AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MAKING OF VINEGAR
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS, SHALL COME, I, JOHANNES
AMBROSIUS MAAS, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-third day of September now last,past, did give and grant unto me,
the said Johannes Ambrosius Maas, His especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege, and authority that I, the said Johannes Ambrosius Maas, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and my or their servants or agents, or such others as
I, the said Johannes Ambrosius Maas, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in all- His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my In-
vention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MAKING OF VINEGAR;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Johannes Ambrosius Maas,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same reference, being
thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Johannes Ambrosius Maas, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my

page_text: said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as
follows, that is to say :-
The ingredients employed for manufacturing vinegar according to the said
improvement are water, preserved grapes (called raisins), and corn or malt
spirit, (or in place of the latter, spirit of wine, or spirits made from sugar, or
any other uncontaminated alkoholic spirit,) and the process is to be conducted
in the following manner:-In a proper situation must be placed a copper
kettle or other boiler for the heating of water of a size proportioned to the
extent of the manufactory. One, two, or more vats must also be provided
for the preparation for the infusion of raisins, which is required in the manu-
facture of the vinegar. These vats are each furnished with two internal disks,
placed parallel to the bottom, the one two inches from the bottom and fastened
in its place, the other six inches from the top, and both perforated all over and
very closely. The infusion of raisins before mentioned is prepared as follows:-
The raisins to be employed for this purpose are to be introduced into the
aforesaid vats between the said internal disks in the proportion of one hundred
and twenty-five pounds English weight for each hogshead (or more or less,
according to the quality of the raisins). The raisins being placed upon the
lower disk, the upper disk is to be fastened in its place, the vat to be filled
with boiling water, the top to be covered with a proper head, and the contents
left to infuse for four or five days, when the infusion is to be drawn off by a
cock placed between the bottom and the lower perforated disk. The vats are
then to be filled again with boiling water poured upon the same raisins that
furnished the first infusion, and left at rest for five or six days, when this second
infusion is to be drawn off and added to the former. These joint products
constitute the vinous infusion required for the formation of the vinegar, and it
is now ready to be carried to the fermenting room. The said fermenting room
should be of a rectangular form, and entirely close to prevent all unnecessary
access of external air. In this room the fermenting vats or vessels are placed
close to the walls. The said vats should not be of a capacity less than five
nor larger than fifteen hogsheads; each of them is furnished with a disk
closely perforated all over and fastened (parallel to the bottom) at fifteen inches
from the top; in each vat is put a pump, and as close to the bottom of each as
possible is inserted a wooden cock or fasset and spiket. These fermenting
vats are placed two by two, in order that each pair may be worked by itself as
hereafter directed, without having any concern or connexion with any other.
Upon the last-mentioned disks in the fermenting vats are to be placed, closely
pressed together, stalks of raisins up to the top of the vats, and the vats are
each of them furnished with a loose cover. In the centre of the fermenting

page_text: room is placed a stove for the purpose of maintaining throughout the whole
room in the coldest weather a temperature equal to the highest summer heat
in England. The fermenting room and its apparatus being ready, the
fermenting vats are to be supplied with the before-mentioned vinous infusion
prepared from preserved grapes, commonly called raisins, in the manner
before directed, that is to say; one vat of each of the aforesaid pairs is to be
filled up to the top, and the other up to the perforated disk, leaving the
fifteen inches filled with raisin stalks without any infusion. This being done;
the fermenting room is to be brought to the required temperature by means
of the before-mentioned stove, and care ought to be taken to maintain an
equal degree of heat. At the end of every twenty-four hours the fermenting
vats, which are void of infusion down to the perforated disks, are to be
pumped full out of the full ones, so that alternately, every day, the one of each
pair is filled and the other emptied down to the perforated disk, and vice versa.
By operating in this manner fermentation is speedily produced, and the raisin
stalks lying upon the perforated disks in the fermenting vats begin to acquire
a higher temperature, which increases gradually till it exceeds animal heat,
promoting the fermentation of the whole mass. At the expiration of about
fourteen days it will be found that acidity begins to manifest itself. When
this is perceived care must be taken to preserve the acetous product from
deterioration, and the means by which I effect this is one of the prominent
features of my improvement in the making of vinegar. As soon as acidity has
begun to manifest itself, then into every vat I put a quantity of corn or malt
spirit, or any other good alkoholic spirit, avoiding the use of such spirits as
have been contaminated with juniper berries, or other ingredients, to give
them the flavour of Geneva or liqueurs of any kind. The strength of the
spirit employed should be rather above than under what is known in commerce
by the name of common proof spirits, and it should be added in the proportion
of three gallons for every hogshead contained in the vat. N.B. If the spirit
employed be considerably above proof the quantity may be reduced in propor-
tion. After adding the alkoholic spirit, as has just been directed for the
conservation of the acetous product, the pumping from one vat of each pair
into the other is to be repeated daily till the fermentation decreases, which is
generally at the end of about three months (or more or less), and now it is
proper and necessary to convey the new formed vinegar into other vats or
casks, which ought to be ready in a cool place. In these last-mentioned vats
or casks the vinegar is to be clarified by any of the processes in common use.
Either of the two following methods will be found to answer the purpose.
Before pouring the vinegar into the said last-mentioned casks, fill them close

page_text: with beech wood shavings, upon which the vinegar lying for a few days
becomes clear and pure; or mix an acetous solution of isinglass with the
vinegar in the said casks (but without the beach wood shavings) in the pro-
portion of two ounces to each hogshead, and in the course of two days the
vinegar will become clear. If these instructions and directions be properly
attended to and followed, a clear and pure vinegar will be obtained, of a
good colour, and hardly inferior to genuine French vinegar made from white
wine.
In giving the foregoing description of my improvement in the making of
vinegar, I have, for the sake of perspicuity, confined my directions to the use
of raisins only, but sugar or other substances containing a sufficient quantity
of saccarine matter may be partially substituted for the raisins, and if the
construction and arrangement of vats and pumps, the use of raisin stalks, the
pumping from vat to vat, and the conservation of the acetous product by
means of alkoholic spirits, be attended to as I have directed, good and whole-
some vinegar will be obtained, more or less valuable, according to the nature
of the saccarine substance employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Johannes Ambrosius Maas, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twelve.
•
(L.S.) J. A. MAAS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day of
March, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Johannes Ambrosius Maas