form, with another
addition of spirit, the third wash. This last wash is
again heated, and, after passing through the third and
last generator, is allowed to run out as vinegar.
GENERAL DETAILS OF THE OPERATION. 233
This method is the continuous method which is open
to the inconvenience of heating the wash of each pas-
sage, and of an irregular delivery of the liquors through
the top sieve. Indeed, on account of the warping of the
bottom of the sieve, the irregularity in the apertures,
their filling up by dregs or mother, it is found nearly
impossible to cause the liquors to fall equally upon the
shavings. Many devices have been employed to remedy
this defect, without success, except in certain large estab-
lishments where distributors are moved by power.
The method of Otto, by periodical pouring, obviates
these difficulties and the ,trouble of heating the wash.
It consists in pouring into the n e ~ t generator, every hour
or half hour, the liquors which run from a generator
during this lapse of time. For instance, if a day's work
is only ten hours, and there is a pouring every hour, a
generator furnishing forty gallons in ten hours will run
four gallons every hour, which will be collected and poured
into the next generator with. an addition of one-tenth of
the quantity of spirits calculated for each wash during
one day's work. This latter method of working has
been found preferable to the former continuous one.
Precautions to be taken during tke Process.--The quick
process requires more care and attention from the ope-
rator than the slow process. He may by chemical tests
ascertain the constancy of the gradually increasing
strength of the vinegar as it flows from the generators,
but the thermometer will give him not less useful indica-
tions. We may say that the temperature should average
100 F., and fluctuate between 104
0
at the first genera-
tor and 96 at the last. Indeed, the greater proportion
of alcohol is in the first wash, and the chemical action
being greater, the temperature increases accordingly.
234 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Above 104 there is a loss of alcohol by evaporation, and
the vinegar of course becomes weaker. This increase of
temperature may be due to an excess of air, when the
aperture of the air-holes or of the draft must be dimin-
ished. If the room or liquors are too hot, the remedy
is to cool one or the other. The best temperature for
the room is between 75 and 80. On the other hand,
if the temperature falls below 96 in the generator, the
room or washes must be heated, or the draft chimney
closed for a certain length of time, and this is resorted
to when the gene;rators do not work during the night. .
The proportion of ferment is also to be considered,
as an excess of it calfses an increase of temperature,
and the vinegar is not clear. The remedy is to clear the
shavings of the excess of mother by pouring upon them
several bucketfuls of strong tepid vinegar. If, on the
contrary, the proportion of ferment is too little, the tem-
perature falls, since the oxidation of the alcohol is too
slow, and it becomes necessary to restore the action of
the shavings by additions of tepid vinegar, as is done for
bringing the generators into action.
During the night, when the generators stand idle, the
shavirigs have a tendency to become coated with an excess
of mother; indeed, the ferment may be considered as
a plant which grows. Otto recommends the use of a
little oil of cloves or of alcoholic tincture of cloves in
the last wash poured npon the shavings. The growth
of ferments, in general, is arrested and even destroyed
by essential oils, antiseptics, &c.
P
L2
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN AND MALT. 235
CHAPTER XXIV.
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN AND MALT.
ALL the liquors we have mentioned in describing the
slow process, and, indeed, all alcoholic liquors, can be
converted into vinegar by the quick process. In the
process we shall now describe, the wine malt (wash) for
charging the generators is made from wheat, corn, or
any other grain and barley malt. We shall not enter
upon much detail, but refer the reader to the chapter
on brewing.
The mixture is made in the proportions of forty pounds
ofgrains to eighty pounds of mal t: the whole, well ground,
is saturated with forty gallons of water at 120. After
the subsidence of the solid parts, the clear liquid is drawn
off, the residue is washed with water at 160, agitated
and drawn off as before; a third washing is made at
200
0
to 212. The whole of the washings should not
exceed 110 gallons.
The solution is filtered through the filter described
below, and cooled to 75; it is then mixed with fifteen
pounds of good yeast, and the whole is allowed to ferment
at 80 for five or six days; it is then filtered again, and
is ready for the generators, where the same precautions
are observed as if it were pure spirit.
Description of the Filler.-This filter is represented in
the following figure :-
236 Jl:ANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Fig. 12.
A A A A. Large wooden box fourteen feet long, four
feet wide, and four feet deep.
B B. Iron pipe two inches in diameter fixed at about
four inches from the bottom of the box.
C C C. Filters three feet two inches square. These
filters are connected by small iron pipes D D D, one-half
an inch in diameter, with the main pipe B B.
E. Cock adjusted on the main pipe B B, by which the
filtered liquor is drawn off.
F. Cock to draw off materials from the box while
cleaning it.
Description of the Filtering-fl'ames.-A filtering-frame
. is represented in the following figure.
It (C C C C) is of wood, three feet two inches square.
From the top to the bottom are fixed pieces of iron or
wood, a a a a, as a grate. These are of the same width
as the sides of the frames; their object is to keep the
filtering-cloth straight. At the bottom of the frame is
an iron pipe b, one-half inch in diameter, which is
,tile' byGoogIe
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN AND MALT. 237
screwed in b on the main pipe B B. The whole of the
frame is surrounded by cotton or woollen cloth, like R
bag, but tightly fixed on the frame, leaving the pipe Db
projecting.
Fig. IS.
Working of tke Filter.-Place the frames C C C on the
main pipe B B in the box A A A A, and close the cocks
EF.
Fill the box with the liquid to be filtered, and let it
rest half an hour.
The liquid passes through the cloth, and by the pipe
D is carried into the main pipe B B, while the solid
matters remain in the box. Open the cock E, and if
the liquor does not pass clear, put it back into the box
until it becomes clear.
When the whole has passed over, shut the cock E,
and throw water into the box so as to wash the re-
siduum well, let it rest a few minutes, open the cock
E, and let it run. Continue the operation until all the
strength is exhausted.*
., The filter can be placed above the generator, and the liquid let
to run slowly on it.
,tile' byGoogIe
238 HANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
When the filtration is completed, shut the cock E,
and open the cock :F, let all the solid matters run out by
pouring water into the box; next take off the frames
C C C, wash them well with water, nnd dry them quickly.
Wash the box, and ifit is to be some time without using,
keep it filled with water.
With such a filter, the editor has been able to filter
in one night eight hundred gallons of mash; the liquor
was as clear and limpid as water.
CHAPTER XXV.
FABRICATION OF VINEGAR WITH GRAIN ALONE.
THIS process is founded on the property that starch
or any amylaceous matter possesses of being transformed
into dextrin and glucose under the influence of diluted
acids. This' process, much used in. Europe, is now
introduced into this country. In Germany, starch is
employed, and the author is the first, 'he believes, who
had the idea of using corn to produce glucose for the
fabrication of vinegar. In this chapter we shall describe
the preparation of the glucose from grain, and its trans-
formation into vinegar.
The first step is to proceed to the saccharification, by
the reaction of sulphuric acid, diluted with thirty-three
parts of water, heated, and kept at the temperature of
212, and then gradually to throw into the boiling acid
liquid the grain, which forms about one-fifth of the total
weight of the liquid..
The saccharification is effected in strong wooden vats
of a capacity of about three thousand gallons. In one
of these vats is a lead pipe bent in a circular form near
0 0
.;
;; .
Tbree bUDdred aDd
..
'!-' "
.:= 0 g .
- ...
<1'
tblrl:r-.lx lb. of ...ood.
S
....
:= f:! .:
"S"
:;
:!i!
",uo
oO;_" :i
....::"g
""
.c
c3 :.'O!
= ..
'-'
OCSl6oClC. Qo,,"
---
Beeoh...................... 84 28.00 180 1.029
9f
25
Walnut.................... 72 24.00 150 1.018 7 14.
Birch, cut three years 70 23.33 120 1.031 11 13
Oak........................ 91 30.33 190 1.022 8 24
Ash........................ 90 80.00 190 1.024 8 22
Apple...................... 70 23.33 200 1.017 6 18
Wych elm................ 70 23.33 180 1.018 8 16
Maple...................... 77 25.66 145 1.018 6 20
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 315
The entire operations of three works in the neighbor-
hood of Paris showed the following average products
from 4000 lbs. of wood, beech and oak:-
.
Charcoal IOU Ibs.
Acid liquor, 2335 Ibs. sp. gr. 1.027-416 Ibs. dry acetate of lime.
Tar 330
The following products were obtained at the works
of Mollerat at Nuits. From 5120 cwt. of wood:-
Charcoal
Pyroligneous acid
Acetic acid
Acetate of lead
1280 ewt.
850 "
54 ..
152 "
In a well-conducted est.ablishment in England, the
annexed were the quantities of crude acid liquor ob-
tained by the distillation of 1634 cords of wood, each
cord weighing 512 cwt., according to the longer or
shorter time allowed to intervene between the cutting
and the using of the wood.
174 cords produced 23.923 gals. of about 10 Ibs. each.
160 .. .. 27.720 .. .. .. ..
252 .. .. 30.42t .. " .. ..
S18 .. II 40.584 II .. .. "
330 .. .. 55.900 .. .. .. ..
400 .. " 60.700 .. .. II "
CHAPTER XXX.
PURIFICATION OF THE PRo6uCTS OF THE DISTILLATION.
WOOD NAPHTHA-PURIFICATION OF WOOD VINEGAR.
THE products of the distillation are very complex in
their nature. Besides the acetic acid, there are dif-
ferent hydrocarbons forming the tar, while other hydro-
316 JlANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
carbons, such as wood naphtha, acetone, and eupion, will
be found in the acid liquors. In the arts, tar, pyro-
ligneous acid, and wood naphtha are the only substances
separated.
The first operation is to pump the condensed liquors
into large tanks, where they are allowed to settle ; the
greater part of the tar goes to the bottom, while a
certain proportion, rendered lighter by a quantity of air-
bubbles, forms a skum at the surface. The intermediate
space in the tank is occupied by the crude pyroligneous
acid and naphtha.
By sufficient settling and careful decantation, the
acid liquor may be obtained clear, although of a dark
appearance, and may still be improved by a filtration
through layers of sand or charcoal. It is from this
liquor that wood naphtha and wood vinegar are ex-
tracted, beginning with the former.
The tar may be used as fuel, or distilled. The pro-.
ducts of the distillation of wood tar are little known. If I
the tar is washed with water so as to remove the acid it
contains, and afterwards melted with one-fifth of its
weight of resin, it may be used by ship-builders. But
for this latter purpose, tar from resinous woods is to be
preferred.
JVood Naphtha.
This hydrocarbon is also called wood spirit, pyroxylic
spirit, ether, and alcohol, and also methylic alcohol.
For the chemist, it is the hydrate of oxide of methyl,
C
2
H
8
0,HO, and is isomorphous in its behavior with
wine alcohol, or hydrate of oxide of ethyl. Indeed,
like the latter, it contracts when mixed with water, and
the maximum of contraction takes place when the
mixture contains 45.75 per cent. of water.
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 317
Wood naphtha is a colorless, very fluid liquid, of sp.
gr. 0.798 when chemically pure, and whose
varies between 150 and 160. The sp. gr. of its vapor
is 1.11. It burns like alcohol, but its flame is paler. It
is soluble in all proportions in water, ether, and alcohol,
and is a solvent for resins and gunis, especially when it
(:ontains a small proportion of acetone.
It is used for the manufacture of varnishes, for labor-
atory lamps, &c., and, in certain cases, in medicine.
The specific gravity of the purest wood naphtha found
in the trade is 0.812, instead of 0.798, which is due to
the presence of certain impurities which it would be too
expensive to remove.
Wood naphtha may be separated from the acid liquors
of the distillation of wood, either directly, or after they
have been saturated with lime. The latter process will
give the greater yield of spirit, but the acetate of lime
being made from undistilled pyroligneous acid, is of l\
darker color than that from the distilled acid. We will
therefore suppose that we separate naphtha from the
acid liquors, without neutralization by an alkali.
These liquors are put into a copper still., heated by
fire or by steam, and one-fifth of the contents are care-
fully distilled and condensed. Nearly all the naphtha is
obtained in this manner, mixed with a great deal of
water and acid. These first distillates from pyroligneous
acid are submitted to several rectifications over quick-
lime, which saturates the acid, and absorbs the excess
of water, in copper vessels, heated by steam or by a
water-bath.
These several rectifications will give a product quite
free from water, but still colored and of a strong em-
pyreumatic odor. It is then necessary to submit the
318 MANUI' ACTURE OF VINEGAR.
crude naphtha to a chemical treatment which will destroy
these impurities. Several processes are in use.
1. From two to four ounces of bichromate of potassa
or permanganate of potassa, in fine powder, to each gal-
lon of crude naphtha, are stirred with it several times a
day. The operation will go on more rapidly if the light
of the 'sun has access to the mixture: and for this pur-
pose the vessels are tightly covered with glass. The
impurities are oxidized, and a last distillation will give
a colorless product.
2. The preceding method requires nearly one month
for its operation. This one is much more rapid, as it
liberates the chromic acid, which immediately oxidizes
the foreign matters, while it is itself transformed into
sesquioxide of chromium. We, therefore, decompose
three equivalents of bichromate of potassa by three of
hydrochloric or sulphuric acid; the reactions are seen
in the following formulre:-
3 (KO 2 Cr0
3
)+3 HCJ=3 CIK+3 HO+6Cras.
3 (KO 2 Cr0
3
)+3 80
3
=3 KO 80
3
+6CrOS.
3. Crude naphtha may also be purified like petroleum
by concentrated sulphuric acid. A proportion of oil
of vitriol, variable with the impurity of the spirit, is
thoroughly stirred with the naphtha and then allowed to
settle. The acid and impurities go to the bottom, and
the supernatant spirit is distilled over a small propor-
tion of quicklime, which neutralizes the small quantity
of acid and water retained by the wood naphtha.
According to the care and temperature employed for
distilling the wood and making the various rectifications,
the crude pyroligneous acid from a ton of dry hard wood.
will produce from one to three gallons of wood uaphtha.
Dr. Ure has calculated tables giving the percentage
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 819
of real naphtha and water corresponding to certain spe-
cific gravities of commercial naphthas. The trials to be
made at 60, and supposing a specific gravity of 0.813
for pure commercial wood naphtha.
8p. I!'&ylt,.. Bcal oplrlt 8p. llrult,.. Bcaloplrlt
ISP'llrnlt,..
. Bcal oplrle
per ccnt. per ccnt. per ccnt.
I
.J...-__
0.8136 100.00 0.8820 77.00
- 1---0.924"2
58.82
0.8216 98.00 0.884:.1 75.76
I
0.9266 57.73
0.8256 96.11 0.8876 74.63 09296 56.18
0.8320 94.34 0.8918 73.53 0.9344 li3.70
0.8384 92.22 0.89:-10 72.46 0.9386 5l.54
0.8418 90.90 0.8950
. 71.43
0.9414 50.00
0.8470 83.90 0.8984 70.42 0.9448 47.62
0.8514 87.7:.1 0.9008 69.44 0.9484 46.00
0.8564 86.20 0.903:.1 68.50 0.9518 43.48
08596 84.75 0.9060 67.56 0.9540 41.66
0.1"642 83.33 0.9070 66.66 0.9564 40.00
0.8674 82.00 0.9116 65.00 0.9584 38.46
0.8712 80.64 0.9154 63.aO 0.9600 37.11
O.H742 79.36 0.9184 61.7a 0.9620 35.71
0.8784 78.13 0.9218 60.24
!
The next table has been made by St. Claire Deville,
and is for a temperature of 48.5 :Fahrenheit.
Quautity of water.
00
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
95
..
Specillo gravity.
0.8070
0.8371
0.86.9
0.8873
0.9072
0 . 9 ~ 8 2
0.9429
0 . 9 5 ~
0.9700
0.9751
0.9851
Purification of Wood Vinegar.
In the article 011 wood naphtha we have seen that
one-fifth of the crude pyroligneous acid in the still is
distilled over to obtain the spirit. The distillation is
320
JUNUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
continued with the remainder until nothing but tar
remains in the still.
The rectified pyroligneous acid is then saturated with
lime, the solution evaporated, the crystals of acetate of
lime separated, drained, and dried at about 250
0
to
300
0
and sometimes more, when the acetate of lime is
in form to be sold as gray acetate, or used in the factory
for the manufacture of acetic acid.
All the details of the operations for the manufacture
of acetate of 'lime and acetate of soda having been fully
explained in the chapter on .. acetates," we refer the
reader to that part of the work, since this chapter is in-
tended for the extraction and purification of wood vine-
gar, and for modifications in the process not already
explained.
Wood vinegar is extracted in the factories from ace-
tate of lime or acetate of soda by means of sulphuric
and hydrochloric acids, and the latter acid presents so
many advantages over the former, that, although more
expensive in first cost (in America, but not in Europe),
it begins to be generally preferred for this purpose.
Acetate of soda is still preferred in some establish-
ments where the wood vinegar manufactured is intended
for table vinegar or pharmaceutical uses. As this ace-
tate of soda must be pure, the gray calcined acetate of
lime is dissolved in water, and the solution filtered to
separate the charred portions, before it is decomposed
by about four times its weight of crystallized sulphate
of soda. This large proportion of sulphate of soda is
intended to remedy the'loss of vinegar which, as we have
noticed, comes from the formation of a double salt, con-
taining acetic acid. Here, also, a double insoluble salt
of sulphate of lime and soda is formed; but the loss
bears on the sulphate of soda, while all the acetic acid
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 321
remains in solution combined with soda. The reaction
which takes place is represented as follows :-
CaOC'HSOI+2(NaOSOS)=NaOC4HIOS+CaOSOINaOSOI.
Although soda ash is more expensive than sulphate
of soda, some manufacturers use it to saturate the pyro-
ligneous acid directly; they save, therefore, the cost of
lime, sulphate of soda, fuel, and labor attending the
evaporation of the acetate of lime, its calcination, &c.
The crude acetate of soda produced by either 'method
must be purified by crystallization, drying at about 450,
&c., as explained in the chapter on acetates, and when
rendered pure, it is ready for the manufacture of acetic
acid.
For this purpose the pure acetate of soda is decom-
posed by sulphuric acid, which seizes the soda, and the
acetic acid is set free. The crystals of acetate of soda
are put into a copper still with a thick bottom, and about
thirty-five per cent. of their weight of concentrated oil
of vitriol is poured at once into a cavity made in the
salt. If the acid is gradually mixed, by small por-
tions at a time, the men will be troubled by the great
quantity of acrid fumes disengaged. The whole mass
is immediately stirred with a wooden rod, the still is
closed, and the distillation proceeds.
The condensed acid is colorless until towards the end
of the operation, when it will run slightly yellowish and
with an empyreumatic odor, due to an excess of heat
necessary to expel the acid from the mass of solidified
sulphate of soda remaining in the still. The acid which
is colored, and has an unpleasant smell, is kept apart to
be further purified.
The stills may be heated directly over a fire, but it is
preferable to employ pressure steam in a jacket, or to
21
322 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
rest the still in a sand, oil, or tallow bath. The head
and cooling-worm of the still may be of copper if the
acid is intended for chemical uses, as, for instance, the
manufacture of white sugar of lead; but for table vine-
gar, silver or stoneware heads and worms must be em-
ployed.
In some manufactories, instead of decomposing the
acetate of soda by oil of vitriol in the still, the operation
is made in large stoneware vessels kept in a cool place.
The acetic acid, after the settling of the sulphate of soda,
is decanted and distilled, and therefore the solid resi-
duum in the still it not very considerable. As the sul-
phate of soda of the jars retains asensible amount of
acetic acid, it is washed with a small proportion of cold
water, and the washings are added to the acid in the
still. This mode of working ill desirable when the still
is directly over a fire, but is of less consequence when
pressure steam, or oil-baths are employed.
When the wood vinegar (acetic acid) collected is but
slightly colored, or empyreumatic in smell, it may be
purified by a filtration through charcoal or bone- black
previously washed with weak h)'drochloric acid, and
rinsed in water, or through beech shavings.
If, on the other hand, the still is not clean, or the
acetate contains small portions of h)'drocarbons, these
impurities will be decomposed by t.he heat and the sul-
phuric acid, and the yinegar will run colored and with
a bad smell, due to empyreuma or sulphurous acid, or
sulphuretted hydrogen, or the whole combined. Another
rectification is therefore necessary after the addition of
substances which will destroy and remove the impurities.
Bichromate of potassa and binoxide of manganese
alone, or with the addition of a small proportion of acid,
will oxidize and decompose the coloring and cmp)'reu-
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 323
matic matters, and transform the sulphurous into sul-
phuric acid, which will unite with the potassa or the
oxide of chromium of the bichromate, or with the manga-
nese of the oxide. The proportions of these purifying
agents vary, of course, with the amount of impurities,
and range from one-half to three per cent. of the acetic
acid.
Another distillation after the addition of a sufficient
proportion of bichromate of potassa or binoxide of man-
ganese will give a wood vinegar perfectly white, clear,
and free from any empyreumatic smell.
When the acetic acid does not need to be entirely
pure, acetate of lime is decomposed by sulphuric or hy-
drochloric acid.
The decomposition by the sulphuric acid is effected
either outside or inside of the still, and the proportions
are, on an average, 100 parts of acetate of lime for 60
of oil of vitriol. Large stoneware jars, and sometimes
leaden and wooden tubs, are employed, into which the
acetate of lime is first put, and the sulphuric acid is
poured into a cavity made in it. It has been found
advantageous to use the oil of vitriol, previously diluted
with about its volume of water, since the sulphate of
lime produced settles more easily in a granular form. It
is washed afterwards with water, and the washings are
added to the contents of the still, which in this case may
be of copper.
On the other hand, if the decomposition of the ace-
tate of lime by oil of vitriol is directly effected in the
still, this ought to be made of cast-iron at the bottom
and of copper at the top. The oil of vitriol is not
diluted. The heat necessary to expel all the acid from
the sulphate of lime is such as to cause the production
of a vinegar highly colored and empyreumatic, which
324 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
needs a further purification by distillation over binoxide
of manganese or bichromate of potassa.
The heat is greater, as there is a thicker deposit of
sulphate of lime in the still, and in order to obviate this
difficulty, the following apparatus has been devised.
The acetate of lime is thoroughly mixed with the oil of
vitriol (not diluted) in a closed cast-iron cylinder with a
revolving central shaft armed with blades doing the
work of stirring. Cast-iron is not much corroded by
very concentrated sulphuric or acetic acid. The magma
produced is then received in shallow cast-iron trays two
inches deep, which are inclosed in a cast-iron retort
directly heated over a fire. Notwithstanding these pre-
cautions, the acetic acid condensed is still colored and
very empyreumatic.
A much better article will be obtained by decomposing
the acetate of lime by hydrochloric acid directly, in a
still built of strong copper. The relative proportions
are, on an average, 100 of acetate of lime, and 90 to 95
of hydrochloric acid, sp. gr. 1.15; and it is always bet-
ter, on account of the variable composition and strength
of both substances, to determine the true proportions by
a trial on a small scale. As long as the distillate be-
comes only slightly cloudy by the addition of a few
drops of nitrate of silver, the hydrochloric acid is not
in excess. If the acetic acid is to be used without fur-
ther purification, just enough hydrochloric acid is added
to decompose the acetate of lime; but if the acid is to
be purified by the addition of bichromate of potassa and
another distillation, it is preferable to add a little more
hydrochloric acid, which will be seized by, and will aid
the decomposition of the bichromate of potassa. When
hydrochloric acid is used, it is preferable to employ
bichromate of potassa, instead of binoxide of manganese,
PURIFICATION OF PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. 325
since the latter will cause a disengagement of chlorine,
part of which will go into the distillate.
The advantage of hydrochloric over sulphuric acid for
the decomposition of impure acetates is, that it only
separates, and does not destroy, the tarry matters. If the
acetic acid is conta.minated with empyreuma, it is due to
the action of the fire, and not to that of hydrochloric
acid. Indeed, gray calcined acetate of lime, dissolved
in a minimum of water and filtered, will, by treatment
with hydrochloric and one distillation, give a colorless
acid which may be employed for most chemical uses. If
it is distilled again over a small proportion of bichro-
mate of potassa in a copper still heated by steam, and
with the head and worm of silver or earthenware, it will
be equal to the acetic acid made from pure acetate of
soda decomposecl by sulphuric acid.
If the manufacturer of wood vinegar does not buy the
acetate of lime, but makes it himself, he will find hydro-
chloric acid useful again in the preparation of this' salt,
and will save the cost and waste of a first distillation
of the crude pyroligneous acid. This is the modus ope-
randi :-The clear crude pyroligneous acid is saturated
with quicklime slacked, or in the form of a thick magma.
During the operation, and the settling afterwards, a great
deal of tarry matter separates and floats on the surface
or falls to the bottom of the vessel. This is separated
and washed, and the w a s h i n ~ s are added to the former
liquors. The settled and clear, but very dark, solution
of acetate of lime is then evaporated in iron or copper
pans, two to three feet deep, and the floating impurities
are carefully skimmed off. When the contents of the
pan have been reduced by evaporation to about one-half
of their bulk, from one to three per cent. o( hydrochloric
acid is added, that is, until the liquors present an acid
326 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
reaction with litmus-paper. The proportion of hydro-
chloric acid is of course variable with the amount of
impurities, but in this case the addition of the hydro-
chloric acid is to decompose the compounds of lime with
acid tarry substances; the hydrochloric acid seizes the
lime, while the acid tar floats at the surface and is skimmed
off. The liquor, which was of a dark brown color, be-
comes yellowish-brown. The remainder of the operation
consists in evaporating the liquors to dryness, and cal-
cining with proper care the acetate of lime produced, so
as to destroy the remaining tarry matters. This acetate,
dissolved in a small bulk of water, filtered, treated by
hydrochloric acid and distilled, gives immediately a cl>ar,
colorless acetic acid, with a slight empyreumatic odor,
which can be removed in the manner already indicated.
It will be found more easy to obtain a clear and good-
smelling article, if the acid in the still has been diluted
with a certain proportion of water.
Commercial acetic acid No. ~ contains from 25 to 30
per cent. of real acid.
SECTION VI.
APPLICATIONS OF VINEGAR.
THESE are well known, since vinegar is used in domes-
tic economy, medicine, perfumery, several chemical
arts, and principally for preserving alimentary substances.
We shall enumerate these different applications.
CHAPTER XXXI.
AROMATIC VINEGAR AND HIGHLY CONCENTRATED
VINEGAR.
AROKATIC vinegar is a highly concentrated acetic acid,
with a pleasant smell due to small proportions of ace-
tone, caJIlphor, and essential oils added to it. It may
be prepared by the distillation of the acetates of copper,
lead, silver, etc.; but the first is generally emplo)'ed in
the arts.
The neutral acetate of copper is carefully dried and
distilled, at a gradually raised heat, in an earthenware
retort communicating by means of an adapter with two
or three tubulated receivers, the last one of which has
a safety-tube plunging into a bottle of water. The acid
which distills and condenses in the receivers, cooled in
water, has a greenish-blue color due to a certain quantity
328 KANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
of acetate of copper distilled over. Its sp. gr. is about
1.061, and it amounts to one-half of the acetate em-
ployed.
The impure acid is distilled again in a glass retort
heated by a sand-bath. The first condensed portions,
which are weak, and have a sp. gr. of 1.072, are collected
apart, and mixed with the last portions, which have an
empyreumatic odor. These two are distilled over, and
mixed with the intermediate acid, whose sp. gr. is 1.084.
The acid made in this manner contains a small propor-
tion of acetone.
Concentrated acetic acid is to be found in the trade,
containing 40 per cent. of real acid. This degree of
concentration is desirable when the acid is to be sent to
a distance, and the cost of transportation is an item of
importance. This acid is generally obtained by the dis-
tillation of pure and dry acetate of soda decomposed by
concentrated acetic acid.
If a still more concentrated acid is desired, the distil-
lation must be repeated several times over fused chloride
of calcium, and the first portions of the distillate, which
are too weak, should be removed. The strong acid col-
lected is put into ice, when the monohydrated acid crys-
tallizes. The liquid parts are removed, the crystals'dis-
tilled again, and the distillate divided and congealed
as before. The liquid acid portions are then drained
from the crystals, which may be considered as monohy-
drated acetic acid of specific gravity 1.063. 'Ve will
remark here that monohydrated acetic acid has a sp. gr.
inferior to the acid diluted up to a certain point, when
the sp. gr. decreases with the amount of diIi.ltion.
Crystallizable acetic acid, as used in the arts, is not
entirely monohydrated acid. It is manufactured by
the Melsen's process of biacetate of potassa, already ex-
COMPOUND VINEGARS. 329
plained, or by the decomposition of a pure dry acetate
by an excess of concentrated oil of vitriol, so as to make
sure that no acetone will be produced.
A good process consists in carefully drying white sugar
of lead and mixing its powder thoroughly with concen-
trated sulphuric acid, in a proportion more than sufficient
to combine with the oxide of lead. By distillation an
acid is obtained, which will readily congeal in a cold
mixture. The liquid parts are drained off.
CHAPTER XXXII.
COMPOUND VINEGARS.
TABLE VINEGARS-AROMATIC VINEGARS-TOILET VINEGARS
MEDICINAL VINEGARS.
Table Vinegars.
VARIOUS table vinegars are obtained by digesting cer-
tain quantities of the following respective articles in one
pint of good strong vinegar. This is placed in mace-
ration for fourteen days, and strained. These materials
are:-
Black pepper,
Celery seed,
Garlic,
Onion,
White pepper,
Red pepper,
Chilli,
Ginger,
Shallot,
Caper,
Cress seed,
Horseradish,
Trome,
Etc.
The vinegars made from :-
Basil,
CherviJIe,
Bornet,
Tarragon,
Celery,
Etc.,
330 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
are obtained by digesting two or three ounces of the
above leaves with a pint of vinegar, leaving it to macerate
fourteen days, and then straining.
Vinegar of Anchovies.-Take 1 pound of anchovies,
which are boned and reduced to a pulp in a mortar, and
passed through a cleun hair sieve; the bones and parts
which do not pass through the sieve are boiled for fifteen
minutes in a pint of water, and strained. To the strained
liquor add 2t ounces of salt and 2l ounces of flour,
together with the pulped anchovies; the whole is sim-
mered for three or four minutes; as soon as the mixture
is cold, add to it t of a pint of strong vinegar.
Vinegar of Celery.
Celery seed
Vinegar .
Digest 14 days ; filter.
Vinegar of Cloves.
Cloves
Vinegar
Digest 7 days; strain.
Vinegar of Lovage.
Lovage root
Lovage seeds
Vinegar
Digest 1 week; filter.
Vinegar of Mustard.
Black mustard seed
Vinegar
D i ~ e s t a week; filter.
.1 OUDces.
1 piut.
31ouDces.
1 piut.
20Dnces.
1 onnce.
10 ounces.
2 ounces.
1 pint.
-
- ..--
COMPOUND VINEGA.RS.
.--
331
Yinegar Of Savory Spices.
Black pepper 3 onnces.
AJlspice It ounce.
Nutmegs . t "
Burnt sogar t "
Cloves 1 drachm.
Cassia 1 "
Coriander 1 "
Caraway seeds I "
Vinegar I pint.
Macerate 14 days, and filter.
VinegaJ' of Herbs.
12onnces.
II
.. II
2 "
2 quarts.
Lemon thyme
Winter savory
Sweet marjoram
Sweet basil
Lemon peel
Escbalots
Celery seeds
Vinegar
Macerate 14 days, and strain.
Tarragon Vinegar.
Tarragon herb
Vinegar
Digest 14 days; filter.
Yinaigre aua' Fines Herbes.
Tarragon berb
Basil.
Laurel leaves
S}JaJlots
Vinegar
Macerate a week; filter.
lonnce.
I "
1 "
I "
t "
i ..
t "
I pint.
1 ponnd.
2 quarts.
332 MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Vinaigre ala RalJigotte.
Tarragon
Laurel leaves
Anchovies.
Shallots
Vinegar
Macerate a week; filter.
12 ounces.
6 "
6 "
4 "
2 quarts.
1 pound.
AROMATIC DISTILLED VINEGARS.
Lavender Vinegar.
Lavender flowers
Viuegar, enougbto cover the flowers.
Let it macerate several days; introduce it into an
alembic, and distill until three-quarters of the vinegar
is obtained. .
All distilled vinegars with flowers or plants can be
obtained by the same method.
For more details on this subject we refer the reader
to one of our last works, Guide for the Perfumer.-
TOILET VINEGARS.
The following formulre are taken from the work already
named.
Rose Vinegar.
Pale roses.
White vinegar
Rhodium wood
Tincture of benzoin
Macerate 2 weeks, and distill.
4 pounds.
4 quarts.
8 ounces.
8 II
* Published by H. C. Baird, Philadelphia.
COMPOUND VINEGARS.
Aromatic Vinegar of the Regent.
Alcohol, at 90 2 pounds.
MeliBSe water I pound.
Cologne . I "
Tincture of balsam of Toln 3t ounces.
" benzoi n . 2 "
" musked amber 4 drachms.
Oil of lavender 2 ounces.
" cloves 4t drachms.
" cinuamon It drachm.
333
After dissolving the oils in alcohol, let it stand a few
hours, and add 31 ounces acetic acid; color with archil,
and filter.
Bullis Vinegar.
Water 7 quarts.
Alcohol
8t
"
Oil of bergamot 1 ounce.
"
lemou I
"
"
Portugal 8 drachms.
"
rosemary 6
"
"
lavender 1 drachm.
"
seroH I
"
Alcoholate of melisse I pint.
Macerate 24 hours, and add-
Tincture of benzoin
" Tolu .
" stOI'llX
" cloves
Stir, and add-
Distilled vinegar
Acetic acid .
Filter.
2 ounces.
2 "
2 "
2 "
2 quarts.
8ouuces.
334 MANUFAOTURE OF VINEGAR.
Toilet Vinegar.
Alcohol, at 900
White vinegar.
Cologne water
Extract of benzoin
.. storax
Pure vinegar
Oil of lavender
" cinnamon
" cloves
Ammonia
8 quarts.
2 "
1 pint.
60 quarts.
60 "
125 "
45 ounces.
4 "
4 "
4 "
Macerate the alcohol and the oils for one week, then
add the other substances; color with archil, and filter.
Vinegar of the Hygienic Society.
A l ~ o h o l , at 90 100 quarts.
Spirit of meliss8 15
"
"
lavender 10
"
"
rosemary. 10
"
Oil of bergamot 2 pounds.
"
bitter orange 20 ounces.
"
lemou . 18
"
"
orange 12
"
"
neroli 7
"
II
mint
I)
"
"
thyme
I)
"
II
cloves 2
"
"
cinnamon 1 ounce.
"
vervain I) ounces.
Macerate the whole, and distill 126 quarts. Macerate
one month, in 42 quarts of this distillate, 30 pounds of
orris and 4 pounds of the balsam of Tolu. Filter; mix
with the balance of the distillate; add 15 quarts of
acetic acid at 80; after 24 hours filter.
COMPOUND VINEGARS.
MEDICINAL VINEGARS.
335
Antiseptic Vinegar of the Four Thieves.
Dry tops of wormwood 121 drachms.
"rosemary 121 "
II sage 121 II
II mint 121 "
" rue 12i "
Dry flowers of lavender 2 ounces.
Garlic . 2 drachms.
Calamus 2 "
Cinnamon 2 II
Cloves 2 "
Nutmegs 2 "
Red vinegar 8 pounds.
Spirits of camphor 4 drachms.
Macerate all these substances two weeks in the.vinegar.
Pass through a cloth, express and distill; add the cam
phorated alcohol to the distillate, and keep ,in ground.
stoppered bottles. '
Antiscorbutic Vinegar.
Fresh cochlearia
.
Gentian root
Bitter orange peel
White Tinegar
2 onnces.
Ii ounce.
4 ounces.
1 ounce.
8 pounds.
Macerate 20 days; decant, and add 2 ounces of spirit
of cochlearia.
Camphorated Vinegar.
Camphor.
Alcohol
Vinegar
6 drachms.
2 ounces.
1 pint.
336
MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
Colchicum Vinegar.
Vinegar, at 3
Colchicum root
Alcohol .
121ounces.
1 ouuce.
6 ounces.
Macerate 8 days in the vinegar; filter; add the alcohol.
Squill Vinegar.
Squills
Red vinegar
Alcohol, at 220
Macerate 15 days;
1 pound.
12 pounds.
1 pound.
decant, press, and filter.
Opium
Vinegar
Nutmegs
Saffron
Black-Drop Vinegar.
8 ounces.
3 pounds.
Ii ounce.
l "
Heat over a water-bath until it is reduced to half its
volume, and add 4 ounces of sugar. Let it macerate 7
weeks; expose it to the air until of a syrupy consist-
ency, and pass it through a sieve.
Syrup of Vinegar.
Vinegar 1 ponnd.
White sugar 2 pounds.
Dissolve over a water-bath, and pass through a flannel.
We could have given more formulre, but we prefer to
refer the reader to the United States Pharmacopreia, the
United States Dispensatory, and the different works on
perfumery published by the author. .
~
We must also observe that when a large quantity of
mould is remarked in the jars, it is a proof that the
alteration of the vinegar is much advanced; and if the
substances in it have to be kept, very strong vinegar must
be substituted. We need not say that all the jars must
be well closed, for it is well knowQ that vinegar, even
alone, when exposed to the contact of the air without
being covered, but principally in summer, develops a
kind of eels, which are sometimes large enough to be
seen without the microscope.
SECTION VII.
.A.CETOMETRY.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
ACETOMETRY.
DEGREE OF CONCENTRATION OF VINEGARS, AND MEANS OF
ASCERTAINING IT-ACETOMETER OF THE PARISIAN MER-
CHANTS-DESCROIZILLES' ACETOMETER-FRESENIUS AND
WILL'S PROCESS-OTTO'S PROCESS-H. FLECK'S PROCESS
-SALLERON AND REVElL'S PROCESS-J. J. POHL'S PRO-
CESS-PROCESS BY CARBONATED ALKALIES.
Degree of Concentration of Vinegars, and Means of
Ascertaining it. .
VINEGARS obtained either by the acetic fermentation
or by the distillation of wood have a degree of strength
which is relative to the quantity of saccharine matter
contained in the fermented liquor, or inversely to the
quantity of water with which the sulphuric acid, which
is made to act on the acetate of soda, is diluted. The
means by which to ascertain the. strength of the acid
would be very easy, if the density of acetic acid would
increase or decrease by subtraction or addition of water.
It has been shown by M. Mollerat (Annales de CMmie,
vol. lxviii.) that the density of acetic acid is not a proof
of its strength. Thus, two qualities of acetic acid,
numbered respectively one and two, equally marked 9
of the areometer of Baume, at the temperature of 54.5,
342 lU.NUFACTURE OF VINEGAR.
and their specific gravity was 1.0630. However, not-
withstanding their similarity, No.1 was composed 'of-
Acetic acid. 87.125
Water 12.875
100.000
100 parts saturated 250 parts of' crystallized car-
bonate of soda. That acid crystallized between 50 and
52, and melted with difficulty even at 64.5. No. 2
was composed of-
Acid 41.275
Water 08.725
Spec. graY. Areometer. Water added.
Grammt,.
100.000
100 parts saturated 118 parts of crystallized carbonate
of soda. It did not crystallize at several degrees be-
low the freezing point.
It is easy to see that by examining the acetic acid
with the areometer alone, the two specimens indicate
the same strength, while the latter is a compound of 100
parts of the No.1, and 112.2 of water. If the quantity
of water is less, the density of the acid increases. The
maximum sp. gr. is 1.080, and the acid contains then a
little more than a third in weight of water.
Table of Experimenll made on 110 Gramm" of Acetic Acid No.1,
marlcing 90 of the Areometer,' Specific Gravity 1. 068. III Power
of Saturation being 250 of Cry,tallized Carbonate of Soda for 100
of Acid.
1
10 10.6 1.0742
2
12 11 1.0720
3
10 11.3 1.0791