In making the best qualities of vinegar the wine is first clarified by running it into casks or vats contain ing beech shavings. The ripening casks are then filled about a quarter full of boiling vinegar, which is al lowed to stand for three or four days, after which the wine is gradually added at the rate of about a gallon at a time until the casks are filled. After about two or three weeks the wine is turned to vinegar. One half is then drawn off and bottled or stored for use, and the cask is re filled as before. This process is some times continued for ten years, with out the casks ever becoming more than half empty, but after that length of time it is necessary to remove the accumulated sediment.
White-Wine Vinegar.— Crush 2 pounds of clean juicy raisins. Add a gallon of filtered rain water, place in a 2-gallon jug uncorked, and let it stand in a warm place. In about.. month it will be converted into pure white-wine vinegar.
Pour out the clear vinegar through a cheese-cloth strainer, leaving the raisins and sediment in the jug; add pound of raisins in another gallon of water, and repeat the process.
Corn Vinegar.—Boil in a gallon of rain water a pint of shelled Indian corn until the kernels burst. Pour the whole into a 2-gallon stone jug and add filtered rain water to supply that lost by evaporation, making a gallon all told. Dissolve pound of granulated sugar in pound of soft water by bringing it to a boil. Pour into the jug; shake well. Cover the mouth of the jug with two or three thicknesses of cheese cloth. Let stand in a warm place at a temperature of 75° or 80° F. It will be converted into vinegar in about a month. Pour off this vinegar into another jug, leaving about half the mother, and repeat the process.
To preserve this vinegar, cover the mouth of the jug with a piece of cloth and store it in a dry, warm place. This recipe makes vinegar about as cheaply as it can be made, and gives a quality that is preferred by many to ordinary cider vinegar. It is worth trying.
To Clarify Vinegar.—To clarify vinegar for bottling, draw it off into a clean cask or other vessel and throw into it a handful more or less of shredded isinglass. Let it stand for a few days and filter through a cheese cloth.
Distilled Vinegar.—Vinegar is dis tilled by heating in an ordinary re tort by means of a sand bath, about 7 pints being carried over from each gallon. No lead or pewter can be
used in any part of the retort or con denser, as the acetic acid acting upon these metals produces a poisonous compound. Distilled vinegar is weak er than the ordinary commercial arti cle for the reason that water boils at a lower temperature than acetic acid. Hence more water than acetic acid is carried over. Distilled vinegar is used principally by druggists.
To Decolorize Vinegar. — Sub stances recommended for this pur pose are ivory black, bone black or ordinary charcoal, all of which have the property of absorbing the various coloring matters so as to reduce ordinary cider, red wine, or other highly colored vinegar to a limpid and transparent whiteness.
Mix with each gallon of red wine or cider vinegar about 6 ounces of pure bone charcoal, from which, by means of a coarse sieve, all loose dust and small grains have been removed. Place the whole in a glass or earthen ware vessel and shake or stir from time to time until tbe color has been removed.
Or the charcoal, in the same pro portion, can be thrown into an ordi nary cask, and the contents stirred occasionally.
Or if the cask is bunged up, the cask may be rolled or rocked, or ended up from time to time, to bring the charcoal in contact with all parts of the vinegar.
Or a double bag of any desired size may be made of coarse linen and lined with a layer of charcoal 0 or 3 inches in thickness. This should be quilted sufficiently to prevent the charcoal from settling or bunching up. Vinegar may be decolorized by straining through this.
Strength of Vinegar.—The strength of vinegar or the amount of acetic acid which is contained in different specimens, differs greatly. To deter mine the proportion of acetic acid, suspend 4 or 5 ounces, by weight, of broken pieces of fine marble in 16 ounces, by weight, of vinegar. The acetic acid will attack the marble and will be gradually neutralized. Let stand overnight. Remove the marble, rinse it in cold water, dry it thoroughly with gentle heat on top of the stove (but take care not to melt it), and weigh it carefully, of its loss in weight is the quantity of actual acetic acid contained in the sample. And from this amount the proportion of acetic acid can be read ily obtained.