1860 A Treatise on the Manufacture , Imitation, Adulteration and Reduction of Foreign Wines, Brandies, .

154

DISTILLATION.

their spontaneous change into a vinous condi– tion; but the infusion of seeds, even in their germinated or malted state, requires the addi– tion of a glutinous substance called yea8t to excite the be8t fermentation. In the fabrication of wine or beer for drinking, the fermentative action should be arrested before all the fruity saccharum is decomposed; nor should it, on any account, be suffered to pass into the acetous stage: whereas, for inaking disti~lery wash, that action should be pr01noted as long as the pro– portion of alcohol is increased, because the formation of a little acetic acid is not injurious to the quality of the distilled spirit, but rather improves its flavor by the addition of acetic ether, while all the decomposed sugar is lost. The distillers in the United Kingdom operate upon the saccharine matter from corn of vari– ous kinds by drawing off a pure watery extract from the grain, and subjecting this species of wort to fermentation; while the distillers of Germany, Holland_, and the north of Europe,