218 The Fermentation of Cacao 



factory knowledge of vinegar manufacture, but 

 the following points may prove worthy of 

 consideration of prospective manufacturers. 

 Having secured the most favourable ferment, 

 very much depends on the fermenting tanks 

 used ; this is where the amateur manufacturer 

 invariably gets wrecked. Wooden receptacles 

 are entirely unsuited ; under the influence of 

 cacao vinegar the best casks become rotten 

 and pierced by worm-holes within a few weeks. 

 Quite as unsuitable are glass demijohns or 

 earthenware jars with contracted necks. After 

 standing a few weeks a flat fungoid growth 

 will be seen floating on the vinegar surface, 

 and this gradually increases in size. This 

 fungus in narrow-necked receptacles prevents 

 the clear liquid being poured off, and in fact 

 one cannot produce clear, bright vinegar 

 by pouring. The vinegar when thoroughly 

 mature and clear, and ready for bottling or 

 sale, should be siphoned off, as taps would 

 always prove troublesome. Possibly the more 

 cloudy remainders might be efficiently dealt 

 with by one of the filters in use in kindred 

 trades, such as Macqueen's " Filtre Rapide," 

 and other devices used in bottling wines and 

 spirits, such as "finings" of white of egg and 

 isinglass. It is probable that a portion of the 

 fungoid growth from a superior mature sample 

 of vinegar would be the best method of infect- 

 ing a new batch of juice .with the same fer- 

 ment. There is, undoubtedly, much room for 



