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Mode of Acetifying Shavings
The next step in the process of manufacturing vinegar consists in acetifying the shavings and cobs; and this is accomplished in the following manner: Preserve a temperature of between 75° and 85° Fahr., and pour over the shavings and cobs, every hour, a mixture of 2 gallons vinegar and 1/4 gallon common whiskey (this liquid should first be heated, to hasten fermentation), until there are 10 gallons in the generator above the faucet, but not more.
Muspratt recommends a standard liquor, both for the acetification of the shavings and for generating of vinegar. It consists of 50 gallons 60 per cent. whiskey, and 37 gallons beer or malt wort. A mixture of 5 gallons of the above mixtures with 40 or 50 of weak vinegar, acetifies still quicker than the standard mixture used alone. Draw off from the generator every hour 2 gallons, and add it again at the top; continue this until the fermentation commences; this usually begins at the top of the generator in the course of 4 or 5 days.
The contact of the air with the minutely divided liquid promotes the acetification, which consists essentially in the oxidation of the alcohol. As the oxygen is absorbed, the temperature of the liquor rises to 100° or 105°, and when the thermometer indicates that temperature when placed through the opening in the cover, the generator is ready, and in proper condition for the manufacturer. Pay special attention to the fermentation, for that is the principal point to be observed. It is scarcely necessary to say that the vinegar used for acetifying the shavings should be pure, or at all events free from the mineral acids. It is well known that essential oils, or 1735. How to Pack a Vinegar Gene- a mere trace of wood-vinegar, arrest acetifirator. Having made the generator, the next cation; consequently the vinegar must also part of the process of making vinegar consists be free from pyroligneous acid. After the in packing or charging it; this is done in the following manner: Take pieces of beech 1737. Mode of Manufacturing Vineboard about 18 inches in length (maple or basswood boards will do, but not as well as beech), and plane thick, heavy shavings from the edge; the shavings should curl and roll up, or they must be rolled up and tied. Next cut clean corn-cobs into pieces 1½ or 2 inches acetification occurs, proceed as follows: gar. Keep the vinegar room at a temperature of from 750 to 85° Fahr., and maintain the temperature of the generators at 95° to 100°.
Then make up a mixture or wash composed of the following ingredients: 3 gallons common whiskey; 4 gallons manufactured vinegar; 33 gallons of his standard liquor (sce last receipt), diluted with 60 gallons soft water. The water, if not clear, must be filtered through charcoal.
Draw off every hour 4 gallons of vinegar from each generator, and pour in at the top 4 gallons long. The shavings and corn-cobs must be gallons pure water. Muspratt uses 15 or 20 thoroughly soaked in water; or, what is still better, boiled in vinegar. Fill the tub half full with the corn-cobs, and let the cobs remain in the tub just as they are thrown there, without further arrangement. Then fill up the balance of the generator with the beech of the above wash, with an additional quart for shavings and arrange them so that those waste in manufacturing; and pour the vinegar which touch the upper false bottom are more into another generator as soon as it is drawn. strongly pressed than the rest, as the degree Vinegar is thus made by being passed only of pressure should increase as you pack from once or twice through the shavings, according the bottom to the top of the generator. The to the quality and degree of strength required. generator being filled, the false bottom must Keep a large tank to hold the vinegar when be fitted in and rest level upon the shavings, made, and put 1/2 gallon of molasses into it and great care must be taken not to have the every day until you get a bed 2 or 3 inches air-tubes stopped up, or the cobs packed too thick. The molasses will improve the vinesolid in the vicinity of the slanting holes. gar and give it a fine color. This is the The shavings or cobs may be loosened at the quickest process which has yet been obtained thermometer and ventilating-holes, by means for manufacturing large quantities, and the of a stick thrust therein. The generator may vinegar made in this way finds ready sale. 1738. Useful Hints to Those Making | stop the bunghole with an empty bottle, with Vinegar by the Quick Method. success of the whole process of making vine- for some time. When the vinegar is come, The the neck downward , and expose it to the sur gar by the German, or quick method, depends draw off one-half into a vinegar cask, and set almost entirely upon the free circulation of it in a cool place above ground, for use when air throughout the generator. It sometimes clear. With the other half in the first cask, happens that the vinegar, when it comes from proceed to make more vinegar in the same the generator, is not perfectly clear and trans- way. Thus one cask is to make in, the other parent; to remedy this, some manufacturers to use from.
When making the vinegar, let there be a moderate degree of heat, and free access of external air. The process is hastened by adding to the cider, when you have it, a quantity of the mother of vinegar, as it is called a whitish, called-a whitish, ropy coagulum, of a muciappearance, which is formed in the vinegar and acts as a ferment. The strength of vinegar depends on the amount of sugar or starchy matter to be utimately converted into acetic acid. use two false bottoms to each generator, and have a bed of white sand, 15 inches deep, upon the lower one.
The sand will have to be packed in before the chips are, as follows:
First cover the false bottom with flannel, to prevent the sand from coming through the holes, then put in a layer of sand 5 inches deep, cover this with two thicknesses of flannel, and then another layer of sand; repeat this again, and then pack in the chips as already directed.
This will produce an article of a fine color, and will pass for a fine wine- The following is the German method of ma-