458 On the Process of making Spirits^ in [Dec. 



wash backs, fermenting tuns, charging backs, stills, low 

 wines receivers, low wines chargers, feints receivers, and 

 spirit receivers. 



Of these vessels no distiller can, under the Excise regu- 

 lations, have more than one wash charger, and one spirit 

 receiver ; nor more than two low wines, or feints receivers, 

 and two low wine and feints chargers ; but the number of 

 his other vessels is not limited. 



1. A mill for grinding the malt and grain. — In England 

 and Ireland, where little or no spirits are made entirely 

 from malt, the grain is ground with stones : but in Scot- 

 land, where malt spirits are chiefly made, the malt, though 

 sometimes ground with stones, is often bruised between two 

 metal rollers, and in some instances, where the works are 

 not extensive, another kind of mill is employed, somewhat 

 resembling a coffee-mill, both in appearances and construc- 

 tion, and called a hand-mill, from its being turned by one 

 or more men. The powers employed to drive the other 

 kinds of mills, are water, steam, or horses, according to 

 circumstances. 



2. The Coppers. — These are large boilers, usually made 

 of copper, from which circumstance they derive their 

 names. Their use is to heat the water, &c., employed in 

 the process of mashing, as hereafter to be described. 



3. The Mash-tun is a large and generally a circular vessel, 

 made of wood or cast iron. It is usually furnished with a 

 plate called a *' false bottom," which is perforated with a 

 great number of small holes, and lies within an inch or two 

 of the real bottom. This plate, which is moveable, to faci- 

 litate the clearing of the mash-tun, is laid down in its place 

 previous to the commencement of each brewing ; and the 

 ground malt or grain to be operated upon (technically 

 called grist) is then put into the tun, after which water is 

 let in under the false bottom, at a temperature about 175°, 

 (but the temperature varies with circumstances, malt re- 

 quiring hotter liquid than mixed grain), and the whole 

 stirred up, either by means of machinery, or with oars 

 weilded by workmen, until the mash, as it is called, has 

 been thoroughly mixed ; the whole is then covered up, and 

 allowed to remain for some time, till the water has absorbed 

 as much of the saccharine matter from the grain as possible, 

 when, by means of cocks fixed in the mash- tun, the liquor 



