Bisbee daily review., 1921-09-04
'H0OTCH' MAKING.
MYSTERIES ARE.
EASILY SOLVED.
Government Experts Quickly
Analyze Contents of All
Contraband Liquids

NEW YORK, Sept. 8. - Secrets Of
the 'hootch' maker who manufac-
lures synthetic whisky or gin are as
an sopen book TOT the government
chemists who test the products of vio-
lators of the Volstead Act
Evidence seized from rum runners
and, bootleggers is brought to them
for examination. How the chemical
tests are conducted was disclosed to-
day by r. A Edison, chief chemist Of
the government laboratory in the fed
eral building The walls of his office
are, lined with shelves filled with bot
ties of every kind and description
containing every kind of beverage for
hidden by the Folstead Act.
A fringe of stills seized in raids
decorate the top Of the shelves and
there is big lille. of them in a cor
ner In the past year more than 5000
samples of liquor, good, bad and in
different, have been tested here ann
the, results produced later in the fed
eral courts.
The first thing to De done by the
chemists when a sample of suspected
liquor is brought in is to test it for
alcohol. Usually the prohibition
agents try to get at least half a pint
of whisky and a pint of wine for the
chemists to work on. But occasion
ally an agent comes in with a small
bottle of liquid which he explains, is
a drink of whisky which he bought
at a bar and had to hold in his mouth
until he could spit it out into bot
tie without being observed by the bar
keeper. And this is. tested, too.
When the sample is large enough
the hydrometer is used to find the
amount of alcohol present. The n.y.
drometer is thermometer1ike in
strument of glass with the specific
GRANTEES marked on it. 1t is floated
in the sample and the markings read
Alcohol being lighted than water the
hydrometer sinks farther--in.-a-mix-
ture of alcohol and water than in
plain water. The amount of alcohol
can thus be accurately determined by
reading the markings
Small samples of booze are tested
by means of the pycnometer. A meas
ured quantity of the suspected liquid
is weighed and its weight compared
with that of an equal quantity of wa
ter. By means of a few computa-
lions the amount of alcohol can easily
be found.
For rapid work on beer and wine
with small percentages of alcohol the
ebulliometer is used. The evidence is
heated and the boiling point learned
Water boils at 100 degrees Cent?
grade and alcohol at a much lower
temperature. A mixture of alcohol
and water boils at a lower tempera-
ture than water and thus the chem
lists can rapidly calculate the amount
of alcohol.
After the test, for a;cohol has been
completed in the case of whisky the
color of the sample is tested. Whisky
that has been held in bond for some
time has color of its own due to
the inside of the whisky barrels be-
ing charred by fire before the whisky
is put in. The manufacturing boot
logger making an artificial whisky of
grain alcohol and water uses caramel
made of burnt sugar to color his pro-
duct ~
The Marsh reaction shows if the
color of the whisky sample is genu.
inc or artificial A quantity of amyl
alcohol slightly acidified with phos-
phoric acid is mixed with the liquid to
be tested. Amyl alcohol being lighter
than ethyl alcohol, as ordinary grain
alcohol is called by the chemists
rises to the top of the mixture. If
the whisky is genuine the color will
mix with the amyl alcohol and rise To
the top of the mixture. If the color
is due to caramel it will stay in the
bottom of the mixture. Test is made
for wood alcohol if there is any sus
picion of its presence.
Edison said that 80 per cent of the
liquor seized by the prohibition
agents and brought to the laboratory
| to be tested is synthetic whisky made
of alcohol and water and little col
or or just plain ''hootch."
I'VE can uSuallv tell whpt her the