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Sand (Fig and arrangement of this)

Fig. 8. and arrangement of this filter is very simple. A is a common cask or hogshead. B and C are false bottoms fitting in perfectly tight, but perforated with 1/4 inch holes. B should be covered with Canton flannel; C should be covered with canvas, and on top of that a layer of cotton batting or wadding.

These covers of Canton flannel and canvas have the effect of spreading the liquid all over the surface of both B and C, thus giving as great extent as possible to the filtering surface. Having prepared B and C in this manner, you next fit C in the cask, and place on top of it a bed of perfectly clean sand, four inches deep. Above the sand, and covering it, place a piece of flannel, which is represented by D, Fig. 3. On top of the flannel.lay a bed of carded cotton, four inches deep, regularly piled up, so that it will be of a uniform thickness all over, but pressed very tightly all around the edge. E is a semi-bag, made of Canton flannel, and securely fastened at the top of the cask. This is simply intended as a strainer to catch the coarser substances before they enter the vessel, and to prevent the brandy coming immediately, and with too much force upon the cotton and sand, which would disarrange, and spoil the filter. It is evident that when brandy is poured into the upper part of a cask SO cask so arranged, it will sink through the filters B, D, and C, into the lower chamber F, filtered and purified in an almost perfect manner.

As the sand and cotton become charged with impurities from frequent filtration, they will have to be cleansed by being washed with clean water. Sand gives transparency to any colored liquor, and separates the minute atoms or particles that impart a cloudiness to liquids; but, when it is desired to render a liquid limpid and colorless, it will be found necessary to resort to filtration through animal charcoal. (See "Gin Filter .") The Sponge Filter.

A filter which possesses the advantages of being easily and cheaply cleaned when dirty, and which very thoroughly purifies brandy or water, with great rapidity, may be formed by placing a stratum of sponge between two perforated metallic plates, united by a central screw , and arranged in such a manner as to permit of the sponge being compressed to any required degree. Brandy or water, under gentle pressure, flows with great rapidity through the pores of compressed sponge.

Concluding Remarks on Brandy.

We might increase the number of recipes for the manufacture of brandy, but we have given all those which after trial we can honestly recommend. It is a common practice with a certain class of dealers to manufacture brandy from alcohol half reduced by water. As a natural consequence, their liquor suffers SO in flavor, and its deficiency in alcohol becomes so apparent, that they soon see the necessity of either abandoning the practice, or resorting to others of a like kind to disguise it. The latter alternative is commonly adopted, an excess of coloring (burnt sugar) is immediately introduced into the spirits, followed by sundry portions of Guinea and Cayenne pepper, grains of Paradise, pellitory, and other acrid substances, to give it a make-believe strength, that "passes muster " with the petty dealer. These pernicious ingredients increase the volume of alcohol without loss of strength, but will not stand the test of the hydrometer. The addition of ethers and ammonia is not at all prejudicial to the health. * We protest against this adulteration of alcohol, and will give no recipes for manufacturing brandy which contemplate any other basis than that of pure spirit. (See "Alcohol.") Any liquor should be rejected that gives the slightest tingling sensation to the throat, for that feeling is an unerring evidence that the spirit is adulterated with the above drugs, and we should all remember that mildness of taste is a peculiarity of good liquor. In the manufacture of domestic liquors, the aim being * AUCTION BRANDY. - As a matter of curiosity, we give two recipes of brandy made of reduced spirits, with some of the above ingredients brandy made of reduced spirits, with some of the above ingredients to impart a fictitious strength to the alcohol. And we know that these or similar recipes are extensively used in New York to make a very cheap brandy for auction sale. 1st. Take 10 gals. proof spirit, 10 gals. water, 1 pint strong infusion of green tea, pint plain syrup, 24 pints tincture of grains of Paradise. Color with burnt sugar coloring, and add 14 oz. of nitric ether. Flavor with 4 drops oil of wintergreen. 2d.

To 15 gals. proof alcohol, add: 15 gals. water, 1 gall. tincture of Guinea pepper, pint syrup; then add the following mixture: 1 oz. nitric ether, 1½ oz. acetic eer, oz. sulphuric acid. Color with burnt sugar color ing, and flavor with + lb. prune kernals, mashed up, and infused in alcohol 95°. Add a " bead." (See "Beading.") to equal the fine imported article, the advantage of using pure, fine quality spirit, and unadulterated oils and essences must be obvious; foreign liquors have generally the advantage of age; the domestic article should have the same advantage, as far as time and circumstances will permit. (See Appendix.) PART IV.

THE ART OF IMITATING AND MANUFACTURING GIN WITHOUT DISTILLA- TION, WITH NUMEROUS VALUABLE RECIPES, AND A DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE ARTICLES USED IN IMITATING HOLLAND AND LONDON GIN. THIS popular liquor is a grain spirit, flavored with either oil of juniper or oil of turpentine. Gin was originally and for some time wholly imported from Holland, and was a soft, rich spirit, flavored chiefly with juniper berries; on which account it had obtained the name of Geneva, from genièvre, the French for juniper. After a time the distillation of an imitation Geneva sprung up in England, when the genuine spirit in this country came to be called Holland gin, to distinguish it from the imitation, or London gin. The monosyllable "Gin" is a corruption of Geneva, the accented syllable of which, as in numerous other instances, was seized on by the vulgar and adopted as a short and convenient substitute for the whole word. This far-famed liquor has been long the subject of study among distillers. Many trials have been made to produce a spirit equal in quality to that imported, but with very indifferent success. The subjoined particulars are taken from "Muspratt's Chemistry,” and were communicated by a gentleman who sojourned in Holland for several years, solely for the purpose of learning the process followed in the manufacture of the Dutch Hollands or Geneva :-" One hundred and twelve pounds of barley malt and two hundred and twenty-eight pounds of rye meal are mashed with four hundred and sixty gallons of water, at 162° Fah.; after infusion has taken (82)