Re[2]: Pottery, Clay and everything!

["chuck graves" <chuck_graves@mail.hq.faa.gov>]

Greetings to the Merry Rose...a fine discussion...I love it when we talk 
brewing.

Seanain asks:
     
> I was wondering if any one here could put me on the trail of a reference 
> source that might have information on the Arabic/middle eastern/Persian 
> distilling devise called an ilumbec or an alumbec.
     
To which Robyyan suggested:

>Hugh Platt, _Delights for Ladies_, pub. about 1600 as far as I recall. 
>Available at UMD libraries (among others) in a facsimile edition in the 
>series Early English Texts.  I can't find my photocopy of the title page 
>right now to give you a better citation, but I'm sure you can find it in 
>the online catalog.  He's dealing primarily with distillation for scents, 
>but it may point you in the right direction.
     
Which is a wonderful citation. Another one is Hugh Platt, _The Jewel House 
of Art and Nature_, 1610 (I believe). The second piece has even more good 
stuff. I believe that a full limbeck design is in both books. I've made 
copies of the appropriate text from the holdings at UMD...the books are in 
McKeldin Hall--graduate library.

There has been some discussion in the armory to make one of these 
contraptions in the next couple of months. I am personally interested in 
how pure the alcohol is from a limbeck...do you get things on the order of 
modern grain alcohol are something less?

Cheers,
Tadhg