MANUFACTURING AND ADULTERATING LIQUORS.
115
tion or "
doulJ.Ung,"
a crude
milky
spirit, abounding
in oil, at first comes over, followed by clear spirit,
which is received in a separate vessel. The proceBB
is continued until the alcoholic content of the distill–
ed liquor diminishes to a certain degree, when the
remaining weak . spirit that comes over, called
"fainUI,''
is caught separately and mixed with the
'l<Yw
wines,
preparatory to another distillation. The
strongest spirit passes over first, and the condensed
liquor gradually becomes weaker, until it ceases
to
contain alcohol. It will thus be seen, that by
receiving in separate vessels any given portion of the
product, spirit of any required strength within cer–
tain limits may be obtained. It is found from expe–
rience, and is readily accounted f'or by theory, that
the lower the temperature at which the . distillation
is conducted, the stronger will be the product, and
the less quantity of oil or other volatile matter will
come over along with it. To promote this, it has
been proposed to carry on the process in vacuo, but
on the large scale this has never been adopted. The
distillation of the "
wash"
is usually carried on in a
separate set of stills to those employed for the recti–
fication of the
low
wines.
For very strong and
taste–
leBB
spirit, a third, and even a fourth rectification
takes place, conjointly with other methods to abstract
the oil, and to remove any foreign matter that vi-
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by