CHAPTER VIII.
THE ROOM OF INFUSION.

It is here that the liquor destined to make whiskey, should be
prepared, and made rich enough to procure a good fermentation. To this
effect, there must be a mill with a vertical stone, moved by a horse,
or any other means of motion. Those mills are too well known for me to
describe them more amply. The corn must be coarsely ground, so as
scarcely to be broke into three or four pieces: consequently the stone
must not be too heavy, for, at all events, the grain had better be too
coarse than too fine. That mill should be placed in the infusion room,
so as not to keep it dirty, nor to be too much in the way. It must
grind, or rather break, 50 bushels per day.

There must be a square kettle, 4 feet broad, 5 feet long, 1 foot deep.
The kettle must be made in sheets of copper, one line thick, at least:
the bottom, although flat, should have a slight swell inside, so as to
avoid the expansion of the metal outside, from the action of the fire.
This kettle must be placed upon a brick fur[Pg 23]nace, so that the
longest parts should bear forwards, and the other against the chimney,
from which it must be separated by a brick wall eight or nine inches.
The sides, around which there must be a space to walk freely, should
be supported by a wall 1½ feet deep; the fore part upon such a wall,
in the middle of which is an iron door, fifteen inches square, in an
iron frame, through which the fuel is introduced.

The kettle is mounted upon the furnace, so as to bear upon the four
walls about 4 inches, and rests upon a bed of clay, which must leave
no passage to the action of the fire; it is lined externally with
bricks, and must have a pipe on one of its sides, to draw off the
liquor.

Under the kettle, 15 inches from the bottom, is a flue for the heat,
running through all its length. It is 2½ feet wide at bottom,
extending like a fan at the top, about 6 inches on each side, so that
the flame may circulate in all the breadth of the kettle.

On the fore part of this flue, facing the door, is a hearth, occupying
all its breadth, and 2 feet long. The rest of the flue is paved with
bricks, and rises insensibly 4 inches towards the chimney, in which it
opens by two holes, 1½ inches wide, 8 or 9 inches high.

Immediately under the hearth, is a mash hole 4 feet deep, occupying
all its capacity, and projecting 2 feet forward. This opening is
necessary to keep up a free circulation of air, and to take up the
ashes. It should be covered with strong boards, not to hinder the
service of the kettle. The hearth is made with an iron grate, more or
less close, according to the nature of the fuel; if for wood, the bars
must be about two inches apart; if for coals, half an inch is
sufficient. The furnace must be built with care. The parts most
exposed to the ac[Pg 24]tion of the fire must be built with soft
bricks and potters' clay: soap stone would be preferable, if easy to
procure. The brick separating the kettle and chimney, must be
supported with flat bars of iron, as well as the part over the door.
CHAPTER IX.
USE OF THE KETTLE.

The kettle is destined to make the infusion of the grain, and boil it
so as to convert it into wort. By that operation I make the liquor
richer, which I intend for fermentation, and bring it to divers
degrees of strength.

I put into the kettle 100 gallons of water, and 4 bushels of corn,
broken, as I said before, at the mill. I light a small fire, which I
increase gradually, until the water begins to boil; during that time,
the grain is stirred with a paddle. As soon as the ebullition is
established, the grain is taken up with a large skimmer, and put to
drain into a large basket hanging over the kettle; and when the grain
has been totally taken up, the fire is increased so as to bring the
water to boil again, until reduced to two-fifths, which degree of
concentration is not rigorous, and the distiller may augment it as his
experience shall direct. When thus concentrated, the liquor is drawn
off through the pipe, and received into a tub or vat containing 130 or
140 galls.

100 gallons more of water are put into the kettle, with 4 bushels of
corn; the fire conducted slowly, as before, until the degree of
ebullition; the corn is taken off, and the liquor concentrated in the
same proportions; then drawn off as above, in the same tub.[Pg 25]

The same operation is repeated for the third time; the three united
liquors are slightly stirred, and, still warm, transported into one of
the hogsheads of fermentation, which it nearly fills up.

As there must be four of these hogsheads filled up daily, the work at
the kettle must be kept going on, without interruption, until that
quantity is obtained, which may be done in about twelve hours. The
grain which has been drained is carried to dry, either in the open
air, or in a granary, and spread thin. When dry, it is excellent food
for cattle, and highly preferable to the acid and fermented mash,
usually used by distillers to feed cattle and hogs: they eat the corn
dried in the above manner as if it had lost nothing of its primitive
qualities and flavor.
CHAPTER X.
THE ROOM FOR FERMENTATION.

The room destined to the fermentation must be close, lighted by two or
three windows, and large enough to contain a number of hogsheads
sufficient for the distillery. It may be determined by the number of
days necessary for the fermentation; 30 or 40 hogsheads may suffice,
each of 120 or 130 gallons.

In the middle of the room must be a stove, large enough to keep up a
heat of 75° to 80°, even in winter. A thermometer placed at one end of
the room, serves to regulate the heat.

As soon as the liquor is in the hogshead, the yeast, or fermenting
principle, is put into it, stirred for some[Pg 26] moments, and then
left to itself. A liquor as rich as the above described ferments with
force, and runs with rapidity through all the periods of fermentation.
It is fit to distil as soon as that tumultuous state has subsided and
the liquor is calm.

The essential character of the spirituous fermentation, is to exhale
the carbonic acid gaz in great quantity. This gaz is mortal to
mankind, and to all the living creation. Thirty hogsheads of
fermenting liquor producing a great deal of this gaz, the room should
be purified of it by opening two opposite windows several times a day.
This is the more essential, as the pure air, or oxigen, contributes to
the formation of the spirit, of which it is one of the constituting
principles. A short time, however, suffices to renew the air of the
room.

It is useless to remark, that the hogsheads must be open at one end,
and rest upon pieces of wood elevating them some inches from the
ground. They must remain uncovered during the fermentation; and
afterwards be covered with a flying lid, when the liquor is calm.