A HISTORY OF SURREY 



fiers. Here acetic fermentation is set up, and 

 the alcohol is converted into acetic acid, the 

 chemical basis of vinegar. Two processes 

 are described as in use at these works m 

 1850 for this operation, the quick and the 

 slow. In the former, called staving, the un- 

 bunged casks were placed in rooms warmed 

 artificially ; in the slow process, called field- 

 ing, they were exposed in long rows in the 

 open air, especially in the favourable tempera- 

 ture of spring.' The final process is that of 

 clarifying the product of the acetifiers, and is 

 one of the most delicate operations in the 

 manufacture. For the purpose a number of 

 large vats called ' rapes ' are brought into 

 use. Each vat contains a certain thickness 

 of filtering medium, through which the vine- 

 gar is passed continuously until it is cleared 

 of all sedimentary matter and assumes the re- 

 quired brightness to fit it for domestic con- 

 sumption. 



A certain quantity of Messrs. Beaufoy's 

 vinegar is distilled after it is taken from the 

 rapes. Great care is required in this process 

 in order to retain the flavour and aroma of 

 the malt in the distilled article, which is as 

 pellucid as spring water and as bright as 

 crystal. This distilled vinegar commands a 

 large sale, especially in Scotland and Ireland, 

 for its pungency of taste and aromatic deli- 

 cacy. 



The manufacture of British wines or 

 * sweets ' is subject to fewer processes than is 

 that of vinegar, and is consequently a far 

 simpler operation. In the case of the wines 

 made from English fruits, such as currant 

 wine, raspberry wine, elder wine and the 

 like, the methods of making them are no 

 secret to many households, and may be found 

 in most cookery books. But the methods of 

 making wines from foreign dried fruits, as 

 practised at Messrs. Beaufoy's, require a little 

 explanation. 



The dried fruits or raisins do not lose all 

 the vinous quality of the fresh fruit, although 

 much seems to be lost in the process of dry- 

 ing. Nearly all the grapes thus prepared are 

 imported from the countries bordering on the 

 Mediterranean between Michaelmas and 

 Christmas ; from thence to spring, during 

 cool weather, is the principal time for 

 niaking the wine. The raisins generally 

 arrive packed closely together and forming a 

 hard mass. To separate them the masses 

 are laid on a floor and beaten with wooden 

 mallets, or sometimes passed through rollers. 

 They are then steeped in a quantity of water. 



H- 



' Brajley and Britten, Hist, of Sun: v. App. 



where they stand until all the fruit rises up, 

 swelled with the water, and floats on the sur- 

 face. Some of the water is then drawn off 

 the vessel, and a perforated board is laid on 

 the top of the firuit and kept down by a 

 weight. Upon this is pumped the water 

 previously drawn from the vessel. This pro- 

 cess of drawing off the liquid from beneath 

 the fruit and pouring it in above is repeated 

 from time to time until all parts of the fruit 

 have become equally affected. The liquid 

 is then drawn off into separate vessels, but a 

 considerable portion of the liquid remains 

 absorbed by the spent fruit. To recover this 

 the whole mass is gradually passed through a 

 powerful hydraulic press until all the liquid is 

 extracted. 



On the completion of the fermenting pro- 

 cess the wine is pumped into other vessels, 

 where it is subjected to repeated rackings and 

 all the precipitate separated from it. Here 

 too all the processes of sweetening and fining 

 with isinglass, etc., according to the different 

 kinds of wine, are carried on until the wine 

 has assumed the form in which it is placed on 

 the market. The skill required in the 

 manipulation of these wines is as great as is 

 needed in the treatment of the vineyards of 

 Champagne and Bordeaux, and in many cases 

 the process is a lengthy one, the wine having 

 to be stored in vats for many years before it 

 is sufficiently matured for bottling. 



Messrs. Beaufoy's manufacture of British 

 wines includes, besides those wines such as 

 ginger, orange, and the like, which are 

 designed to gratify the palate, medicinal 

 wines such as quinine, citrate of iron and 

 quinine, coca and kola, all which are 

 accurately compounded in accordance with 

 the requirements of the British Pharma- 

 copceia. 



Before passing on to a notice of this firm's 

 manufacture of mineral and aerated waters, 

 which introduces us to another class of Surrey 

 industries, it remains to bring this short 

 account of the vinegar industry of the county 

 to a conclusion. 



Besides Messrs. Beaufoy & Co., the oldest 

 established firms of vinegar makers still in 

 existence in Surrey are Sir Robert Burnett & 

 Co. and Messrs. Slee, Slee & Co., Limited, 

 of Church Street, Horsleydown, the latter 

 representing the firm of Slee, Payne & Slee of 

 the year 1850 and eariier. Messrs. Smith & 

 Tyers of Green Street, Blackfriars Road, who 

 claim to have been established in 1788, com- 

 bine the making ot vinegar with the refining 

 of liquid sugar and the manufacture of capil- 

 laire spirit colouring, cordial flavouring and 

 the like. Other firms for the manufacture of 



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