FERMENTATION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SUGAR HOUSE. 



Control of the Distillery.* In all molasses distilleries with 

 which the writer is acquainted the control is limited to the revenue require- 

 ments supplemented occasionally by determinations of the reducing sugars in 

 the wash ; a record is in this last case obtained of the amount of sugar required 

 to produce a unit of alcohol. This forms a very imperfect control and a ten- 

 tative more complete scheme is outlined below. 



Fermentation Control. A composite sample of the wash is collected and 

 in this sample are determined the reducing sugars after inversion expressed as 

 invert sugar ; a second sample is fermented with a pure culture of an approved 

 distillery yeast and in the fermented sample are determined the alcohol and 

 the unfermentable sugars; deducting the unfermentable sugars from those 

 originally found gives the amount of fermentable sugars originally present : 

 this quantity should be used in calculating the yield of alcohol per pound of 

 sugar. 



The results obtained on the small scale with pure culture should be com- 

 pared with those found on the commercial scale and the deficiency indicates 

 the loss of alcohol due to imperfections in the process of fermentation. 



Distillation Control. The alcohol in the wash as it enters the still forms 

 the basis of this control; it should be determined in a composite sample, and 



* I purposely do not touch on the biological control ; this subject is so specialized that 

 it is out of place here and cannot be satisfactorily treated save in a special work; in the 

 Bibliography I give titles of some books dealing with fermentation ; reference should be 

 made to these. N. D. 



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