In order to procure the vegetable Juice for this Operation, the Person provides himself with a sufficient Number of small earthen Pots, with Bellies and Necks, resembling our common glass Bottles; a Number of these he fastens to his Girdle, or to a Belt across his Shoulders, and climbs up the tall Trunk of the Cocoa tree: Having reached the Boughs of the Tree, he cuts off with a Knife certain small Buds, or Buttons, applying immediately to the Wound one of his Bottles, and fastens it with a String to the Bough. In this Manner he proceeds till he has fixed his whole Number of Bottles, which serve as Receivers to the Juice distilling from the Wounds. This Operation is generally performed in the Evening, a greater Quantity of Juice flowing from the Tree in the Night than in the Day. The Bottles are next Morning taken off, and the Liquor emptied with a proper Vessel, where it spontaneously ferments. As soon as the Fermentation is completed, the Liquor is thrown into the Still, and drawn down to a low Wine; but so very poor and dilute, that they are obliged to rectify it in another Still, to that weak kind of Proof Spirit, we generally see it; for though it appears Bubble-Proof, it rarely contains more than a sixth, and sometimes only an eighth of Alcohol, all the rest being no more than an acidulated Water, which might be supplied from any common Spring. Why Arrac appears Bubble-Proof, when in reality so far below what we mean by Proof, is not so great a Mystery, as at first Sight it appears to be; for this kind of Proof is entirely owing to a certain Tenacity of the Parts of the Liquor, or to the particular Property of the Oil incorporated in the Spirit; as we shall abundantly shew in a subsequent Chapter.
From this Account of Arrac, it should seem no very difficult Matter to imitate it here. And, perhaps, the whole Difficulty lies in procuring a pure and insipid Spirit; for it is ridiculous to attempt it with our common Malt-Spirit. With regard to the Flavour of the Arrac, it may be effectually imitated by some essential Oils easily procurable.
Hence we see of what prodigious Advantage a pure and insipid Spirit would be of to Distillers, and consequently the great Encouragement there is to attempt the Discovery. Perhaps a Spirit of this kind may be extracted from Sugar properly refined. The Hint is worth prosecuting; and the Writer of this Essay, from repeated Experiments, is abundantly convinced that the Thing is practicable. Had he entirely succeeded, he would readily have communicated the Whole for the Benefit of his Country; but is now obliged to defer, to some future Opportunity, the Result of his Enquiries. In the mean Time, he would recommend the Prosecution of this Hint to those Distillers, who endeavour to improve their Art, and advance it nearer to Perfection.
Since Arrac is a Spirit extracted from the Juice of the Cocoa tree, it might perhaps be worth enquiring how nearly it might be imitated by fermenting and distilling the Juices of the Birch and Sycamore-trees. We should by this Means obtain an English Arrac; and, perhaps, a Spirit equal in Flavour to that imported from Batavia.
When the Cask, in which the Arrac is imported happens to be decayed; or the Liquor touches any Nails, or other Iron, it dissolves Part of it, and at the same time extracts the resinous Parts of the Oak, by which means the whole Liquor in the Cask acquires an inky Colour. In order to whiten and clarify Arrac, which has contracted this Colour, a large Quantity of new or skimmed Milk must be put into the Cask, and the whole beat together, as Vintners do to whiten their brown Wines; by this means the inky Colour will be absorbed by the Milk, and fall with it to the Bottom, so that the greatest Part of the Arrac may be drawn off fine; and the Remainder procured in the same Condition by being filtrated through a conical Flannel Bag.
CHAP. XXIII.
Of Rectification.
There are several Methods of performing this Operation; though some, and indeed those in general practiced by our Distillers, hardly deserve the Name; because, instead of rectifying, that is freeing the Spirit from its essential Oil and Phlegm, they alter the natural Flavour of the Spirit that comes over in the Operation.
The principal Business of Rectification is to separate the Spirit from the essential Oil of the Ingredient, which is very apt to adhere strongly to the Spirit. And in order to this, Care should be taken in the first Distillation; that is, the Spirit, especially that from Malt, should be drawn by a gentle Fire, by which means great Part of the essential Oil will be kept from mixing with the Spirit; for Experience has abundantly proved, that it is much easier to keep asunder, than to separate them when once mixed.
But as it is almost impossible to draw low Wines without the Spirit being in some Measure impregnated with the essential Oil, it is absolutely necessary to be acquainted with some Methods of separating the Spirit from the Oil, and also of freeing it from its Phlegm. The best Methods of doing this to Perfection, are Re-distillation and Percolation.
In order to rectify low Wines, they should be put into a tall Body or Alembic, and gently distilled in Balneum Mariæ; by this means a large Proportion, both of the Oil and Phlegm will remain in the Body. But if the Spirit should be found, after this Operation, to contain some of the essential Oil, it must be let down with fair Water, and re-distilled in the same gentle Manner. And thus it may be brought to any Degree of Purity; especially if in the working the Spirit be suffered to fall into a proper Quantity of clear Water, and the Spirit afterwards rectified to the Height proposed. The same Method should be used in freeing Proof Spirit, or even Alcohol, from this Oil; namely, by letting it down with clean Water to the Strength of low Wines, and re-distilling it in Balneum Mariæ. But it must be remembered, that it is much more difficult to cleanse Alcohol, or Proof-Spirit than low Wines, because the Oil is more intimately mixed with the two former than with the latter. This Oil may however be separated from Proof-Spirit, &c. by the Method already proposed, especially if it be previously filtrated through Paper, thick Flannel, Sand, Stone, &c.