| 1 |
 |
“...ammonia also, and this " wash,” as it is then
called, is allowed to stand in large wooden vats, in which it
ferments. In British Guiana this process requires about two
days, and in Jamaica a week and upwards. When the fermenta-
tion ceases and the wash has settled, it is transferred to the
"still," a copper vessel preferably heated by fire underneath.
The spirit is boiled off from the wash, and, after being rectified
in a vessel containing vertical tubes surrounded with water, is
condensed in a spiral tube cooled with running water. In some
cases a " Coffey ” still is used. This is a vertical still consisting
of two columns of considerable height, with an internal arrange-
ment of alternate shelves. The wash is introduced at the top
of the first, and drops from shelf to shelf until it reaches the
bottom, meeting on its way down a current of steam, while the
vapour from it passes to the bottom of the second column, where
it is rectified by the cold wash passing through it in tubes, and
condensed...”
|
|
