A Practical Handbook on the Distillation of Alcohol from Farm Products

by F. B. Wright

The beer obtained by mashing and fermenting consist essentially of volatile substances, such as water, alcohol, essential oils and a little acetic acid, and of non-volatile substances, such as cellulose, dextrine, unaltered sugar and starch, mineral matters, lactic acid, etc.

The volatile constituents of the liquor possess widely different degrees of volatility; the alcohol has the lowest boiling point, water the next, then acetic acid, and last the essential oils. It will thus be seen that the separation of the volatile and non-volatile constituents by evaporation and condensation of the vapors given off is very easily effected, and that also by the same process, which is termed distillation, the volatile substances may be separated from one another. As the acetic acid and essential oils are present only in very small quantities, they will not require much consideration.

The aim of distillation is to separate as completely as possible the alcohol from the water which dilutes it. Table I shows the amount of alcohol contained in the vapors given off from alcoholic liquids of different strength, and also their boiling points.

A glance at this table shows to what an extent an alcoholic liquor may be strengthened by distillation, and how the quantity of spirit in the distillate increases in proportion as that contained in the original liquor diminishes. It will also be seen that successive distillations of spirituous liquors will ultimately yield a spirit of very high strength.

As an example, suppose that a liquid containing five per cent, of alcohol is to be distilled. Its vapor condensed gives a distillate containing 42 per cent. of alcohol which, if re-distilled, affords another containing 82 per cent. This, subjected again to distillation, yields alcohol of over 90 per cent. in strength. Thus three successive distillations have strengthened the liquor from five per cent. to 90 per cent.

It will thus be clear that the richness in alcohol of the vapors given off from boiling alcoholic liquids is not a constant quantity, but that it necessarily diminishes as the ebullition is continued. For example a liquor containing seven per cent. of alcohol yields, on boiling a vapor containing 50 per cent. The first portion of the distillate will, therefore, be of this strength. But as the vapor is proportionally richer in alcohol, the boiling liquor must become gradually weaker, and, in consequence, must yield weaker vapors. Thus, when the proportion of alcohol in the boiling liquid has sunk to five per cent., the vapors condensed at that time will contain only 40 per cent.; at two per cent. of alcohol in the liquor, the vapors yield only 28 per cent., and at one per cent., they will be found when condensed to contain only 13 per cent. From this it will be understood that if the distillation be stopped at any given point before the complete volatilization of all the alcohol the distillate obtained will be considerably stronger than if the process had been carried on to the end. Moreover, another advantage derived from checking the process before the end, and keeping the last portions of the distillate separate from the rest, besides that of obtaining a stronger spirit, is that a much purer one is obtained also. The volatile, essential oils, mentioned above, are soluble only in strong alcohol, and insoluble in its aqueous solutions. They distill also at a much higher temperature than alcohol, and so are found only among the last products of the distillation, which results from raising the temperature of the boiling liquid. This system of checking the distillation and removing the products at different points is frequently employed in the practice of rectification.

[CHAPTER III.]
Distilling Apparatus.

The Apparatus employed in the process of distillation is called a still, and is of almost infinite variety. A still may be any vessel which will hold and permit fermentated “wash” or “beer” to be boiled therein, and which will collect the vapors arising from the surface of the boiling liquid and transmit them to a condenser. The still may be either heated by the direct application of fire, or the liquid in the still raised to the boiling point by the injection of steam. The steam or vapor rising from the boiling liquid must be cooled and condensed. This is done by leading it into tubes surrounded by cold water or the “cold mash.”

The very simplest form of still is shown in Fig. [6], and consists of two essential parts, the still, or boiler A, made of tinned copper, the condenser C which may be made of metal or wood and the worm B made of a coil of tinned copper pipe.