The practical sugar planter. A complete account of the cultivation and manufacture of the sugar-cane, according to the latest and most improved processes. Describing and comparing the different systems pursued in the East and West Indies and the Straits of Malacca, and the relative expenses and advantages attendant upon each: being the result of sixteen years' experience as a sugar planter in those countries / By Leonard Wray.

  • Wray, Leonard.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The practical sugar planter. A complete account of the cultivation and manufacture of the sugar-cane, according to the latest and most improved processes. Describing and comparing the different systems pursued in the East and West Indies and the Straits of Malacca, and the relative expenses and advantages attendant upon each: being the result of sixteen years' experience as a sugar planter in those countries / By Leonard Wray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from very unmistakeable evidence, I am thoroughly con¬ vinced that it exercises a most beneficial effect on the character of the fermentation. When I was a planter in the parish of Trelawney, Jamaica, I used as much dunder as any one in the island : if not a great deal more; yet the rum I made was very great in quantity, and of the very highest quality. At that period, and con¬ stantly since, when I had good, light, well clarified dunder, I very frequently employed no water whatever, in setting up my cisterns, preferring the use of dunder entirely ; and the excel¬ lent returns I have always obtained by that system, fully convince me of the correctness of the practice. The great object that the distiller has in view, in conducting his fer¬ mentation, is to obtain the whole, or as large a portion as possible, of the spirit, that the quantity of sugar he employs is capable of producing: to lose none, or as little as possi¬ ble, of it by evaporation or acetification. To accomplish this, I hold it as essentially necessary, first, to keep the fermenting department at as low a temperature as is possible in a tropical climate : say about 75° to 80° Fahr. if it can be accomplished; and secondly, to use a large quantity of dunder. For instance, we will take the case of a 1000 gallon cistern, which we will accordingly proceed to set up. First, we draw down (direct), 200 gallons of well clarified skimmings, 50 gallons of molasses, and 100 gallons of clear dunder ; mix them well together, and allow fermen¬ tation to commence. This very speedily occurs ; when other 50 gallons of molasses are added, together with 200 gallons of water, and the wash is allowed an hour or two to attain a general fermentation ; on seeing which, the other 400 gallons of dunder is run into the cistern, and the whole mass is thoroughly mixed. As the fermentation goes on, a little dirt and scum will be thrown up, which is immediately skimmed off; and the temperature of the wash will be found to rise gradually, until it attains from 8° to 10° Fahr. above that of the house itself. If the temperature be found to rise too high, the next cistern must be set up with more dunder and