A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines / containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice

by Andrew Ure

Since this absorption of oxygen from the air can take place only at the surface of the fermenting liquors, we thus see the necessity and the practical importance of amplifying that surface, in order to accelerate and complete the acetification, by multiplying the points of contact between the alcohol and the oxygen. The essence of the new German method of rapid acetification depends upon this principle.

Temperature has also a remarkable influence on the formation of vinegar. The acid fermentation proceeds very feebly in the cold, but takes an accelerated pace as the heat is raised. It would even appear that spirituous vapours brought by themselves in contact with atmospheric air, without the aid of any ferment, are capable of being converted into acetic acid, since it has happened in the rectification of brandy, in a still furnished with a large capital and adopter pipe into which air was allowed to enter, that vinegar made its appearance. Hence, warmth does not seem to act as a promoter of the combination of alcohol with oxygen in a merely chemical point of view, but it acts, so to speak, physically. Over the warm liquor a stratum of spirit vapour appears to float, which, coming there into conflict with the atmospherical oxygen, probably causes the generation of some acetic acid, and thus accelerates the operation, much more than by the mere contact of the oxygen with the liquid surface.

When we expose any spirituous liquors, as wine, beer, &c., with the requisite ferment, to the external air, at a temperature of from 64° to 68° Fahr., the fluid, however clear before, becomes soon turbid; filamentous slimy particles begin to appear moving in the middle and on the sides of the vessel, and then form a scum on the top of the liquor. When this scum has acquired a certain thickness and consistence, it falls in a sediment to the bottom. The Germans call it the vinegar mother, as it serves to excite acetification in fresh liquors. Meanwhile, the liquor has become warmer than the surrounding air, and the vinegar process betrays itself by diffusing a peculiar aroma in the apartment. Whenever all the alcohol present has been converted into acetic acid, the liquor comes into a state of repose; its temperature sinks to the pitch of the atmosphere; it becomes bright, and is the article well known by its taste and smell under the name of vinegar.

Genuine wine or raisin vinegar differs from that formed either from apples, or sugar, beer, &c., in containing wine-stone or tartar; by which peculiarity it may be distinguished, except in those cases where crude tartar has been artificially added to the other vinegars, as a disguise. Barley-malt vinegar contains some phosphoric acid, in the state of phosphate of lime or magnesia, derived from the grain.

After these general observations upon acetification, we shall now proceed to describe the processes for manufacturing vinegar on the commercial scale.

1. Wine vinegar.—The first consideration with a vinegar maker is a good fermenting room, in which the wines may be exposed to a steady temperature, with an adequate supply of atmospherical air. As this air is soon deprived of its oxygenous constituent, facilities ought to be provided for a renewal of it by moderate ventilation. The air holes for this purpose ought to be so contrived that they may be shut up when the temperature begins to fall too low, or in windy weather. The best mode of communicating the proper warmth to a chamber of this kind is by means of fire-flues or hot water pipes, running along its floor at the sides and ends, as in a hothouse; the fireplace being on the outside, so that no dust may be created by it within. The flue is best made of bricks, and may have a cross section of 10 or 12 inches by 15 deep. The soot deposited, even when coals are burned, will find ample space in the bottom of the flue, without interfering essentially with the draught, for a very long period, if it be made of the above dimensions. Low-roofed apartments are preferable to high ones; and those built with thick walls, of imperfectly conducting materials, such as bricks, lined with lath and plaster work. Should the chamber, however, have a high ceiling, the fermenting tuns must be raised to a suitable height on scaffolding, so as to benefit by the warmest air. Sometimes the vinegar vessels are placed at different levels; in which case the upper ones acetify their contents much sooner than the under, unless they are emptied and filled alternately, which is a good plan.

Orleans is the place most famous for vinegars. The building there destined to their manufacture is called a vinaigrerie, and is placed, indifferently, either on the ground floor or the floor above it; but it has always a southern exposure, to receive the influence of the sunbeams. The vessels employed for carrying on the fermentation are casks, called mothers. Formerly they were of a large capacity, containing about 460 litres (115 gallons, Eng.); but at the present day they are barrels of half that capacity, or somewhat less than an old English hogshead. It is now known that the wine passes sooner into vinegar the smaller the mass operated upon, the more extensive its contact with the air, and the more genial its warmth. These casks were formerly arranged in three ranks by means of massive scaffolding; they are now set in four ranks, but they rest on much smaller rafters, sustained by uprights, and can be packed closer together. The casks, which are laid horizontally, are pierced at the upper surface of their front end with two holes: one, to which the name of eye is given, is two inches in diameter; it serves for putting in the charge, and drawing off the vinegar when it is made; the other hole is much smaller, and is placed immediately alongside; it is merely an air hole, and is necessary to allow the air to escape, because the funnel completely fills the other hole in the act of filling the cask.

When new vessels are mounted in a vinegar work, they must be one third filled with the best vinegar that can be procured, which becomes the true mother of the vinegar to be made; because it is upon this portion that the wine to be acidified is successively added. At the ordinary rate of work, they put at first upon the mother, which occupies one third of the vessel, a broc of 10 litres of red or white wine; eight days afterwards they add a second broc; then a third, and a fourth, always observing the same interval of time, 8 days. After this last charge, they draw off about 40 litres of vinegar, and then recommence the successive additions.

It is necessary that the vessel be always one third empty if we wish the acetification to go on steadily; but as a portion of the tartar and the lees forms and accumulates in the lower part of the cask, so as eventually to counteract the fermentation, the time arrives when it is requisite to interrupt it, in order to remove this residuum, by clearing out all the contents. The whole materials must be renovated every 10 years; but the casks, if well made and repaired, will serve for 25 years.

We have mentioned a definite period at which the vinegar may be drawn off; but that was on the supposition that the process had all the success we could wish: there are circumstances, difficult to appreciate, which modify its progress, as we shall presently show. We ought, therefore, before discharging the vinegar, to test and see if the fermentation has been complete. We proceed as follows: we plunge into the liquor a white stick or rod, bent at one end, and then draw it out in a horizontal direction: if it be covered with a white thick froth, to which is given the name of work (travail), we judge that the operation is terminated; but if the work, instead of being white and pearly, be red, the manufacturers regard the fermentation to be unfinished, and they endeavour to make it advance, by adding fresh wine, or by increasing the heat of the apartment.