THE ART
OF
MAKING WHISKEY, &c.
CHAPTER I.
OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, OR SPIRITS.

Spirituous liquors are the produce of vinous ones, obtained by the
distillation of these last. The art of making wine is of the remotest
antiquity, since it is attributed to Noah; but that of distilling it,
so as to extract its most spirituous part, dates only from the year
1300. Arnand de Villeneuve was the inventor of it, and the produce of
his Still appeared so marvellous, that it was named Aqua-Vitæ, or
Water of Life, and has ever since continued under that denomination in
France; Voltaire and reason say that it might, with far more
propriety, be called Aqua-Mortis, or Water of Death.

This liquor, called in English, Brandy, received from the learned the
name of Spirit of Wine; time improved the art of making it still
stronger by concentration, and in that state it is called Alcohol.

All spirit is the distilled result of a wine, either of grapes, other
fruits, or grains; it is therefore necessary to have either wine, or
any vinous liquor, in order to obtain spirits.[Pg 8]
CHAPTER II.
OF THE FORMATION OF VINOUS LIQUORS WITH GRAINS, IN ORDER TO MAKE
SPIRITS.

The art of extracting wine from the juice of the grape, not being the
object of this book, I shall confine myself to what is necessary and
useful to the distillers of whiskey; it is therefore of the vinous
liquor extracted from grains, that I am going to speak.

The formation of that kind of liquor is founded upon a faculty
peculiar to grains, which the learned chymist, Fourcroy, has called
saccharine fermentation. Sugar itself does not exist in gramineous
substances; they only contain its elements, or first principles, which
produce it. The saccharine fermentation converts those elements into
sugar, or at least into a saccharine matter; and when this is
developed, it yields the eminent principle of fermentation, without
which there exists no wine, and consequently no spirit.

Grains yield two kinds of vinous liquors, of which the distiller makes
spirit, and the brewer a sort of wine, called beer. From a comparison
of the processes employed to obtain these two results, it will be
found that the brewer's art has attained a higher degree of perfection
than that of the distiller. They both have for their object to obtain
a vinous liquor; but that of the brewer is, in reality, a sort of wine
to which he gives, at pleasure, different degrees of strength; while
that of the distiller is scarcely vinous, and cannot be made richer. I
will give a succinct exposition of their two processes in order that
they may be compared.
OF THE ART OF BREWING.

The art of brewing consists:

1st. In the sprouting of a proportion of grain, chiefly[Pg 9] barley.
This operation converts into a saccharine matter, the elements of that
same substance already existing in grains.

2dly. In preparing the wort. For that operation, the grain, having
been previously ground, is put into a vat, which is half filled up
with water; the rest is filled up at three different times with hot
water—the first at 100°, the second at 150°, and the third at 212°,
which is boiling water. The mixture is strongly stirred each time that
it is immersed. By this infusion, the water lays hold of the sweet
principles contained in the grain.

3dly. The wort thus prepared, the liquor is filtrated, in order to
separate it from the grain, and then boiled until reduced to one half,
in order to concentrate it to the degree of strength desired. In that
state, 40 gallons of wort contain the saccharine principles of 200 wt.
of grain.

4thly. The wort, thus concentrated, is drawn off in barrels, which are
kept in a temperature of 80° or 85°. The yeast is thrown into it to
establish the fermentation, and in a short time beer is made, more or
less strong, according to the degree of concentration, and more or
less bitter, according to the greater or lesser proportion of hops put
into it.

Such are, in a concise view, the proceedings of the brewer. Let us
proceed to those of the distiller of whiskey.
OF THE DISTILLER OF WHISKEY.

Whiskey is made either with rye, barley, or Indian corn. One, or all
those kinds of grains is used, as they are more or less abundant in
the country. I do not know how far they are mixed in Kentucky; but[Pg
10] Indian corn is here in general the basis of whiskey, and more
often employed alone.

I have ascertained, in the different distilleries which I have visited
in the United States—

1stly. That, in general, the grain is not sprouted. I have, however,
seen some distillers who put 10lbs. of malt into a hogshead of
fermentation containing 100 gallons, which reduces it to almost
nothing.

2dly. That they put two bushels of ground grain into a hogshead of
fermentation containing 100 gallons, filled up with water.

3dly. They had a ferment to determine the fermentation, which, when
finished, yields two gallons of whiskey per bushel of grain, and
sometimes ten quarts, but very seldom. I do not know whether those
results are exact; but, supposing them to be so, they must be subject
to great variations, according to the quality of the grain, the
season, the degree of heat, of the atmosphere, and the manner of
conducting the fermentation. From my analysing the different sorts of
grains, I know that Indian corn must yield the most spirit.

From the above proportions, it results, that 100 gallons of the vinous
liquor of distillers yield only 4 gallons of whiskey, and very seldom
5; that is, from a 25th to a 20th. It is easy to conceive how weak a
mixture, 25 parts of water to one of whiskey, must be; thus the
produce of the first distillation is only at 11° or 12° by the
areometer, the water being at 10°. It is only by several subsequent
distillations, that the necessary concentration is obtained, to make
saleable whiskey. These repeated operations are attended with an
increased expense of fuel, labor, and time.

Such are the usual methods of the whiskey distillers. Before we
compare them with those of the brewer,[Pg 11] let us examine the
nature of fermentation, and what are the elements the most proper to
form a good vinous liquor: thence we shall judge with certainty, of
those two ways of operating.