The Art of Making Whiskey | Page 9

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.
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE ROOM FOR DISTILLATION.
We have hitherto considered the liquor as containing only principles
upon which the air has no action, and from which it can only extract
some watery vapors; and, in fact, all those principles contained in the
liquor are fixed. The action of the fire may concentrate, but not
volatilize them.
The liquor is now changed by the fermentation; it contains no longer
the same principles, but has acquired those which it had not, which are
volatile, and evaporate easily. They must therefore be managed
carefully, in order not to lose the fruits of an already tedious labor. The
spirit already created in the fermented liquor, must be collected by the
distillation; but in transporting it to the still, the action of the external
air must be carefully avoided, as it would cause the evaporation of
some of the spirit. A pump to empty the hogsheads, and covered pipes

to conduct the liquor into the still, is what has been found to answer
that purpose. A good distilling apparatus is undoubtedly the most
important part of a distillery. It must unite solidity, perfection in its
joints, economy of fuel, rapidity of distillation, to the faculty of
concentrating the spirit. Such are the ends I have proposed to myself in
the following apparatus.
The usual shape of stills is defective; they are too deep, and do not
present enough of surface for their contents. They require a violent fire
to bring them to ebullition; the liquor at bottom burns before it is warm
at the top.
My still is made upon different principles, and composed of two pieces,
viz. the kettle, and its lid. The kettle, forming a long square, is like the
kettle of infusion, already described, and only differs from it in being
one foot deeper. The lid is in shape like an ancient bed tester; that is to
say, its four corners rise into a sharp angle, and come to support a circle
16 inches diameter, bearing a vertical collar of about two inches. This
collar comes to the middle of the kettle, and is elevated about 4 feet
from the bottom. The lid is fastened to the kettle. The collar receives a
pewter cap, to which is joined a pipe of the same metal, the diameter of
which decreases progressively to a little less than 3 inches: this pipe,
the direction of which is almost horizontal, is 5 feet long.
My still, thus constructed, is established upon a furnace like that of the
infusion room. I observe that the side walls are only raised to the half
of the height of the kettle. A vertical pipe is placed on the side opposite
to the pewter one, and serves to fill up the still: it is almost at the height
of the fastening of the lid, but a little above. On the same side, on a
level with the bottom, is a pipe of discharge, passing across the furnace:
this pipe must project enough to help to receive or to direct the fluid
residue of the distillation; its diameter must be such as to operate a
prompt discharge of the still.
OF THE URNS.
These are copper vessels, thus called from their resembling those
funeral vases of the ancients. Mine have a bottom of about 18 inches

diameter; they are two feet high, have a bulge of 6 inches near the top,
and then draw in to form an overture of about 8 inches.
On one side, towards the top, there is a copper pipe 2 inches diameter,
projecting externally 2 or 3 inches, and bent in an elbow: it enters the
internal part of the urn, and descends towards the bottom, without
touching it; there it is only a slight curve, and remains open.
The external part of that pipe is fitted to receive the pewter pipe of the
still; they are made so as to enter into one another, and must fit exactly.
The round opening at the top of the urn receives a cap with a pewter
pipe, made like that of the still. It is likewise five feet long, and its size
in proportion to the opening: this goes and joins itself to the second urn,
as the still does to the first. The pipe of this second goes to a third, and
the pipe of this last to the worm. The three urns bear