The Art of Making Whiskey: So As to Obtain a Better, Purer, Cheaper and Greater Quantity of Spirit, From a Given Quantity of Grain. Also, the Art of Converting It into Gin, after the Process of the Holland DistillersBoucherie, Anthony
Science
The Art of Making Whiskey: So As to Obtain a Better, Purer, Cheaper and Greater Quantity of Spirit, From a Given Quantity of Grain. Also, the Art of Converting It into Gin, after the Process of the Holland Distillers
Boucherie, Anthony
Gin; Whiskey
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 deg., the second at 150 deg., and the third at 212 deg.,
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 deg. or 85 deg.. 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.
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