1863 The manufacture of liquors, wines, and cordials

PACKING VINEGAR GENERATORS.

The next step in the process consists in acetifying the chips, &c. This consists in passing pure vinegar through the generator, until every chip and shaving is perfectly saturated with vinegar. This object will be fully obtained by pouring and repouring the vine* gar as fast as it runs through, some eight or ten times. It is highly essential that the vinegar used in ace- tifying the chips, should be pure, or free, at least, from the mineral acids. The most common adultera- tion of sulphuric acid can be detected by saturating strips of glazed writing paper with the vinegar. If when the paper becomes dry and is of a purplish color, it will denote sulphuric acid. For the detec- tion of the usual adulterations of vinegar, look under the proper head. The last step in the process consists in preparing the liquid that is to be converted into vinegar. To forty gallons of rain water, add twelve gallons of proof whiskey, and one and a half pints of honey. This mixture is allowed to fall from a cock in the barrel that contains it on to the head of the generator, and by the aid of the holes in the head, this liquid becomes uniformly divided over and throughout the chips. The particles of fluid becoming so minutely divided, is the cause of the rapid acetification.