Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1906-09-13
DENATURED ALCOHOL.
Process of Manufacture-Possib
on the Farm.

on the Farm.
Denatured alcohol is simply the COM
mcrciai grade of pure alcohol to which
is added wood alcohol or some other
material that makes 1t entirely uult
for beverage or for medicinal pur-
poses. Alcohol is a product of the de
composition of sugar or. more properly
glucose by the action of ferments, such
as yeast. Any substance which con
talns sugar or substances such as
starch, vegetable fiber, etc. which can
be converted into sugar can be used
as a source of alcohol. The most i'm
portant sources used commercially are
grapes, potato beets and other root
crops and grains, especially rye, bar
ley, corn and rice. Many other fruits
besides grapes are used-for example,
apples, peaches and cherries. FiDers
such rs cotton, linen and hemp, after
chemical treatment to change the
woody fiber into glucose, have also
been used successfully.
How Made In Commerce.
In commerce the process is simply an
Improvement on the home process Of
making wine from grapes, currants or
other fruit juices. A vat Is filed with
liquid properly warmed, and yeast is
added and stirred Soon bubbles of
carbonic acid gas appear and gradually
increase until the liquid looks as If 1t
We're boiling. In about twenty-four
hours the bubbling gradually ceases,
the liquid becomes clear, and about
forty-eight hours from the start 1t is
ready for distillation This distillation
depends upon the difference in temper
allure at which alcohol and water boil
the former requiring considerably less
heat to turn into vapor. 1t also de-
ponds upon the condensation of vapor
into liquid when the temperature falls.
Publication Processes.
In practice, with the simple forms of
still, there are always more or less wa
ter and volatile substances, such as es-
sential oils and acetic acid, present In
the condensed product. which must
therefore be purified by other processes.
The most common Of these processes
Is successive distillation, the liquid re-
sulting from the first distillation being
again and again distilled until the prod
uce is pure. Thus, 10 give theoretical
example, starting with an original
crude liquid containing per cent aIco-
hol, Its condensed vapor may contain
40 per cent of alcohol. This second
liquid redistilled may yield liquor
containing so per cent alcohol; third
distillation may produce solution 90
per cent pure, and so on. The necessity
for this Redistribution and the remov.
al of undesirable impurities has given
rise to a vast variety Of complicated
apparatus.
Making 1t In n Small Way.
The foregoing outline, from Ameri-
can Agriculturist, of the process Of
manufacturing alcohol especially the
mention of much and complicated APP
paratus, indicates that for farmer to
make alcohol from the refuse of his
farm is not so simple matter as may
at first be thought. As good authority
as DIR. Wiley, chief chemist of the de-
partment of agriculture, has found it
advisable to warn farmers that II
would hardly prove profitable to un-
dertake the manufacture Of alcohol in
small way on the farm. His idea is
that, as central factories are necessary
in the beet sugar industry, SO will CEN
trail distilleries be In making alcohol.