Quick Vinegar: Dilute Spirit Trickled Through Beech Shavings in Ventilated Oak Casks (Tomlinson, 1854)

"Vinegar is manufactured by one of two distinct methods called the slow and the quick method."

Use oak casks 5 to 7 ft high and 2-1/2 to 3 ft across, a little narrower at the bottom. About a foot from the bottom, just above the syphon, bore air holes about an inch wide sloping downward so air enters but liquor does not escape. Fit a cover with a centre hole 2 or 3 in square. Set them on frames or brick piers high enough to draw off the liquor.

Scald curled beech shavings repeatedly with hot water to remove soluble matter, dry them, soak them in hot vinegar, and fill the cask. (Or fit an inner beech hoop about 6 in below the mouth carrying a perforated shelf, with cotton wicks knotted on top drawn through the holes, the edges packed with tow, and the shavings below; Fig. 9.)

Mix 20 quarts alcohol, 40 vinegar and 120 water (or 15-1/2, 20 and 137), heating the water to 100-104 F first so the mixture is about 86-90 F. Pour 2-1/2 to 5 quarts on every half hour with the cover on and the centre hole open. When all has run through, draw it off, add a few quarts of alcohol and pass it through again; then less alcohol and a third time. It is then strong vinegar.

Keep the room about 77 F; the cask inside runs 95-100 F and must not fall below 95 F. Cover the casks with paper or linen jackets, leaving the air holes open. Never more than 10 % alcohol; stay between 72 and 113 F. For fruit or malt vinegar the liquor must be clear.

From Charles Tomlinson (ed.), **Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts** (1854), vol. I, "Acetic Acid" (checked on the archive.org scan cyclopaediaofuse01tomluoft, pp. 6-7). The Celsius figures and the tools are ours.