APPLES 



407 



used as containers. The other containers 

 which might have been tried were barrels 

 or kegs and jugs. Owing to the great 

 liability to leakage and consequent infec- 

 tion of juice when treated in barrels and 

 kegs, these containers are considered im- 

 practicable when the juice is to be kept 

 indefinitely. Jugs are considered to be 

 too cumbersome and at the same time too 

 fragile to be handled readily in compari- 

 son with cans. 



For bottles, sound corks, well soaked in 

 hot water, should be used. These can be 

 wired in before the bottles are heated; or 

 tin cork holders, which may be bought on 

 the market, may be used. The exposed 

 end of the cork should be dipped in hot 

 paraffin or hot grafting wax after heating, 

 to prevent the cork from drying out 

 with consequent serious danger of infec- 

 tion of the bottled juice. 



No trouble was experienced in sealing 

 the cans. As previously noted, standard 

 1-gallon packers' cans were employed. 

 These had a 2 7-16-lnch opening and 

 were filled to within about one-quarter 

 inch of the opening. The can was then 

 wiped and the flux, consisting of rosin 

 dissolved in alcohol, was applied. Hem- 

 med caps were employed for sealing — 

 that is, the tin cover which fitted over 

 the opening in the can was fitted with a 

 rim of solder. For sealing the can, a 

 capping steel and soldering copper are 

 required, also a gasoline furnace for heat- 

 ing the steel and copper, and a supply 

 of flux, solder and sal ammoniac. 



Barrels and kegs can be successfully 

 used as containers for sterilized juice 

 when it is desired to keep juice sweet for 

 a limited period of a few days or weeks. 

 The cask must be thoroughly cleaned and 

 well steamed, and filled with the juice 

 heated to between 149° and 158° F. (65° 

 to 70° C). The cask can then be bunged, 

 but considerable contraction takes place 

 on cooling, with resulting strain on the 

 cask and consequent increase in the dan- 

 ger of leakage. It is a much better pro- 

 cedure to close with a clean cotton plug, 

 and when the cask and contents are cool 

 to remove the plug and quickly insert a 



wooden bung which has ben sterilized by 

 soaking in alcohol. Two experiments 

 were carried on with success with 50-gal- 

 lon barrels, following this procedure. 

 This juice kept for ten days without 

 showing fermentation. At this time the 

 barrels were emptied and used for other 

 purposes. 



In the experiments with barrels, and 

 in all other work in which the juice was 

 heated except in bottles and cans, a 

 pasteurizer designed by Mr. Given, of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, was employed. It 

 proved to be a very useful machine and 

 was capable of heating the juice with per- 

 fect control of temperature at any desired 

 rate up to several hundred gallons per 

 hour. 



The cost of handling apple juice when 

 it can be obtained perfectly fresh in clean 

 barrels is slight. The only expense of 

 separating the juice is for the labor, and 

 if a small steam generator be used in 

 connection with a turbine separator this 

 cost can probably be lessened. Bottles of 

 the champagne type cost from 3 to 5 cents 

 each, and gallon cans cost from 4 to 5 

 cents each in lots of 1,000. On account of 

 the acid nature of apple juice, the cans 

 employed should be made of a high grade 

 of tin plate and, as with other canned 

 products, the juice should not be allowed 

 to stand in the can after opening. With 

 a view to lessening the action of the 

 juice on the walls of the can, lacquering 

 the inside of the can with a vegetable 

 gum was tried. Considerable less action 

 of the juice on the tin was noted when 

 the lacquered can was used. 



Sterilizing requires a tank of water 

 which can be heated by steam or in any 

 other way so that it can be easily main- 

 tained at the desired temperature. The 

 apparatus for carbonizing is simple and 

 cheap, and the method is easy of applica- 

 tion. 



The chemical work in connection with 

 the experiment has been to determine the 

 composition of the juices employed and 

 the effect of the treatment on the com- 

 position of the juice. The results of this 

 work show that the chemical composition 

 is practically unchanged by the treat- 



