Cheap Molasses Vinegar.—To make vinegar by the slow process, fill a large jug, keg, or cask with a mix ture consisting of 1 quart of best New Orleans molasses, 1 pint of yeast to each 3 gallons of warm rain water. Tie a piece of cheese cloth over the bung to keep out dust and insects, but to admit the air. Place the receptacle out of doors in the sun during hot weather. Or in cold weather let it stand near the kitchen stove. It will be converted into vine gar in from three weeks to a month. When it gets low, draw off a supply for family use, leaving more or less old vinegar with the mother and lees in the bottom of the cask. Fill up vvith new liquid in the same propor tions, and let stand until converted into vinegar as before.
Or dissolve a pound of light brown " A " or coffee sugar in 9 gal lons of soft warm water. Add 3 Pints of homemade hop yeast or pints of good brewers' yeast to each 12 gallons. Pour all into a suitable keg or cask.
Or a firkin may be used if fitted with a tight cover having one or more auger holes to admit air through it. Fill the receptacle about two thirds full, or a little more, so as to expose as large a surface as possible to the air. Cover the openings with cheese cloth and let stand in a warm place. Where the conditions are fa vorable it will be converted into vine gar in about two weeks or a month.
Or for a somewhat better quality, take 5 gallons of water to 1 gallon of molasses, and add a quart of yeast. The addition of a gallon of good vine gar will hasten the process. Odds and ends of sirup, as rinsings from fruit jars, molasses cans, and the like, may be added to the liquor from time to time.
Or for a cheaper quality, take 25 gallons of warm rain water, 4 gallons of molasses, and 1 gallon of brewers' yeast.
To Manufacture Vinegar for Sale. —Grocers and other merchants who sell vinegar at retail may keep them selves supplied with vinegar in the following manner: Have on hand three or more bar rels in multiples of three, and use them in rotation. If less than a bar rel of vinegar is sold each week, three barrels will be sufficient, as the proc ess will be completed in three weeks or less. Commence with a barrel of good commercial vinegar. Before it is quite empty draw off and pour into each of the other two barrels 2 or 3 gallons of vinegar. Now fill up the vinegar barrel with a fresh liquor in the proportion of 1 gallon of mo lasses to 5 gallons more or less of warm rain water according to the quality of vinegar desired, and about 1 quart of yeast for each 12 gallons of the mixture.
Fill up the other two barrels with the same liquor. The first or old vinegar barrel containing more or less lees and mother vvill turn to vinegar very quickly, and may be sold first, and reffiled when it gets low. By that time the second will be ready to use, or nearly so. After the three barrels are once started, if filled up when nearly emptied, they will furnish a constant supply.
Or if upward of two barrels are sold each week, six casks may be kept going in the same manner. A good sized bunghole should be kept open to admit the air, but they should have two or three thicknesses of cheese cloth tacked over them to keep out dust and insects.
Or to manufacture vinegar on a large scale summer and winter alike,, it is necessary either to have a large cellar equipped with suitable vats or casks, or a building which is well ventilated, and can be warmed in win ter by means of a furnace or other wise. In addition to suitable arrange ments for storing ordinary casks in tiers, and the necessary apparatus for leaching the wash through beech wood shavings by the quick or Ger man process, an important part of the equipment is one or more large ripening casks or vats capable of holding 500 to 1,000 gallons and up ward. The cider or other " wash," after having been turned into vinegar by either the slow or quick process and run off into smaller casks, should be transferred at intervals to these large casks so that the output of the establishment will be of a uniform flavor. Care must, of course, be taken that the casks, vats, and other appa ratus used to produce a particular kind or grade of vinegar should not be used for any other purpose, if the object is to build up a trade for a particular brand or quality.
Malt Vinegar.—In the vicinity of breweries, where wort can be pro cured at a reasonable price, malt vinegar can be made very cheaply. Add to each 95 gallons of wort 1 gal lon of beer yeast. Ferment for about thirty-five or forty hours, and draw off the liquor into casks about two thirds full. Let them stand at a tem perature of 70° to 75° F. Keep the bungs out to admit plenty of air.