When the acetic acid has reached 4.5 to 5 per cent., fill the barrels as full as possible and cork tightly. In this way, contact of the air with the vinegar is cut off and the acetic acid organisms soon cease their activity. If this is not done and the acetic and other bacteria are allowed to develop indefinitely, there is apt to be a reverse reaction resulting in a partial or complete loss of the acetic acid. Such vinegar is, of course, worthless.
Clarification of Vinegar.
For those who desire an extra fancy product of extraordinary brightness, suitable for bottling, it will be necessary to subject the vinegar to a special process of clarification known as fining. According to Bioletti[[*]], the best results are obtained by using isinglass. This is employed at the rate of from one-half to three-fourths of an ounce of isinglass to each one hundred gallons of vinegar.
[[*]] Bioletti, Frederic T., Grape Vinegar, Bull. 227, California Exp. Sta., 1912.
"The isinglass is cut into small pieces and soaked for twelve to twenty-four hours in a little water containing acetic or tartaric acid equal in weight to the isinglass used. When thoroughly soft it is then rubbed several times through a fine sieve, gradually adding a little more water until a perfectly fluid liquid is obtained. This fluid is then well mixed with a little vinegar and thoroughly stirred into the cask. With some vinegars it is necessary to add a little tannin, from one-half to one-seventh the amount of the isinglass used. This tannin should be added at least twenty-four hours before the finings.
When the finings have settled and the vinegar is perfectly bright it is ready for bottling."
Pure Cultures for Vinegar Making.
Reference has been made above to the use of pure cultures, both yeast and acetic acid bacteria, for vinegar making. For a little more than one year, the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Colorado Experiment Station has been supplying these at fifty cents (50c) per set, post paid, sufficient for one barrel, to those who care to give them a trial. Full printed directions for their use are included. These cultures have been selected because of certain properties which they possess which make them especially suited to the vinegar industry. No guarantee, either expressed or [Page 14] implied, goes with the cultures, since it is not the purpose of the Experiment Station to exploit these products, but rather to distribute them at the cost of production for experimental purposes. Inasmuch as one of the cultures is to be added to the sweet cider, the set should be obtained a few days, not longer, before the cider is to be made.
Requests for cultures should be addressed to the Bacteriological Laboratory, Colorado Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado, and should be accompanied by a remittance of fifty cents (50c).