A Practical Handbook on the Distillation of Alcohol from Farm Products. F. B. Wright
CHAPTER III.
DISTILLING APPARATUS.
The simple still. Adams still. Concentrating stills. Compound
distillation. Dorn's still. Continuous distillation. The
Cellier-Blumenthal still. Coffey's still. Current stills.
Regulating distillery fire. 33
CHAPTER IV.
MODERN DISTILLING APPARATUS.
The principles of modern compound stills. Vapor traps and their construction. Steam regulation. Feed regulation. American apparatus. The Guillaume inclined column still. 66
CHAPTER V.
RECTIFICATION.
General principles of "fractionation." Old form of rectifying still. Simple fractionating apparatus. "Vulcan" rectifier. Barbet's twin column rectifier. Guillaume's "Agricultural" rectifying apparatus. Rectifying by filtration. 82
CHAPTER VI.
MALTING.
The best barley to use. Washing. Steeping. Germinating. The "wet couch." The "floors." "Long malt." Drying. Grinding and crushing. 103
CHAPTER VII.
ALCOHOL FROM POTATOES.
Washing. Gelatinizing and saccharifying. Low pressure steaming, and apparatus therefor. Crushing the potatoes. High pressure steaming and apparatus. The vacuum cooker. The Henze steamer. Isolation of starch without steam. English methods. Saccharifying the starch. 110
CHAPTER VIII.
ALCOHOL FROM GRAIN, CORN, WHEAT, RICE, AND OTHER CEREALS.
Relative yields of various cereals. Choice of grain. Proportions of starch, etc., in various grains. Grinding. Steeping. Preparatory mashing. Saccharifying. Treatment of grain under high pressure. Softening grain by acid. 126
CHAPTER IX.
ALCOHOL FROM BEETS.
Beet cultivation. Composition. Soil and manures. Sowing. Harvesting. Storing. Production of alcohol from beets. Cleaning and rasping. Extraction by pressure. Extraction by maceration and diffusion. The diffusion battery. Fermentation. Direct distillation of roots. 140
CHAPTER X.
ALCOHOL FROM MOLASSES AND SUGAR CANE.
The necessary qualities in molasses. Beet sugar. Molasses mixing
and diluting. Neutralizing the wash. Pitching temperature.
Distilling. Fermenting raw sugar. Cane sugar molasses. "Dunder."
Clarifying. Fermenting. Various processes. 163
CHAPTER XI.
ALCOHOLOMETRY.
Hydrometers in general. Proof spirit. Syke's hydrometer. Gay-Lussac's hydrometer. Tralles alcoholometer. Hydrometric methods. Estimation of alcohol. Field's alcoholometer. Grisler's method and apparatus. Estimating sugar in mash. Determination of alcoholic fruits. Physical tests. Chemical tests. The Permanganate of Potash test. Results by Barbet. 174
CHAPTER XII.
DISTILLING PLANTS, THEIR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT.
Simple apparatus. Elaborate plants. Steam stills. The fermenting room. Ventilation. Fermenting vats. Preparatory vats. Arrangement of grain distillery. A small beet distillery. Large beet distilling plant. Transporting beets. Potato distillery. Molasses distillery. Fermenting house for molasses. Transportation of molasses to distillery. Coal consumption. 189
CHAPTER XIII.
DE-NATURED ALCOHOL, AND DE-NATURING FORMULÆ.
Uses of alcohol. De-natured spirit:—Its use in Germany, France and England. The "De-naturing Act." The uses of de-natured alcohol. Methods and Formulæ for de-naturing. De-natured alcohol in the industrial world. 211
CHAPTER XIV.
DE-NATURING REGULATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Free Alcohol Act of 1906, and proposed changes therein. The
Amendment of 1907. Internal Revenue Regulations. 224
Index. 261
CHAPTER I.
ALCOHOL, ITS VARIOUS FORMS AND SOURCES.
=Alcohol.= (Fr., alcool; Ger., alkohol.) Formula, C_{2}H_{6}O.
Pure alcohol is a liquid substance, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, in the following proportions:
C 52.17
H 13.04
O 34.79
———
100.00
It is the most important member of an important series of organic compounds, all of which resemble each other closely, and possess many analogous properties. They are classed by the chemist under the generic title of "Alcohols."
Alcohol does not occur in nature; it is the product of the decomposition of sugar, or, more properly, of glucose, which, under the influence of certain organic, nitrogenous substances, called ferments is split up into alcohol and carbonic anhydride. The latter is evolved in the form of gas, alcohol remaining behind mixed with water, from which it is separated by distillation. The necessary purification is effected in a variety of ways.
TABLE I.—THE BOILING POINTS OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS OF DIFFERENT STRENGTHS, AND THE PROPORTIONS OF ALCOHOL IN THE VAPORS GIVEN OFF.
===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========
Proportion| |Proportion |Proportion | |Proportion
of alcohol|Temperature|of alcohol |of alcohol |Temperature|of alcohol
in the | of the |in the | in the | of the | in the
boiling | boiling |condensed | boiling | boiling |condensed
liquid in | liquid. |vapor in | liquid in | liquid. | vapor in
100 vols. | |100 vols. | 100 vols. | | 100 vols.
—————+—————+—————+—————+—————+—————
92 | 171.0 F. | 93 | 20 | 189.5 F. | 71
90 | 171.5 F. | 92 | 18 | 191.6 F. | 68
85 | 172.0 F. | 91.5 | 15 | 194.0 F. | 66
80 | 172.7 F. | 90.5 | 12 | 196.1 F. | 61
75 | 173.6 F. | 90 | 10 | 198.5 F. | 55
70 | 175.0 F. | 89 | 7 | 200.6 F. | 50
65 | 176.0 F. | 87 | 5 | 203.0 F. | 42
50 | 178.1 F. | 85 | 3 | 205.1 F. | 36
40 | 180.5 F. | 82 | 2 | 207.5 F. | 28
35 | 182.6 F. | 80 | 1 | 209.9 F. | 13
30 | 185.0 F. | 78 | 0 | 212.0 F. | 0
25 | 187.1 F. | 76 | | |