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

166

DISTILLATION.

nature of the saccharo-starchy matter, and the state of the weather. It is highly probable that the electrical condition of the atmosphere exercises a considerable influence upon ferment– ation, as thunder-storms possess the power to sour vinous fluids. The diminution of the den– sity of the wort is carefully watched by the distiller. This attenuation, as he calls i t, is owing partly to the decomposition of the sugar, which comn1unicated its gravity to the solution, and partly to the introduction of the lighter alcoholic particles. Were all the saccharo– st archy matter resolved into gaseous com– pounds, the wort would become water; but since a part of it re1nains undeco1nposed, and a portion of alcohol is produced at the expense of the decomposed part, the degree of attenua- tion becomes a somewhat complicn,ted problem in a theoretical point of view; the density due to the residuary sugar being 1naskcd and coun– teracted by the spirit evolved. Could the alco– hol be drawn off as i t is formed, the attenuation

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