THE DISTILLING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 505 



proportion of about i}^ lbs. of pressed yeast to each barrel of wort. The 

 separation of yeast from the fermenting wash and its purification for use by 

 bakers, is now a very important branch of the distilling industry, and, 

 though by no means a new one, has been of comparatively recent intro- 

 duction into Ireland. A distiller is allowed by the excise regulations to 

 remove from a washback any quantity of yeast not exceeding lO per cent, 

 by bulk of the wort. By special indulgence this limit is frequently extended 

 to 15 per cent., and the yeast may be removed by skimming, by decanta- 

 tion of the yeast from the wash, or by both processes. The removal of 

 yeast has become a very important industry in some distilleries, in fact, 

 in some patent still distilleries the natural order of things almost seems to 

 be now reversed, and the manufacture of yeast seems to have almost become 

 the primary object, and the spirits manufactured little more than a mere 

 bye-product. It is not the custom in Irish pot-still establishments to collect 

 the yeast. 



Among other bye-products mention may be made of carbonic acid gas 

 which may be colle^^ted and utilized in a similar manner to that which 

 obtains amongst certain brewers, and which has been described in the 

 preceding article. 



Though the quantity of barley required in Irish distilleries is much less 



than the quantity used in Irish breweries, still there 



Distilling and can be no doubt that distilling, like brewing, has a 



Barley-growing, marked influence upon barley-growing in Ireland, 

 and that much of the comparative steadiness exhibited 

 by the area under barley, during the last fifty years, as compared with the 

 shrinkage of other cereals, is due to the steady market and good prices 

 afforded by distilleries. The proportion of malted and unmalted grain now 

 used for making whiskey varies in each distillery ; but, as regards pot-still 

 distilleries, it may not be inaccurate to say that the average proportion of 

 malt used is from 25 per cent, to 50 per cent, of the mixture mashed ; of 

 barley from 40 per cent, to 60 per cent., and of oats somewhere about 1 5 per 

 cent. Two of the Irish distilleries are all-malt distilleries, where no 

 unmalted grain is used. Thus, on the average, 85 per cent, of the mixture 

 used in pot-still establishments consists of barley, malted or unmalted, and 

 the barley thus used is almost entirely home-grown. 



In patent still distilleries the proportion of malt used varies from 15 per 

 cent, to 25 per cent., and indeed, with modern plant and special mani- 

 pulation, smaller quantities, it is said, may be safely used. Roughly speak- 

 ing, from about 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, of the mixture mashed consists of 

 oats, and the remainder, that is, from about 60 per cent, to 75 per cent, 

 usually consists of maize. Rice, rye, unmalted barley, and wheat are some- 

 times used. The making of spirits in patent stills exercises comparatively 

 little influence upon the agricultural economy of Ireland, as compared with 

 the effect of the pot-still process, for, not only does from 60 per cent, to 75 

 per cent, of the mixture used in the patent grain distilleries consist of 

 an imported cereal, viz., maize, but moreover the malt used for the 

 mashing process in these distilleries is largely made from light foreign 

 barley. 



It is not at all easy to arrive at an even rough estimate of the amount of 

 each variety of grain used each year by the Irish distilleries, for, in the 

 first place, it is laard to say what proportion of the total output of spirits 



