442 



DISTILLATION. 



try the strength of them in the coolers; and if he 

 tiiid them of a higher weight than that of three per 

 cnit. above the declared gravity, that constitutes a 

 fraud on the part of the distiller. The mash tun 

 is now prepared for the second mash, in order to 

 extract the second worts. In this case the water 

 should be brought up to the heat of from 154 to 

 l'>i), and about 100 gallons of water should be 

 added to every boll or six bushels of malt. The 

 mash tun should now be stirred for about an 

 hour and three-quarters to two hours, allow- 

 ing it to settle about half an hour, before 

 draining the worts into the under-back. The 

 strength of the worts of the second mash should 

 be only some few degrees lower than that of the 

 first mash, and when mixed together, should form 

 the required gravity. When the worts in the 

 coolers have cooled to about 60, they are let 

 down into the fermenting tun, and the distiller im- 

 mediately tenders a declaration to the excise officer 

 of the dip and strength of said tun, it being the 

 officer's duty to check said declaration. After the 

 second worts have been drained off, a third water 

 is run into the mash tun, to extract the sparge. 

 This sparge or wort is usually brought off the mash 

 tun at from about twenty-five to thirty pounds 

 weight ; it is then pumped up into the copper, 

 and boiled. It must be always kept in a boiling 

 state, or it would sour, and of course be of no use. 

 If the mash tun be stirred by machinery, instead of 

 by oars, then twenty-four or twenty-five minutes 

 will be sufficient for the first mash, and half an 

 hour will be enough to let it stand ; and so in pro- 

 portion with the second and subsequent mashes. 



The making of bub. Bub is composed of wort, 

 beer and porter yeast. A notice must be given to 

 the excise officer four hours before commencing 

 the operation ; also the quantity must be declared, 

 aud the time when it is to be made. The wort 

 taken to make the bub is from the first worts : if 

 sixty gallons is to be made, forty may be worts, 

 five gallons ale yeast, and ten gallons porter yeast, 

 which in a state of fermentation is applied to the 

 tun. This bub cask or tun is surveyed by the 

 officer on every visit, and the dip and strength as- 

 certained when in operation. The bub must be 

 added in the presence of the officer, and on no ac- 

 count can it be above the declared gravity 



Fermentation When the worts are cooled to as 

 near 60 as possible, they are let down from the 

 coolers into the fermenting tun, or tuns for fer- 

 mentation, at which time the officer is to ascertain 

 the dip and strength, and insert both in his book. 

 He must also see the bub added, which of course 

 will create an increase in the dip of the tun, for 

 which cause he must make another survey before 

 leaving the place. The tun being thus set, fermen- 

 tation will take place in the course of eight or ten 

 hours ; afterwards the tun begins to gather a head, 

 and the heat increases from 60 to 90 and will 

 perhaps be only three pounds down on the instru- 

 ment. At this period the officer ought to be very 

 careful of his survey, as the thermometer shows 

 such a heat as more than counterbalances the de- 

 grees upon the strain that the tun has attenuated 

 down to. By his next visit, it will be considerably 

 down, perhaps, if the fermentation be quick, to 

 forty-eight or fifty pounds, in which case it will 

 come down eight or ten pounds every four or six 

 hours, until the fermentation comes to eight or five 

 pounds. If it still retains the heat with a little 

 head, it will in all likelihood come down to water, 



which is excellent work. W!u-ii f!io tu:i has come 

 to from thirty-nine to thirty-three pounds weight, 

 fresh porter yeast ought to be added, about one or 

 one and a half gallons to the lull gallons of wash 

 in the tun, as the strength of the bub first added is 

 in a great measure gone by that time. When the 

 tun comes to from nineteen to fifteen pounds 

 weight, it ought to get the last yeast ; the quantity 

 applied of porter yeast at this time is about three- 

 fourths of a gallon to the 100 gallons of wash ; und 

 if at the time the fermentation be slow, the hatch 

 must be kept quite closed until heat is gathered. 



English yin, or Geneva, is procured from raw 

 barley, oats, and malt, mixed together in certain 

 proportions. Every particle of soluble matter is 

 obtained from these ingredients by repeated mash- 

 ings. The worts are then made to ferment by the 

 addition of yeast, as for brewing, but the fermenta- 

 tion is continued till all the saccharine matter is 

 converged into alcohol. This fermented liquor is 

 called wash by the distillers. The grains are put 

 into the still along with the wash, and the first 

 product being redistilled, the spirit obtained is rec- 

 tified. The peculiar flavour is given by infusing a 

 few juniper-berries and some hops. 



The Dutch employ barley, malt, and rye meal 

 only to distil their Hollands from. 



Irish whiskey, potsheen, or potteen, owes its pecu- 

 liar flavour to the mode in which the usual pro- 

 cesses are conducted, rather than to any peculiarity 

 in the grains. The barley is wetted with bog- 

 water, in order to excite germination, and the malt 

 is dried with turf instead of coal. The malt is 

 mixed with about one-fourth of raw corn, and the 

 mashing is made in a tun, the bottom of which is 

 covered with young heath and oat-husks, to supply 

 the place of a false one. When the wash begins 

 to boil in the still, the fire is suddenly quenched, 

 and the spirit which runs, though weak, is of the 

 true flavour. The singling* are distilled again and 

 yield the real potteen. 



Rum is a spirit obtained from molasses, or the 

 fluid which drains from the crystallizing sugar; the 

 molasses are diluted with water, fermented and 

 distilled. In the distillation acetic ether passes 

 over, and communicates a strong disagreeable 

 flavour to the spirit, which must be subsequently 

 got rid of. The leaves of different plants are put 

 into the still to give a pleasant taste to the rum. 



Brandy is distilled from any wines, but the best 

 is procured from weak French wines, which are 

 unfit for exportation. In consequence of the 

 quantity of this spirit consumed, every mode of 

 economizing labour and expense is had recourse to: 

 the principle of these is the adoption of a peculiar 

 mode of distillation, which merits description here, 

 and by which fuel is saved. Instead of a single 

 still there are a series of copper vessels, which we 

 shall distinguish as 1, 2, 3, &c. A tube rises from 

 the top of 1, and is bent down again to pass through 

 the top of 2, to near the bottom of that vessel ; 

 from the top of 2 another similar tube communi- 

 cates in the same way with 3, and 3 again communi- 

 cates with 4, and so on. These tubes are open at 

 both ends, but are soldered air-tight to the holes 

 in the vessels through which they pass, so that 

 there is no opening to the external air by means of 

 them. Each of the vessels being half filled with 

 the wine to be distilled, the fire is applied to the 

 first only, the vapour which passes over is con- 

 densed by, and mixed with, the wine in the second, 

 and as this vapour, by the nature of distillation, 



