Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-06-26
VINEGAR MAKING.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUFACTURE
OF THE WHITE KIM.

UO 10 y CeTt8ln fOl0e tno ETVCcbo ~ u4t
the Same ~ In Making whisky Why
Uncle Sam Doesn't Allow "Worms" to
BE Used In vinegar Factories.
Vinegar is of two or three different kinds
The most expensive Is made from rcd wine
and is OF O deep purple color 1t Is strong In
acid--so strong, indeed that 1t fairly bites
the tongue 1t costs about 40 cents gal
lon. Then there Is the cider vinegar OF
farm fame and 1t is the most popular OF
any for general household use. 1t retails
at from IL to 10 cents gallon and 1t may
be said in passing that some disreputable
concerns mako variety of cider vino
gar that is wholly guiltless Of apples
Great quantities of white wine vinegar arc
also made usually from corn and rye. II
is perfectly colorless, very sharp to the
taste and is usually used for making pic.
kles and condiments of various kinds.
The process of manufacturing this white
vino vinegar is most interesting. In the
first place. the manager starts out just rs
If he were going to make genuine corn
whisky, but when he gets part way through
with the work he suddenly switches Off
and the product Is vinegar. The corn and
| rye come to the side of the factory in ears
and are elevated to the top floor, where
they go into big bins. In the morning
when the superintendent gives tho word, a
| workman pulls the slide from spout that
leads down through four stories and into
tho top of the cooler hugo iron boiler
| holding 100 bushels. The corn comes rat
| Ting down, and 1t is soon boiling away
under steam pressure Of 60 pounds At
| the end of two hours 1t has been reduced
| to mash-a well known whisky term
| and is quite toothsome enough to tempt
| any COW home from june pasture
1t Is now blown through pipe leading
| up stairs to the great mashtubs holding
| 5000 gallons each. Here about so bushels
| of malt, fresh from the maltsters and
| ground to a pulp in little mill on the
next floor, is dumped in, and two awk-
| ward paddles begin to rcvolvc, churninp
| the mass until it looks like tho surface OF
gcyscr.
The cooking of the corn separated the
starch. and the addition of the malt to-
| gether with temperature Of 14S degrees
| turns the starch into sugar. Atthis period
| of the process the mash has a really sugary
smell, like molasses candy on the back of
| tho kitchen stove. After being beaten and
| churncd for three or four hours cold water
- iiitO q VIII VI BiptS All tiit bottOul
| of the huge tub to cool tho mash. In the
meantime some worhmen have been pre-
| pairing the yeast in little room at ono
side. Malt and rye are boiled together in
copper lined kettle holding 200 gallons,
and a little of the yeast fermcnt being add
ed the plant begins to grow. When the
process has gone far enough, just tho right
| proportion of the yeast is taken and
planted in the mash tub, where without
more ado it begins to make itself felt.
Now the mash is allowed to slide down
through pipe to tho fermenting tanks
where it sizzles and bubbles away for 20
hours, hard at work ferlnenting. The al
coholc spirits are being slowly extracted
by the working of the sugar. Thus far
| the process has been almost identical with
whisky making.
A busy chugging link pump now sends
the mash up stairs to the still-real whisky
stills except in tho use Of worms or
coils of pipo for collecting and condensing
the alcoholic spirits. A worm" would be
used in vinegar manufacture, but Uncle
Sam is afraid that some day very well
meaning charge of corn might by some
mistake turn to whisky instead of vinegar
Uncle Sam always looks after such things
in prompt md businessliko way
The alcohol is forced out of tho mash
and into the still by means of steam,
which rapidly vaporizes it. The pipe In
the still is surrounded by cold water, which
quickly condcnses the alcohol and collects
it below in n receptacle. All the rest of
tho nGsh-"slops, as 1t Is known to the
vinegar man and the whisky man-is chr
ricd off to one side, whore it is stored up
ready to sell to the stock raiser for cattle
feed. 1t contains all tho corn except the
alcoholic parts, and it therefore makes
very rich food.
Tho spirits are now pumped to the gen.
orators the only distinctive vinegar max
ing devices in the whole process These
consist of tall, cylindrical tanks mado of
white wood and bound with iron hoops
They extend from floor to ceiling, with an
appliance on top for allowing the alcohol
to tricklo in and cock at the bottom
through which the vinegar may be drawn
Off.
Several floors arc covered with these gen.
orators us thick as they can stand, and the
visitor who goes among them is compelled
to sncczo in Difference to the pronounced
acidity of the atmosphere
The tanks inside are filed from top to
bottom with beach Notwithstanding
moro. When the alcohol drips in at the
top it spreads over the shavings, where
the air has ready access to it. The oxygen
pounccs upon it and changes 1t without
moro ado into ascetic acid, or vinegar, in
which condition it runs out ut tho cock
and into n trough that carries it down to
the next floor into u huge storage tank.
The shavings in the generators are merely
for tho purpose of providing great
amount of surface over which the spirits
must flow.
After having seasoned for time in the
tanks the vinegar is pumped out into bar
rcls, labeled and sent all over tho country
to the pickle manufacturers. Every bushel
of corn makes about four gallons Of white
wine vinegar, which sells all the way from
z to 10 cents gallon. Chicago Record.
Solemn Truth.
Ono business man met another on tho
street. Tho second man seemed downcast
hpd loDly 81