228 



Vinegar Making. 



Vol. XI. 



In a standing cask eight feet high, and 

 four feet in diameter, it is practicable to 

 make thirty to forty gallons in a day of 

 twenty-four hours. 



The apparatus used in the quick, or Ger- 

 man process, is very simple in its construc- 

 tion, and is easily made. 



It may be made of one length of stave, as 

 here represented, or of two whiskey, or mo- 

 lasses hogsheads; or lastly, it may be made 

 of two wnie butts: the latter, perhaps, is 

 preferable. The chines of the lower one, 

 and the lower chine of the upper, are to be 

 trimmed off, so that the upper casks may be 

 received into the lower one. But previous 

 to this operation, the upper part of the lower 

 cask, and both heads of the upper one should 

 be removed, and the cask made clean. Now 

 set it in its place, and bore eight small holes, 

 say half an inch in diameter obliquely down- 

 wards, for the purpose of supplying air to 

 acidify the vinegar stock. The direction 

 being for the purpose of preventing any 

 vinegar from running out at the holes. 



We will suppose the stand set up in its 

 place, the next step is to fill it with beech 

 or other shavings. This wood is the best, 

 but other wood may be substituted, as black 

 birch, ash, white or black oak, white poplar, 

 &c. The last is often used, but soon be- 

 comes bad and should be renewed at least 

 once in three years, and besides, the vinegar 

 has a slight bitter taste. Any kind of maple 

 that splits well will do. The shavings should 

 be made in a particular way; they should be 

 the thickness of an eighth of an inch, twelve 

 inches long, and rolled into a coil. They 

 should be an inch or an inch and a half 

 wide. 



They are best made by planing with a 

 wide and open-mouthed plane from the edge 

 of a plank cut into twelve or fourteen inch 

 lengths. 



The next thing to be done, is to fill up 

 the stand to within eight inches of the top, 

 and there support by means of wooden pins, 

 a hoop on the inside, sufficiently thick to 

 support on it a false head filled with quarter 

 holes; say two inches apart, and with two 

 chimney holes one and a half inch diameter, 

 for the purpose of ventilation. The stand 

 is now ready for working, and is put in ope- 

 ration by procuring sufficient good vinegar 

 to thoroughly wet the shavings, by pouring 

 it on the false head. The attainment of this 

 point is known by the liquor running out 

 freely through the faucet below. 



Put a thermometer in one of the chim- 

 neys, lay a cover over the top and leave the 

 stand to itself The temperature of the 

 room should be from seventy to eighty de- 

 grees. 



In from forty- eight to seventy-two hours 

 the thermometer will begin to rise, and will 

 stand from eighty-five to ninety degrees. 

 When it has reached eighty-six degrees, 

 draw out from the faucet a pailful of the 

 vinegar, and pour up as before, and if there 

 be not enough to run again freely through 

 the shavings, more vinegar must be sup- 

 plied. For a few of the first feedings it 

 may require more than a pailful. The ther- 

 mometer in the chimney will now sink se- 

 veral degrees, and must be left quiet until 

 the heat comes up to eighty-six degrees, 

 which at first will require several hours; 

 now draw out and pour up again, and so 

 continue to do, at intervals of an hour, until 

 the liquid and shavings are sufficiently sour- 

 ed ; which is ascertained by the taste of the 

 vinegar, but still better by analysis. 



When the shavings are once well acidi- 

 fied, they will ordinarily heat up so as to 

 require feeding once in an hour, and may be 

 managed in the following manner: 



Pour into a reservoir for stock one mea- 

 sure of proof whiskey, and nine measures of 

 pure soft water, and if you have any old 

 cider, or sour beer, you may add one. mea- 

 sure of it to the stock reservoir. 



Of this mixture you may pour up two and 

 a half gallons, and when it has run through, 

 and the heat has again come up to eighty- 

 six degrees in the chimneys, — say in about 

 an hour — draw out from the faucet and pour 

 up, and let it run through a second time, 

 when if the stand be in good order, the 

 vinegar is finished ; otherwise it must be 

 run through a third time, when the heat has 

 again come up to eighty-six degrees. Sup- 

 pose the vinegar to be finished with the se- 

 cond run, then stock will be fed when the 

 heat reaches eighty-six degrees. 



The strength of vinegar is a matter of 

 much importance to the buyer as well as to 

 the manufacturer — it is the absolute quantity 

 of acid contained in a given measure or 

 weight of it, and is generally ascertained 

 by carbonate of potash, which neutralizes 

 the acid. The vinegar to be tested is poured 

 into a glass measure, and a wide-mouthed 

 two ounce vial filled with dry carbonate of 

 potash, and exactly balanced in a small 

 apothecary's scales, and small portions of it 

 added to the vinegar until litmus paper 

 when immersed becomes violet blue, instead 

 of red. Weigh again the carbonate of pot- 

 ash, and deduct the quantity used — it is the 

 representation of the strength of the vinegar 

 tested. 



Good commercial vinegar will neutralize 

 thirty grains of carbonate of potash — very 

 strong vinegar, such as is used in white lead 

 works, will neutralize thirty-six to forty 



