VINEGAR FROM VARIOUS MATERIALS. 167 



which is nearly of as good a quality as wine vinegar. On ac- 

 count of its content of malic acid, the vinegar is more acid than 

 ordinary vinegar with the same content of acetic acid. But in 

 order to produce cider vinegar of the first quality one must have 

 good cider ; vinegar made of watered cider will be thin and weak. 

 S. E. Todd* describes a simple contrivance for making cider 

 vinegar. A kind of cupboard is made of inch boards about 3J 

 feet high by seven feet long. Inside of this box fit shelves about 

 3J inches apart. On the upper side of these shelves gouge out 

 channels running nearly from one end to the other until the 

 upper side is covered with zigzag grooves running from end to 

 end. There should be cleats fastened to the under side of each 

 shelf to prevent it from warping ; and the cleats should be put 

 on with screws. The channel must be made slightly slanting. 

 The top shelf must slant so as to be about two inches lower than 

 the other side, and the shelf below it should slant about two 

 inches in the opposite direction. By this arrangement a long 

 zigzag channel is made for the liquid to flow in. At its end, in 

 the upper shelf, bore a hole through so that the vinegar may drop 

 to the next shelf and traverse the channel. Thus it continues to 

 flow from end to end until it has reached the end of the channel 







in the lower shelf, when it falls into a receptacle. When com- 

 mencing to make vinegar in this manner, place the apparatus in 

 some small room and keep the temperature about 90 or 95 F. 

 Have a barrel, or tub, or hogshead placed a little higher than the 

 box and near the end where the first channel commences in the 

 top shelf. In this barrel have a faucet so that you can regulate 

 the amount of cider which it is designed to have flow in the 

 channel. The aim should be to keep a very small stream moving 

 gently through the apparatus, aifording every drop ample time 

 and opportunity to absorb the desired amount of oxygen before 

 the liquid reaches the end of the channel in the last shelf. A 

 few gallons, or a half barrel of good strong vinegar should be 

 run through first, so that the shelves will be well acidulated be- 

 fore letting other mixtures run through. It is a good idea to 

 add one-third or one-fourth of good vinegar to any mixture of 



* " The Apple Guitarist." New York, 1871. 



