1868 The complete Practical Distiller

THE COMPLETE PRACTICAL DISTILLER.

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advantage; and if in the first case its economical supe- riority over simple apparatus is greater than in the second, its advantages in the latter case are of sufficient moment to render it preferable. The reader's attention will not be directed any further to the choice of appara- tus ; and there is justification in thinking that a sufficient and unexceptionable guide has been ofibred in regard to economical questions, if there did not exist a powerful consideration which may sometimes cause the distiller not to be influenced by the question of economy in the choice of apparatus. For instance, such is that of the distillation of lees, as also that of grain, and of potatoes in the natural state. This, particularly, would cause an admission of a distinc- tion in distillation, and consequently the latter will be divided into two kinds, the first of which will be called ^^ distillation of fluid matter /' the second, distillation of half-fluid, half-solid matter. Each kind of these distillations will be treated of sepa- rately, and to each of them will be assigned the apparatus and modifications that may be thought applicable. In relation to the distillation of fluid matter, it is that which is efi*ected on wines containing little or no original substances in suspension, although they may retain a more or less considerable quantity of the latter in disso- lution ; such are the wines of the grape, of molasses, of saccharified fecula, of beer, and other extracts of grain. These kinds of wine are those that ofi'er the least difficulty

It may be efi'ected in any kind of distil-

to distillation.

ling apparatus ; so that, in this case, that which is the most perfect may at once be chosen, without the least