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Beading for Proof Brandy

Beading for Proof Brandy.

The "bead" of brandy, or other liquors, is the small globules, or bubbles that remain on top when the liquid is agitated. The bead of a liquor is supposed to show its strength; for instance, if you agitate a quantity of spirit in a glass, and the bead remains on the top a few minutes, it is called proof spirit, but if, when the agitation is discontinued, the bubbles rapidly disappear, the spirit is supposed to be below proof. The bead heretofore generally used by dealers, is that made by mixing sweet oil and sulphuric acid in the following proportions: To every forty drops of sulphuric acid, add sixty dropa pure sweet oil. This quantity is generally sufficient to give a bead to ten gallons spirit; but sometimes the alcohol will contain substances, such as acids, alum, or alkalies, that may in a degree neutralize the efficiency of the mixture, and it will in that case require a greater quantity to give the proper "bead." This mixture does not improve by age, and should therefore only be prepared when wanted for use. In mixing, be careful and put the ingredients in a glass vessel. With the exception of that of almonds, olive oil being the most costly of the ordinary fixed oils of commerce, it is consequently the one most subject to adulteration. Nut, poppy, rape, and lard oil are those commonly most used for this purpose. The following test will show whether the oil is pure :- When pure olive oil is shaken in a phial only half filled, the bubbles rapidly disappear; but if the sample has been mixed with poppy or other oil, the bubbles continue longer before they burst. Any pure fixed oil will answer to make the above "bead." To ascertain if an oil is pure, mix with it an equal quantity of nitric acid : if the margin of this combination assumes a yellowish