Part 3 (1/2)

We have hitherto considered the liquor as containing only principles upon which the air has no action, and from which it can only extract some watery vapors; and, in fact, all those principles contained in the liquor are fixed The action of the fire may concentrate, but not volatilize theed by the ferer the same principles, but has acquired those which it had not, which are volatile, and evaporate easily They ed carefully, in order not to lose the fruits of an already tedious labor

The spirit already created in the fermented liquor,it to the still, the action of the external air must be carefully avoided, as it would cause the evaporation of sosheads, and covered pipes to conduct the liquor into the still, is what has been found to answer that purpose A good distilling apparatus is undoubtedly the most important part of a distillery It must unite solidity, perfection in its joints, economy of fuel, rapidity of distillation, to the faculty of concentrating the spirit Such are the ends I have proposed toapparatus

The usual shape of stills is defective; they are too deep, and do not present enough of surface for their contents They require a violent fire to bring them to ebullition; the liquor at bottom burns before it is warm at the top

My still is made upon different principles, and composed of two pieces, viz the kettle, and its lid The kettle, for square, is like the kettle of infusion, already described, and only differs fro one foot deeper The lid is in shape like an ancient bed tester; that is to say, its four corners rise into a sharp angle, and co a vertical collar of about two inches This collar comes to the middle of the kettle, and is elevated about 4 feet from the bottom The lid is fastened to the kettle The collar receives a pewter cap, to which is joined a pipe of the saressively to a little less than 3 inches: this pipe, the direction of which is al

My still, thus constructed, is established upon a furnace like that of the infusion room I observe that the side walls are only raised to the half of the height of the kettle A vertical pipe is placed on the side opposite to the pewter one, and serves to fill up the still: it is al of the lid, but a little above On the sae, passing across the furnace: this pipe h to help to receive or to direct the fluid residue of the distillation; its diae of the still

OF THE URNS

These are copper vessels, thus called fro those funeral vases of the ancients Mine have a bottoh, have a bulge of 6 inches near the top, and then draw in to form an overture of about 8 inches

On one side, towards the top, there is a copper pipe 2 inches dia externally 2 or 3 inches, and bent in an elbow: it enters the internal part of the urn, and descends towards the bottoht curve, and remains open

The external part of that pipe is fitted to receive the pewter pipe of the still; they are made so as to enter into one another, andat the top of the urn receives a cap with a pewter pipe, , and its size in proportion to the opening: this goes and joins itself to the second urn, as the still does to the first The pipe of this second goes to a third, and the pipe of this last to the wore towards the bottoreatest care Neither the joints, the different pipes of cos, e to the vapors The workreatest attention to his work, and the distiller must lute exactly all the parts of the apparatus that are susceptible of it: heit, as this operation is only performed once a week, when the apparatus is cleaned At the moment of the distillation, the master or his foreman must carefully observe whether there is any waste of vapors, and reht to be well tinned

CHAPTER XII

EFFECTS OF THIS APPARATUS

Although the still allons put into it: the rest re empty, the vapors develops themselves, and rise In that state, the vinous liquor is about one foot deep, on a surface of 20 feet square: hence two advantages--the first, that being so shallow, it requires but little fuel to boil; the second, that the extent of surface gives rise to a rapid evaporation, which accelerates the work This acceleration is such, that six distillations ht be obtained in one day The spirit contained in the vinous liquor rises in vapors to the lid of the still, there find the cap and its pipe, through which they escape into the first urn, by the side pipe above described, which conducts them to the bottom, where they are condensed i to coressively: the spirituous liquor that it contains rises anew into vapors, escapes through the cap and pipe, and arrives into the second urn, where it is condensed as in the first Here again, the same cause produces the same effect: the affluence of the heat draith the vapors, carries them successively into the third urn, and from thence into the worm, which condenses them by the effects of the cold water in which it is i no other heat than that which the vapors co out of the still can transreatest part of it, remains at the bottom: hence, what runs from the worm is alcohol; that is, spirit at 35 It is easily understood how the vapors co out of the still are rectified in the urns, and that three successive rectifications bring the spirit to a high degree of concentration: it gets lower only when the vinous liquor draards the end of the distillation As soon as it yields no more spirit, the fire is stopped, and the still is ein a new distillation

Each time that the vinous liquor is renewed in the still, the water contained in the urns e at the bottom

Metals are conductors of the _caloric_ The heat accumulated in the still, rises to the cap, from whence it runs into the urns: with this difference--that the pewter, of which the cap and pipes are made, transmits less caloric than copper, because it is less dense: and that bodies are only heated in reason of their density

However, a great deal of heat is still communicated to the worm, and heats the water in which it is i a wooden pipe between the wor a bad conductor of caloric, produces a _solution of continuity_, or interruption between the metals The wood of this pipe must be soft and porous, and not apt to work by the action of the fire: however, to avoid its splitting, I wrap it up in two or three doubles of good paper, well pasted, and dried slowly This pipe is one foot long, and hollowed in its length, so as to receive the pewter pipe of the third urn at one end, and to enter the worm at the other; thereby the worm is not as hot, since it only receives the heat of the vapors which it condenses

Notwithstanding all these precautions, it heats the water in which it is ith of time; and whatever care may be taken to renew it, all the vapors are not condensed, and this occasions a loss of spirit I obviate this accident, by adding a second worm to the first: they communicate by means of a wooden pipe like the above The effect of this second worm, rather smaller than the first, is such, that the water in which it is plunged remains cold, while that of the first must be renewed very often By these means, no portion of vapors escape condensation The liquor running fro taken that itevaporation

CHAPTER XIII