The Art of Making Whiskey Part 2

Some distillers have been induced, by the smallness of their products, to put in their stills, not only the fluid of the liquor, but the flour itself. Hence result two important defects. 1st. The solid matter precipitates itself to the bottom of the still, where it burns, and gives a very bad taste to the whiskey. In order to remedy this inconvenience, it has been imagined to stir the flour incessantly, by means of a chain dragged at the bottom of the still, and put in motion by an axis pa.s.sing through the cap, and turned by a workman until the ebullition takes place. This axis, however well fitted to the aperture, leaves an empty s.p.a.ce, and gives an issue to the spirituous vapors, which escaping with rapidity, thereby occasion a considerable loss of spirit.

3dly. The presence of the grain in the still, converted into meal, is not otherwise indifferent. It contains a kind of essential oil, more or less disagreeable, according to its nature; which distils with the spirit. That of Indian corn, in particular, is more noxious than that of any other grain; and it is the presence of meal in the stills, which causes the liquors obtained from grains to be so much inferior to that of fruits.

4thly. There is a fourth defect, at which humanity shudders, and which the laws ought to repress. Vinous liquors are more or less accompanied with acetone acid, or vinegar; but those proceeding from grain contain still more of this acid. The stills are generally made of naked copper; the acid works upon that metal, and forms with it the _acetate of copper_, or verdigrise, part of which pa.s.ses with the whiskey. There is no distiller, who, with a little attention, has not observed it. I have always discovered it in my numerous rectifications, and at the end of the operation, when nothing more comes from the still but what is called the sweet oil of wine. An incontestable proof of this truth is, that as the stills of the distillers are of a green color in their interior part; that they are corroded with the acid, and pierced with numberless little holes, which render them unfit for use in a very short time. It is easy to conceive how hurtful must be the presence of verdigrise to those who make use of whiskey as a constant drink: even those who use it soberly, swallow a slow poison, destructive of their stomach; while to those who abuse it, it produces a rapid death, which would still be the consequence of abuse, if the liquor was pure, but is doubly accelerated by the poison contained in the whiskey. It is easy to remedy so terrible an evil. The acetous acid has no action upon tin. By tinning the stills, the purity of the liquor will be augmented, and the distilling vessels, already so expensive, will be longer preserved. This operation must be renewed every year. The worms must likewise be tinned, if they are copper; but they are better of tin, or of the purest pewter.

Such are the defects of the present method of distilling whiskey. Having exposed them, I must present the means of bringing to perfection the fabrication of a liquor of such general use.

CHAPTER VII.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS THE MOST ADVANTAGEOUS TO MAKE WHISKEY.

[TR: The next two paragraphs were cut short, however attempted re-constructed for clarity]

As it is demonstrated that the spirit is the more abundant in proportion to the richness of the vinous liquor,* it is therefore necessary to enrich that of the distillery* which is so deficient in that respect. An exposition of* my processes will point out the means I employ to attain*

that end. A large whiskey distillery should be* able to make 100 gallons per day, or three barrels* making altogether that quant.i.ty.

One gallon of spirit being the produce of 4 pounds* of dry saccharine matter, we must therefore have 400 pounds of this substance for the 100 gallons we wish to obtain.

If 1 bushel of grain gives 2 gallons of whiskey, there must be 50 to obtain a daily result of 100 gallons. I take Indian corn as the basis of the fabrication, as that of all the grains which yields the most.

For, from my method, whatever grain is employed, the spirit is equally pure.

I divide the still house into three different rooms, to wit:

One for Infusion;

One for Fermentation;

One for Distillation.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ROOM OF INFUSION.

It is here that the liquor destined to make whiskey, should be prepared, and made rich enough to procure a good fermentation. To this effect, there must be a mill with a vertical stone, moved by a horse, or any other means of motion. Those mills are too well known for me to describe them more amply. The corn must be coa.r.s.ely ground, so as scarcely to be broke into three or four pieces: consequently the stone must not be too heavy, for, at all events, the grain had better be too coa.r.s.e than too fine. That mill should be placed in the infusion room, so as not to keep it dirty, nor to be too much in the way. It must grind, or rather break, 50 bushels per day.

There must be a square kettle, 4 feet broad, 5 feet long, 1 foot deep.

The kettle must be made in sheets of copper, one line thick, at least: the bottom, although flat, should have a slight swell inside, so as to avoid the expansion of the metal outside, from the action of the fire.

This kettle must be placed upon a brick furnace, so that the longest parts should bear forwards, and the other against the chimney, from which it must be separated by a brick wall eight or nine inches. The sides, around which there must be a s.p.a.ce to walk freely, should be supported by a wall 1-1/2 feet deep; the fore part upon such a wall, in the middle of which is an iron door, fifteen inches square, in an iron frame, through which the fuel is introduced.

The kettle is mounted upon the furnace, so as to bear upon the four walls about 4 inches, and rests upon a bed of clay, which must leave no pa.s.sage to the action of the fire; it is lined externally with bricks, and must have a pipe on one of its sides, to draw off the liquor.

Under the kettle, 15 inches from the bottom, is a flue for the heat, running through all its length. It is 2-1/2 feet wide at bottom, extending like a fan at the top, about 6 inches on each side, so that the flame may circulate in all the breadth of the kettle.

On the fore part of this flue, facing the door, is a hearth, occupying all its breadth, and 2 feet long. The rest of the flue is paved with bricks, and rises insensibly 4 inches towards the chimney, in which it opens by two holes, 1-1/2 inches wide, 8 or 9 inches high.

Immediately under the hearth, is a mash hole 4 feet deep, occupying all its capacity, and projecting 2 feet forward. This opening is necessary to keep up a free circulation of air, and to take up the ashes. It should be covered with strong boards, not to hinder the service of the kettle. The hearth is made with an iron grate, more or less close, according to the nature of the fuel; if for wood, the bars must be about two inches apart; if for coals, half an inch is sufficient. The furnace must be built with care. The parts most exposed to the action of the fire must be built with soft bricks and potters' clay: soap stone would be preferable, if easy to procure. The brick separating the kettle and chimney, must be supported with flat bars of iron, as well as the part over the door.

CHAPTER IX.

USE OF THE KETTLE.

The kettle is destined to make the infusion of the grain, and boil it so as to convert it into wort. By that operation I make the liquor richer, which I intend for fermentation, and bring it to divers degrees of strength.

I put into the kettle 100 gallons of water, and 4 bushels of corn, broken, as I said before, at the mill. I light a small fire, which I increase gradually, until the water begins to boil; during that time, the grain is stirred with a paddle. As soon as the ebullition is established, the grain is taken up with a large skimmer, and put to drain into a large basket hanging over the kettle; and when the grain has been totally taken up, the fire is increased so as to bring the water to boil again, until reduced to two-fifths, which degree of concentration is not rigorous, and the distiller may augment it as his experience shall direct. When thus concentrated, the liquor is drawn off through the pipe, and received into a tub or vat containing 130 or 140 galls.

100 gallons more of water are put into the kettle, with 4 bushels of corn; the fire conducted slowly, as before, until the degree of ebullition; the corn is taken off, and the liquor concentrated in the same proportions; then drawn off as above, in the same tub.

The same operation is repeated for the third time; the three united liquors are slightly stirred, and, still warm, transported into one of the hogsheads of fermentation, which it nearly fills up.

As there must be four of these hogsheads filled up daily, the work at the kettle must be kept going on, without interruption, until that quant.i.ty is obtained, which may be done in about twelve hours. The grain which has been drained is carried to dry, either in the open air, or in a granary, and spread thin. When dry, it is excellent food for cattle, and highly preferable to the acid and fermented mash, usually used by distillers to feed cattle and hogs: they eat the corn dried in the above manner as if it had lost nothing of its primitive qualities and flavor.

CHAPTER X.

THE ROOM FOR FERMENTATION.

The room destined to the fermentation must be close, lighted by two or three windows, and large enough to contain a number of hogsheads sufficient for the distillery. It may be determined by the number of days necessary for the fermentation; 30 or 40 hogsheads may suffice, each of 120 or 130 gallons.

In the middle of the room must be a stove, large enough to keep up a heat of 75 to 80, even in winter. A thermometer placed at one end of the room, serves to regulate the heat.

As soon as the liquor is in the hogshead, the yeast, or fermenting principle, is put into it, stirred for some moments, and then left to itself. A liquor as rich as the above described ferments with force, and runs with rapidity through all the periods of fermentation. It is fit to distil as soon as that tumultuous state has subsided and the liquor is calm.

The essential character of the spirituous fermentation, is to exhale the carbonic acid gaz in great quant.i.ty. This gaz is mortal to mankind, and to all the living creation. Thirty hogsheads of fermenting liquor producing a great deal of this gaz, the room should be purified of it by opening two opposite windows several times a day. This is the more essential, as the pure air, or _oxigen_, contributes to the formation of the spirit, of which it is one of the const.i.tuting principles. A short time, however, suffices to renew the air of the room.

It is useless to remark, that the hogsheads must be open at one end, and rest upon pieces of wood elevating them some inches from the ground.

They must remain uncovered during the fermentation; and afterwards be covered with a flying lid, when the liquor is calm.

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE ROOM FOR DISTILLATION.