1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

70

A TRE.ATISE ON

led to the adoption of an improved system, which consists in the direct employment of diluted alcohol, and in vastly enlarging the surface of the liquid .exposed to the air. This is effected by causing a mixture of 1 part of alcohol at 80 per cent., 4 to 6 parts soft wllter, or say 5 galls. alcohol, 20 to 30 galls. soft water, and i lb. honey, to trickle down through a mass of beech sha:vilngs steeped in vinegar, and contained in a vessel called a vinegar generator. It is an oak or pine tub, narrower at the bottom than at the top, furnished with a false bottom having a number of s_mall holes loosely :filled with pack thread about 6 inches long, and prevented from falling through by a knot at the upper ~nd. The shelf is also perforated with four open glass tubes, as air vents, each having its ends projecting above and below the shelf. The tub at its lower part is pierced with a horizontal row of eight equidistant round holes, to admit atmospheric air. One inch above the bottom is a syphon-formed discharge pipe, whose upper curvature stands one inch below the level of the air holes in the side of the tub. The body of the tub being :filled with beech shavings, the alcoholic liquor, :first heated to between 75 and 85° F., is put in the tub. It trickles slowly down through the holes by means of the pack thread, after passing through the shavings slowly, collects

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