DISTILLERY. 



MSTILLKUY. 



DISTILLERY. Having, in the article DISTILLATION, explained the 

 chemical principle* on which all distilling prooesMS nerrsurily rest, 

 we shall now treat of the** proesatss in their practical connection with 

 manufacture*, especially the drilling of ardent apiriU in thoee great 

 establishment* known a* distilleries. 



The Arabian! Mem to hare practiced, in the remotest ages, the art 

 of extracting the aromatic essences of planU and their flowers, in the 

 form of distilled waten, to supply the luxuriea of oriental baths. 

 They are aleo nippowd to have bn the first to extract from wine a 

 oolourlea* intoxicating liquor by distillation. From certain passages 

 in 1'Uny and Galen there can be no doubt that the Oreelu and Romans 

 were well acquainted with the distillation of aromatic waten. Indeed 

 Nioander, a Greek poet and physician who lived 140 years before the 

 Christian era, employs the terms &nffi( amtiix and distillation in 

 describing the preparation of rose-water. From ambix, which signifies 

 a pot, the Arabic name alambic or alembic is derived. The words jiot 

 and potent are used in the same way by the modern Irish to designate 

 a still and its spirituous product It is obvious that distillation must 

 have been a familiar process to the countrymen of Aviceuna, since, iu 

 his treatise of catarrh, he compares the human body to an alembic ; 

 he regards the belly as the cucurbit or body, and the head as its 

 capital, through which the humours distil, pausing off by the nostrils as 

 its beak. 



Arnoldus de Villa Nova, a chemical physician of the 13th century, 

 is the first author who speaks explicitly of on intoxicating spirit 

 obtained by the distillation of wine ; and he describes it as a recent 

 discovery. He considers it to be the universal panacea so long sought 

 after in vain. His disciple Raymond Lully, of Majorca, declares this 

 admirable essence of wine to be on emanation of the. Divinity, on 

 element newly revealed to man, but hidden from antiquity because the 

 human race were then too young to need this beverage, destined to 

 revive the energies of modern decrepitude. He further imagined that 

 the discovery of this aqua ritce, as it was called, indicated the 

 approaching consummation of all things the end of the world. In 

 his ' Chemical Theatre,' written towards the close of the 13th century, 

 Lully describes the distillation of ardent spirits thus : " Limpid and 

 well-flavoured red or white wine is to be digested during twenty d;iys 

 in a close vessel by the heat of fermenting horse-dung, and to be then 

 distilled in a sand-bath with a very gentle fire. The true water of life 

 will come over in precious drops, which being rectified by three or 

 four successive distillations, will afford the wonderful quintetKnte of 



wine To prove its purity," adds he, " if a rag be dipped in it, and 



kindled, it will not become moist, but consume away." 



The only substances employed in this country in the manufacture of 

 ardent spirits upon the great scale are different kinds of corn, such as 

 barley, rye, wheat, oats, buckwheat, and maize. Peas and beans have 

 been occasionally used in small quantity. The principles in these 

 grains from which the spirits are indirectly produced are starch and a 

 little sweet mucilage, which, by a peculiar process called matliiay, are 

 converted into a species of sugar. It is the sugar so formed which is 

 the immediate generator of alcohol, by the process of fermentation. 

 In ""*""[; one or more kinds of corn, a greater or smaller proportion 

 of malt is always mixed with the raw grain ; and sometimes malt alone 

 is used, as in the production of malt whiskey. The process of malting 

 is that incipient growth called germination, in which, by the dis- 

 engagement of a portion of the carbon of the starch, in the form of 

 carbonic acid, the ultimate vegetable elements become combined in 

 such a proportion as to constitute a species of sugar. Malting is the 

 most effectual method of converting starch into sugar; although 

 chemists are acquainted with other and very singular modes of 

 effecting this transformation. By mashing, a larger or smaller proper 

 tion of thc/cru/a of the corn is thereby converted into sugar, anil thus 

 brought into a state fit for producing alcohol by fermentation. 



The manufacture of ardent spirit, whether known as whiskey or by 

 any other name, consists in three distinct operations : first, mashing ; 

 second, fermentation ; third, dutillation. 



1. .Van/iituj. Either malt alone, or molt mixed with other grain, 

 and coarsely ground, is put into the mash-tun, along with a proper 

 proportion of hot water ; and the mixture is subjected to agitation by 

 a mechanical revolving apparatus, similar to that employed in the 

 breweries for the manufacture of beer. When molt alone is used, the 

 water first run into the mash-tun among the meal has usually a 

 temperature of 160* or 165* Fahrenheit; but when a considerable pro- 

 portion of raw grain is mixed with the molt, the water is let on at a 

 lower temperature, as from 145 to 155'. The following quantities 

 have been found to afford a good product of whiskey in a well- 

 conducted Scotch distillery : 



252 bushels of malt, at 40 pounds per bushel. 

 948 barley, CSf 

 160 oats, 47* 

 _1W rye, 68| 



1500 



From each bushel of the above mixed meal 21 gallons of proof 

 whiskey (specific gravity 0'921) may be obtained, or 18J gallons per 

 quarter. A few distillers ore skilful enough to extract '20 gallons 

 per quarter from such a mixture. Ten imperial gallons may be con- 



sidered a fair proportion of water to be introduced into the mash-tun 

 for every bushel of meal at the first infusion. After two or three 

 jours' agitation, the whole is left to repose for an hour and a half, and 

 then the worts are drawn off to about one-third the volume of water 

 d, the rest being entangled in a |>aaty state among the farina, 

 Alxnit two-thirds of the first quantity of water is now I. mt tl 

 sut at a temperature somewhat higher; and the agitation 

 for nearly half on hour. A second ] or repose ensues, 



nfter which these second wort* are drawn off. Both infusions must 

 lie cooled as quickly as possible down to the temperature of 80 

 Four., otherwise they are apt to run into the acetou.- 

 the rapid absorption of oxygen. This refrigeration is usually effected 

 ny exposing the wort for some time in large shallow coolers, placed 

 near the top of the building, where it may be freely exposed to the 

 ieri.il currents. But it is sometimes cooled by being passed tli 

 serpentine tubes surrounded with cold water, or by the agency of 

 ventilators blowing over its surface in extensive cisterns only throe or 

 four inches deep. 



After the second wort U drawn off, a third quant n . fully 



as great as the first, but nearly boiling hot, is run into the mash-tun, 

 and well incorporated with the magma by agitation ; after repo.-. 

 tliinl wort is also drawn off, cooled, and either directly mixed with 

 the preceding worts, or after it has been concentrated by boiling 

 down; in most cases, however, it is reserved, and used instead of 

 water for the first infusion of a fresh quantity of meal. The mashing 

 and fermentation are jointly called brewing, and the period in which 

 they are carried on is by law kept quite distinct from the di. 

 penod, the one occupying usually one week, and the other the next in 

 rotation. About 150 gallons of wort or wash are obtained from each 

 quarter of corn employed. 



The first of the above worts will have generally the density oi 

 when the grain is good and the mashing is well managed, and the 

 second a density of 1-054, so that the mixture will have a specific 

 gravity somewhat above I'OOO, and will contain about 60 pounds of 

 extract per barrel. Now, by the excise rules, 100 gallons of such wort 

 ought to yield one gallon of proof spirit for every five degrees of 

 attenuation which its specific gravity undergoes in the fermenting tun, 

 so that if it falls from 1-060 to I'OOO, 12 gallons of ]>r. 

 supposed to be generated, and must be accounted for by the di 

 After an alteration in the excise laws some years ago, the distill, i 

 allowed to ferment worte of less density than they previously could, 

 and have been able to effect a more productive fermentation. They 

 have been also enabled thereby to reduce the proportion of malt in 

 the mixed meal. Formerly they were accustomed to use three 

 of malt to four parta of barley, or two to three, but they soon dimi- 

 nished the malt to one-fifth, and latterly to one-eighth, or one-tci i 

 the whole grain. One principal use of malt, besides its furnishing the 

 saccharine ferment called diastase, is to keep the mash magma ] 

 and facilitate the drainage of the worts. 



2. fermentation. This is undoubtedly the most intricate, OH it is 

 the most important process in distillation. Experiments have proved 

 that the quantity of saccharine matter converted into alcoh"! is 

 dependent upon the proportion of ferment or yeast introduced into 

 the worts; if too little be used a portion of the sugar will remain 

 undecoinposed ; and if too much, the spirits will contract a disagreeable 



In general, the worts are let down at the specific gra\ 

 1-050 or 1-060, and at a temperature varying from 60 to 70 Fahr. 

 For every 100 gallons one gallon of good porter yeast is immediately 

 poured in and thoroughly incorporated by agitation with a .-> 

 When by attenuation the density is diminished to 1-035, on 

 gallon more is added, and another half gallon at the density of 

 rit'ti-r which the worts \isually receive no further addition of yeast. 

 The temperature of the fermenting moss rises soon after the intro- 

 duction of the yeast 8 or 10 degrees, and sometimes more ; so that it 

 reaches in some coses 85* or 90" Fahr. From the appearance of the 

 froth or scum the experienced distiller can form a tolerably correct 

 judgment as to the progress and quality of the fermentation. The 

 greatest elevation usually takes place within thirty-six hours after the 

 commencement of the process. The object of the manufacturer of 

 spirits is to push the attenuation as far as possible ; this so fat 

 fr..iu that of the beer-brewer, who wishes always to preserve a portion 

 of the saccharine matter undecoinposed to give flavour and body to 

 his beverage. The first appearance of fermentation shows itself by a 

 ring of froth round the edge of the vat usually within an hour after 

 the addition of the yeast ; and in the course of five hours the extrica- 

 tion of the carbonic acid from the particles throughout the whole body 

 of the liquor causes frothy bubbles to cover its entire surface. The 

 temperature meanwhile rises from 10 to 16 degrees, according to cir- 

 cumstances. The greater the moss of liquid, the lower the teni|>cRiture 

 at which it was let down into the tun. and r the surr.-un.linL: 



atmosphere, the more slowly will the phenomena of fermentation be 

 developed under a like proportion of yeast and density of the worte. 

 In general large vats afford a better result than small ones, on account 

 of the equality of the process. It is reckoned go.nl work wli. n tin- 

 specific gravity comes down to I'OOO, or that of water; and superior 

 work when it falls 4 or 5 below it, or to 0'995. 



After thirty-six hours upon the moderate scale the yeasty froth 

 begins to subside; and when the attenuation gets more ad van. 



