20 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



covered for every Ion of corn delivered 

 to the cannery. Unfortunately, the sea- 

 son during which these stalks are suit- 

 able for utilization in the manufacture 

 of alcohol is very limited, and probably 

 it would not pay to put up a distillery 

 to handle them, unless other cheap ma- 

 terials were available for use during the 

 rest of the year. 



Starchy Materials 



Certain materials contain an essential 

 part of their fermentable material in the 

 form of starch, even though some of them, 

 like artichokes and sweet potatoes, also 

 contain notable amounts of sugar. They 

 differ from the saccharine materials, in 

 requiring to be "mashed" before they can 

 be fermented. This operation is discussed 

 in detail below. 



Grains 



Barley — The average composition of 

 ordinary six-row barley is approximately 

 as follows: 



Per cent. 



Water 8.7 



Ash 3.0 



Protein 11.9 



Fiber 5.8 



Fat 2.0 



Starch 58.9 



Pentosans 9.6 



Total 99.9 



On account of its expensiveness, barley 

 is never used by itself as a source of in- 

 dustrial alcohol. It is, however, used in 

 large quantities in making malt, which 

 operation is described on page 25. The 

 composition of a typical malt is as fol- 

 lows: 



Per rent. 



Water 5.9 



Ash 2.7 



Protein 11.5 



Fiber 6.0 



Fat 2.1 



Starch 48. •* 



Sugars 12.2 



Pentosans 10.6 



Total 99.4 



It is customary to use about eight 

 pounds of malt to saccharify 100 pounds 

 of raw grain. Two pounds will be suf- 

 ficient for mashing 100 pounds of po- 

 tatoes. 



Maize (Indian Corn) — The following 

 figures represent the average of a large 

 number of analyses taken mostly from 

 the work of the Illinois experiment sta- 

 tion: 



Per cent. 



Water 10.0 



Ash 1.5 



Protein 10.4 



Fiber 1.9 



Fat 5.2 



Pentosans 5.0 



Sugars 2.0 



Starch 64.0 



Total 100.0 



A lot of distiller's corn (yellow dent) 

 used in the experimental distillery of this 

 department, and analyzed in the Bureau 

 of Chemistry, was found to contain 72.8 

 per cent of nitrogen-free extract, includ- 

 ing 57.9 per cent of starch and 2.3 per 

 cent of sugars, in addition to pentosans, 

 gums, etc. 



The method of working this and other 

 grains is described on pages 23 to 27. 

 One ton of grain, made up of 1,850 pounds 

 of maize and 150 pounds of malt of the 

 compositions given above, should yield 

 100 gallons of 180-degree alcohol. At 50 

 cents a bushel for corn and 65 cents a 

 bushel for the barley necessary to 

 make the malt, the ton of grain will 

 cost about $19, and the cost of raw grain 

 per gallon of alcohol, will be 19 cents. 



Maize is, and always has been, the 

 chief source of industrial alcohol in this 

 country. The ease with which it is raised, 

 its ability to stand transportation and 

 storage, and its low price in past years, 

 have combined to give it a ])reeminence 

 as a distiller's raw material, which it un- 

 doubtedly will retain for many years. 



Oats — This grain, which contains about 

 50 per cent of fermentable material and 

 which might with care be made to yield 

 about 70 gallons of alcohol per ton, is un- 

 suited to distillery use on account of its 

 greater value as a feeding stuff, and the 

 glutinous nature of the mixture which is 

 formed when it is treated with hot water. 



Rye — A lot of this grain used in the 

 experimental distillery had the following 

 composition : 



