A METHOD OF MAKING VINEGAR FROM A REFUSE PRODUCT OBTAINED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jacques Théodore Smets at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th December 1858.
I, JACQUES THÉODORE SMETS, of Plaçamen, in the Empire of France,
Distiller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD
OF MAKING VINEGAR FROM A REFUSE PRODUCT OBTAINED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF STARCH," to be as follows:-
In the residuum which remains in the manufacture of starch, and which is
generally used for feeding cattle, there remains from about twenty to twenty-
five per cent. of starch of excellent quality, but of too fine a grain to deposit
itself spontaneously, and become detached from the thick particles-with which
it is mixed; it is this substance, still very rich, but of small value, which I
-take fresh after it has settled four or five days, and in the first instance submit
to saccharification, either by using malt or simply sulphuric acid in a wooden
vat, heated by steam or otherwise. In the first case, that of saccharification
by malt, I employ about twenty lbs. of malt to about one hundred quarts of
residuum; these materials, whether in greater or smaller. quantities, but
always following the same proportions, are mixed in a vat where steam is
introduced. to keep the mass. constantly moving until it has reached a
temperature of from 150° to 160° Fahrenheit, after which the steam is shut
off, and the vat covered and left for about two hours; the mass then being in.
a fluid state, steam is again introduced, and the mass is made to boil three or

page_text: four hours; the steam is again shut off, & the vat covered and left in a
quiescent state for from eighteen to twenty hours, after which the clear part is
drawn off into another vat, and that part which is thick or half fluid, is put
into another vat, and to each is added a sufficient quantity of pure water to
raise the mash in the vats to about 6° Beaumé, they are then made to ferment
by adding the necessary quantity of yeast, about a pint of yeast to one hundred
quarts if the yeast be liquid, or half a pound if the yeast is dry. The vat containing
the clear liquor produces excellent yeast, which is taken off, and the alcoholic
fermentation terminated. The clear liquor or wine is then in a state to make
vinegar, and the thick liquor in the other vat is put into a vat of a particular con-
struction, hermetically closed by a head fastened upon it, which communicates
with a refrigerating worm; it is brought into a state of ebullition by a steam
pipe, and kept so long enough to evaporate; the spirituous parts which are
collected in a liquid state, and filtered through pounded charcoal placed upon
a false bottom in a vat of a particular construction, and afterwards added to
the clear liquor or wine to give it a certain alcoholic quality of from nine to
ten per cent., which is necessary to obtain first quality vinegar. If sacchari-
fication is produced by sulphuric acid as a matter of economy, to use the
residuum only, without the addition of other grain or flour, I proceed to place
it in a vat, and use steam, as before stated, but according to the quantity of
residuum operated on, I proceed by degrees, and by successive quantities,
commencing by placing about one inch deep of residuum at the bottom of the
vat, then at once I add the necessary quantity of sulphuric acid of sixty
degrees required for the operation at the rate of two pounds to about
one hundred quarts of residuum, then the steam is let into the vat. When
this first portion is in a state of ebullition and perfectly fluid, I continue adding
small quantities of the residuumi in succession every ten minutes, so as to keep
up a succession of small quantities for a space of from four to five hours; the
ordinary quantity put into a vat, and under decomposition, should not exceed
three-fourths of the capacity of the vat. The quantity being completed in the
time stated, I cover the vat, and maintain it in a state of ebullition by a
moderated jet of steam for about four hours, then turn off the steam and pro-
ceed to saturation for the complete elimination or expulsion of the sulphuric
acid, according to the quantity employed, add about 6 lbs. of chalk or carbonate
of lime to 4 lbs. of acid; the chalk should be pounded and made to form with
water a sort of semi-liquid milk, which must be stirred and poured by small
quantities into the vat; at the commencement particularly, and at each
addition the whole mass must be stirred, and more chalk must not be added
till the froth has subsided, and the carbonic acid is disengaged, then cover the

page_text: vat, and let it stand, as explained in the first operation, and treat it in all
respects in the same manner to obtain the first liquor or wine. The entire
quality and quantity of the subsequent productions depend, firstly, on a perfect
saccbarification to produce the liquor or wine, and afterwards on its efficient
treatment, and its containing a sufficient quantity of alcohol to make pure first
quality vinegar.
Now to proceed, I make, firstly, my mixture of clear liquor or wine, and of
filtered mucus in one or more vats specially adapted to this first amalgamation,
which I leave to react upon its mass from fifteen days to one month. Then,
after this rest, and a certain degree of clarification, I draw off this liquid into
other vessels of the same size, but three-fourths filled with shavings of beech
wood; the liquor or wine, remaining in that state from fifteen days to a month,
matures and clarifies itself completely, and is then ready to be placed in the
vinegar vases.
My vessels or vinegar vases are a large pipe, or a tun, or a long tub, with a
head at both ends placed horizontally. Before putting them in place there is
introduced an open cylinder of beech wood, strongly constructed and fastened,
an oaken axle, with its ends rounded passes through it, the ends extending
beyond the heads of the tub; this beech cylinder forming a sort of cage is
stuffed with beech shavings. This cage is supported upon the wooden axes,
which are inserted through the ends of the tub rather above the centre.
These vessels so arranged are ready to work, a tap of wood or other non-
oxidizable substance is placed below the opening through which the axes are
inserted, and the vessel is filled with the strongest and best quality vinegar,
until it runs out through the orifice of the tap; then shut off the tap and fill up
with liquor or wine previously matured and clarified to within an inch or so of
the opening through which the axes of the cylinder work. The place con-
taining the vessels is to be heated to a temperature of from 75° to 85°
Fabrenheit, then for several days I give a half turn every 12 hours to the
beech wood cylinder, of which more than one half perfectly moist remains out
of the liquor. The first liquor or wine added to the vinegar having arrived at
a sufficient degree of acetification, and the liquid in the vessel being quite clear
and acetified, I proceed to the first drawing off by turning the tap into a con-
duit, which empties the vessel up to the level of the tap, after which I draw
off the same quantity, and replenish every eight days.