OF THE PROPORTIONS OF THE ELEMENTS NECESSARY TO FORM A GOOD VINOUS LIQUOR.
What are the proportions of the elements necessary to form a good vinous liquor?
We owe the important knowledge of those proportions to the celebrated and unfortunate Lavoisier, who has proved, by the most accurate experiments, that there must be
| 100 | parts of dry sweet substance, or sugar |
| 400 | parts of water |
| 10 | parts of ferment, or liquid yeast, which is reduced |
| —— | to 8 7-10ths of dry matter. |
510 parts in the whole, which produce 57 parts of dry alcohol; that is, containing no more water than is necessary to its formation, and consequently as strong as it can be. Let us dwell for a moment upon the proportions just pointed out, and especially upon their result, which exceeds any thing that has ever been obtained. Supposing the weight of each of those parts to be one pound, we shall have
| 100 | lbs. | of dry sweet Substance, or sugar | ||
| 400 | do. | of water | ||
| 10 | do. | of liquid ferment | ||
| —— | ||||
| 510 | pounds | in the whole. | ||
| 100 | lbs. | of sugar is the quantity required to make 12½gallons of sirup, composed of 8lbs. of sugar and 8lbs. ofwater per gallon, | 12½ | galls. |
| 400 | lbs. | of water, at 8lbs. per gall. make | 50 | " |
The produce will be 57lbs. of dry alcohol.
TR: Poor quality made it difficult to verify the above numbers and so noted with an asterisk
A vessel containing one ounce of water, filled up with this alcohol, weighs only 16dwts. and 16grs. From this report, it appears that the specific weight of the alcohol is, to the weight of the water, as 20 to 24; that is, that water weighs 1/5 more than alcohol. If the 57lbs. thus obtained were only water, it would only represent 7-1/8* gallons; but being alcohol, it weighs 1/6* less, and consequently gives 7-1/8 gallons more, the sixth of this quantity, (to wit:) 1-1/6* gallons, which, added to 7-1/8*, make 8-7/24 gallons.