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 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 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, 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.