Alcohol has become a substance of such prime necessity in the arts and manufactures, and in one form or another enter so largely into the composition of the common beverages consumed by all classes of people that its manufacture must, of necessity, rank among the most important industries of this and other lands.
Of the alcohols given in the above table only two concern the ordinary distiller, or producer of alcohol for general use in the arts. Methyl alcohol, the ordinary “wood alcohol,” or wood naphtha, and Ethyl alcohol, which is produced by the fermentation of sugar and may therefore be made from anything which contains sugar.
Ethyl alcohol forms the subject of this treatise. Aside from its chemical use in the arts as a source of energy and as a fuel, alcohol will likely soon compete with petroleum, gasoline, kerosene, etc., under the Act of Congress freeing the “de-naturized” spirit from the Internal Revenue tax. This act and the de-naturing process are covered in the last chapters of this book.
[CHAPTER II.]
Alcohol, its Various Forms and Sources.The Preparation of Mashes, and Fermentation.
Alcohol may be produced either from, (1) farinacious materials, such as potatoes or grains, (2), from sacchariferous substances such as grapes, sugar beets, sugar cane, or the molasses produced in sugar manufacture.
THE PREPARATION OF STARCHY MATERIALS.
Saccharification. Preparatory Mashing. With starchy materials it is first necessary to convert the starch into a sugar from which alcohol can be produced by the process of fermentation. This is called saccharification.
Gelatinizing. The first step in this process is gelatinizing the starch;—that is, forming it into a paste by heating it with water, or into a liquid mass by steaming it under high pressure. The liquid or semi-liquid mass is then run into a preparatory mash vat and cooled.
Saccharifying. The disintegrated raw materials or gelatinized starch in the preparatory mash vat is now to be “saccharified” or converted into sugar. This is effected by allowing malt to act on the starch. This malt contains a certain chemical “ferment” or enzyme, called “diastase” (“I separate”).