1868 The complete Practical Distiller

169

SPECIAL DISTILLATIONS.

It is evident, then, that if water were added to wine, for the purpose of rendering its distillation possible, the greater the quantity of water that is added the more ob- noxious this addition will be to the quality of the spirits. If a fermented liquor were distilled by the simple appa- ratus, and it were necessary to improve the alcohol by the operations of rectification, it is evident that this recti- fication must be effected by means of passing the spirits repeatedly through the still. Let it be supposed that in a similar case the first recti- fication gives part of its products at thirty and some degrees ; it would be advantageous to separate this por- tion of strong spirit from that which runs afterward at a lower degree. The combustibles necessary for the boiling and vapori- zation of this alcohol, if it were brought back to the still with the feints, would be saved ; in such case these feints are rectified separately. It is true, that in working in this way it is necessary not to give over after each opera- tion, but to work continuously, because there is always, at each rectification, a quantity of spirituous liquor left which is too small to make one charge. In the beet-root sugar fabric of M. le Due de Raguse, at Chatillon-sur- the quotient add 32; the sum expresses the corresponding degree on the scale of Fahrenheit. Secondly, to convert the degrees of Fahren- heit into those of Reaumur, from the degrees of Fahrenheit subtract 32, multiply the remainder by 4, and divide the product by 9; the quotient will be the degree according to the scale of Reaumur; and so on for the rest. This little explanation will prove of very great ser- vice to the reader, not only as regards distilling, but in other thinga aiso. 15