186 



INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL — DENATURED ALCOHOL 



then draw off the clear portion into well-cleaned 

 barrels which have been treated with steam or 

 boiling water, filling them only two-thirds or three- 

 fourths full. Leave the bung out, but put in a 

 loose plug of cotton to decrease evaporation and 

 to prevent the entrance of dirt. If these barrels 

 are stored in ordinary cellars, where the tempera- 

 ture does not go below 50° or 45° Pahr.; the 

 alcoholic fermentation will be complete in about 

 six months; but by having the storage room at a 

 temperature of 65° or 70° the time can be con- 

 siderably shortened, and the addition of Fleisch- 

 mann's compressed yeast or its equivalent at the 

 rate of one cake to five gallons of juice may 

 reduce the time to three months or less. Use 

 a little water thoroughly to disintegrate the 

 yeast cake before adding it to the juice. The 

 temperature should not go above 70° for any 

 length of time, to avoid loss of the alcohol by 

 evaporation. 



"After the sugar has all disappeared from the 

 juice, that is, when the cider has entirely ceased 

 "working" as revealed by the absence of gas 

 bubbles, draw off the clear portion of the cider, 

 rinse out the barrel, replace the liquid and add two 

 to four quarts of good vinegar containing some 

 "mother" and place at a temperature of 65° to 75° 

 Fahr. The acetic fermentation may be complete in 

 three months or may take eighteen months, accord- 

 ing to the conditions under which it is carried on; 

 or if stored in cool cellars may take two years or 

 more. If the alcoholic fermentation be carried on 

 in the cool cellar and the barrel be then taken to 

 a warmer place, as outdoors during the summer, 

 the time of vinegar formation may be reduced from 

 that given above to fifteen or eighteen months. 

 Where the alcoholic fermentation is hastened by 

 warm temperature, storage and the use of yeast 

 and the acetic fermentation favored by warmth and 

 a good vinegar "start," it is possible to produce 

 good merchantable vinegar in casks in six to twelve 

 months. When the acetic fermentation has gone 

 far enough to produce 4.5 to 5 per cent of acetic 

 acid, the barrels should be made as full as possible 

 and tightly corked in order to prevent destructive 

 changes and consequent deterioration of the 

 vinegar." 



Literature on eider and vinegar. 



For cider, consult Bulletins Nos. 71 and 88, 

 United States Department of Agriculture (Division 

 of Chemistry); Bulletins Nos. 136, 143, 150, Vir- 

 ginia Experiment Station; J. M. Trowbridge, The 

 Cider-makers' Handbook, New York, 1890; C. W. 

 Radcliffe Cooke, A Book about Cider and Perry, 

 London, 1898. An early American book was J. S. 

 Buell's, The Cider-makers' Manual, Buffalo, N. Y., 

 1869. Brannt, Manufacture of Vinegar, etc., 

 London. 



For vinegar, consult Bulletins No. 258, A Study 

 of the Chemistry of Home-made Cider Vinegar, 

 and No. 258, popular edition. Making Cider Vin- 

 egar at Home, New York (State) Agricultural 

 Experiment Station ; Bulletin No. 22, Pennsylvania 

 Department of Agriculture. 



INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL— DENATURED 

 ALCOHOL 



By H. W. Wiley 



The term "denatured alcohol" is applied to 

 alcohol intended to be used for industrial purposes, 

 which is so treated as to render it unfit for use as 

 a beverage. Pure alcohol is used extensively for 

 mixing with other beverages, such as whisky, 

 brandy and rum. It is much cheaper than any of 

 these and can be used in large quantities without 

 the consumer being aware of it. It is this par- 

 ticular use of alcohol which denaturing is intended 

 to prevent. 



In the manufacture of neutral spirits there is 

 separated in the process of distillation 10 to 15 per 

 cent of the total volume of the distillate which it 

 is found impossible to purify so highly as to make 

 it suitable for the mixing purposes above stated. 

 It is, however, of a character which renders it 

 easily prepared for drinking by those who are not 

 particular respecting the kind of alcohol which 

 they consume. In the trade this product is known 

 as "alcohol," and is a lower grade of the more 

 refined article known as neutral spirits. Heretofore 

 this article has been sold for industrial purposes 

 and for the preservation of specimens, subject to a 

 tax of one dollar and ten cents on every proof 

 gallon or about two dollars on every wine gallon 

 of alcohol of 95 per cent strength. It is this pro- 

 duct which it is proposed to use for industrial pur- 

 poses under the existing law permitting its sale free 

 from tax when sufficiently denatured as to be un- 

 suitable for consumption. 



Preparing denatured alcohol. 



Industrial alcohol is derived from a number of 

 sources. In this country it has been made chiefly 

 from corn, in Germany it is made principally from 

 potatoes ; in France it is made chiefly from sugar- 

 beets and beet-sugar and molasses. It may be 

 made, however, from any material which contains 

 sugar or starch, and nearly all plants contain both. 

 Alcohol is also distilled from wood. Wood alcohol 

 is an entirely different kind of alcohol, but is a real 

 alcohol, the same in chemical classification as that 

 derived from corn and sugar. For example, saw- 

 dust is treated with an acid under pressure which 

 converts it into dextrose, and this dextrose is 

 subsequently fermented, producing with proper 

 distillation a pure ethyl alcohol. 



The alcohol which is made for industrial purposes, 

 aftei" it is produced by fermentation of any of the 

 substances mentioned, is separated by the processes 

 of distillation and purifying and concentrated by 

 the processes usually employed for making alcohol 

 and neutral spirits. Under the Revenue Law, alcohol 

 of this character may be denatured in bonded ware- 

 houses by adding to it such substances as are 

 approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 

 For general purposes alcohol is denatured by means 

 of wood alcohol, or wood spirits, and benzine, 

 which is one of the varieties of coal-oil products. 

 The wood alcohol is added at the rate of ten gallons 

 per hundred, and the benzine at the rate of one- 



