Malt whiskey

—The treatment and produce of malt distilleries are in some respects different from those of raw grain. Having been profe ionally employed by the proprietors of both, I am prepared to state the peculiarities of the latter, by an example. 500 bushels of ground malt are first mashed with 9000 gallons of water, heated to the temperature of 160° F.: 6000 gallons of worts are drawn off into the coolers, and let down into the fermenting tun at 68°. From 3 to 4 per cent. of a mixture of London porter yeast with quick Scotch barm, are added, and well stirred through the ma . At the end of two or three days, in general, the fermentation is finished. On the residuary grains of the malt, from 4500 to 5000 gallons of water at 180° are run, which after proper mashing as before, are drawn off; then 4500 more are poured on, the drainage of which is added to the second. Both of these together, constituting 9000 gallons, are heated next day, and employed for the mashing of 500 bushels of fresh malt. During the fermentation, the wash which was set at the spec. grav. 1·065, comes down to water = 1·000. The wash is distilled in two stills, appropriated to it, of about 800 gallons capacity each, provided with a rotatory chain apparatus for preventing the lees from adhering to the bottom of the still. Into about 800 gallons of wash 8 lbs. of soap are put. The liquor obtained at this first distillation is called low-wines. These low-wines are redistilled in the spirit stills; the first and last portions of liquid being more or le blue or milky in colour, and rank in flavour, are run into a separate receiver called the faints-back ; while the middle portion, constituting in a well-managed distillery, from three-fourths to four-fifths of the whole, are received into the spirit-back. The faints are mixed with a large quantity of water, and redistilled, in order to free them from the fetid oil derived from the husks of the grain. The interception of this noxious oil may be best effected by a self-regulating bath, between the capital of the still and the refrigeratory, as will be explained in treating of Stills . The capitals of the common Scotch stills are made from 15 to 20 feet high, in order to prevent the chance of the wash boiling over into the worm; and they are, towards the beginning of the proce , struck from time to time with a rod, and by the sound emitted it is known whether they be empty, partially filled, or in danger of an overflow; in which case the fire is damped, by a spout near the furnace door, connected by a leather pipe with an elevated reservoir of water. When very pure spirits are wished for, a third or even a fourth distillation is had recourse to; there being a quantity of water mixed each time with the spirit in the still, to prevent its acquiring a harsh alcoholic flavour. According to some experienced distillers from raw grain, the mashing temperature of the first liquor should not exceed 140° F.; whereas with malt it may be safely and beneficially 165° or 170°. When rye is used instead of malt, 90 bushels of it are mixed with 190 bushels of raw grain, constituting 280 bushels in whole, for the mashing of which 5200 gallons of water are required. An hour and a half more time is nece ary for settling the mashing of the above mixture, than of grain alone. Gin is made in this way. The distiller of malt whiskey calculates on obtaining two gallons of proof spirits from one bushel of malt, in average years. The highest yield is 20 gallons per quarter of 8 bushels; and the lowest is 16, when the malt and fermentation are indifferent. The best temperature to set the fermenting tuns with malt wash is about 70° or 72° F. When malt is 5 s. the bushel, 6 bushels at 30 s. will yield 12 gallons of proof spirits. These cost therefore 2 s. 6 d. per gallon for the malt; to which must be added 3 d. per bushel for the amount of malt duty not returned, or 1 1 ⁄ 2 d. on the gallon; this added to the Scotch duty of 3 s. 4 d. the gallon, makes the price altogether 5 s. 11 1 ⁄ 2 d. ; besides the expenses in fuel, yeast, labour, and rent, which may be estimated at 8 1 ⁄ 2 d. per gallon. But 3 d. may be deducted for what is paid by the dairymen for the spent wash and grains. The total cost, therefore, exclusive of use of capital, is 6 s. 5 d. per gallon in Scotland. The following is the work of a Scotch distillery, where good malt whiskey was made. One bushel of the malt weighed 35 libs., or the boll, = 6 bushels, 210 libs. In mashing each boll of malt, 110 gallons of water were run on it at 160° F. As soon as the fermenting tun of 3000 gallons capacity was charged with the wash at from 64° to 74° F., 2 gallons per cent. of barm were added. When the wash had become attenuated from 1·060 to 1·040, another gallon of barm was introduced. The temperature of the fermenting wash sometimes rises to 96°, which is, however, an extreme case, and not desirable. When the bubbles of carbonic acid mount in rapid succe ion, it is reckoned an excellent sign. If the tun be small, and stand in a cool apartment, it should be started at a higher temperature than in the reverse predicament. Should the fermentation be suffered to flag, it is in general a hopele task to restore vigorous action. Some try the addition of bubs , that is of some wort brought into a state of rapid fermentation in a tub, by a large proportion of yeast, but seldom with much succe . Indeed the law prohibits the addition of any wort to the tun at a later period than 24 hours after it is set; so that if bubs are used afterwards, the distiller is apt to incur a penalty. The maximum quantity of proof spirits obtained on the great scale at any time from raw grain mixed with from one-fourth to one-eighth of malt, seems to be 22 gallons per quarter. By the British laws a distiller is not allowed to brew and distil at the same time but he must work alternately, one week, for instance, at fermentation, and next week at distillation. In fermenting solutions of sugar mixed with good yeast, the attenuation has been carried down to 0·984, and even 0·982, that is, in the language of the excise, 16 and 18 degrees below water, from 1·060, the density at which it was originally set in the tun. This was excellent work done on the scale of a great distillery nearly 30 years ago, when distillation from sugar was encouraged, in consequence of bad corn harvests. In an experiment which I made in 1831 for the information of a committee of the House of Commons, on the use of mola es in the breweries and distilleries, I di olved 1 cwt. of raw sugar in water; so as to form 74 1 ⁄ 2 gallons, inclusive of 2 gallons of yeast. The specific gravity of the mixture was 1·0593 on the 31st of March. By the 6th of April, that is in 6 days, the gravity had sunk to 0·992, or 8 degrees under water, which was reckoned a good attenuation, considering the circumstances and the small quantity operated upon. By distillation it afforded at the rate of 14·875 gallons of proof spirits for 100 gallons of the wash. When the distillers first worked from sugar, they only obtained upon an average from 1 cwt. 10·09 gallons imp. of proof spirit; but they afterwards got no le than 11·92 imp. gallons. The following experiment, which I made upon the fermentation of West India mola es into spirits, for the information of the said committee, may prove not uninteresting to my readers. 150 libs. were di olved in water and mixed with 2 gallons of yeast, weighing exactly 20 libs. The wash measured 70 gallons, and had a spec. gravity of 1·0647 at 60° F. In two days the gravity had fallen to 1·0055; in three days to 1·0022; and in five days to 1·001. The temperature was kept up at from 80° to 90° F., during the two last days, by means of a steam pipe, to favour the fermentation. The product of spirits was 11 gallons, and 35 ⁄ 100 of a gallon. Now 150 libs. of the above mola es were found to contain of solid matter, chiefly uncrystallizable, 112 libs. And as 112 libs. of sugar are estimated by the revenue laws to afford by fermentation 11 1 ⁄ 2 gallons imp. of proof spirit, the result of that experiment upon mola es must be considered satisfactory, bearing in mind that the saccharine substance in mola es has been not only partially decomposed by heat, but is mixed with some of the glutinous or extractive matter of the cane. Since the alteration of the excise laws relative to distillation in 1825 and 1826, when permi ion was given to set the wort at lower gravities, the quantity of spirits produced from 1 quarter of corn has been much increased, even up to fully 20 gallons; and the proportion of malt has been much diminished. The latter was soon reduced from three-sevenths malt, and four-sevenths barley, or two-fifths malt and three-fifths barley, to one-fifth of malt, and now to one-tenth or even one-sixteenth. A discu ion having lately taken place in Ireland between certain persons connected with the distilleries and the officers of the excise, whether, and to what extent, raw grain worts would pa spontaneously into the vinous fermentation, the Board in London requested me to superintend a series of researches in a laboratory fitted up at their office, to settle this important point. I shall content myself here with giving the result of one experiment, out of several, which seems to me quite decisive. Three bushels of mixed grains were taken, consisting of two of barley, one half of oats, and one half of malt, which, being coarsely ground by a hand-mill, were mashed in a new tun with 24 gallons of water at 155°. The mash liquor drawn off amounted to 18 gallons, at the density of 1·0465; and temperature of 82° F. Being set in a new tun, it began to ferment in the course of 12 hours, and in 4 days it was attenuated down to gravity 1·012. This yielded, upon distillation in low wines, 3·22 gallons, and by rectification, in spirits, 3·05; while the quantity equivalent to the attenuation by the tables was 3·31, being an excellent accordance in such circumstances. The inquisitorial regime imposed by law upon our distilleries, might lead a stranger to imagine that our legislators were desirous of repre ing by every species of annoyance the fabrication of the fiery liquid which infuriates and demoralizes the lower population of these islands. But alas! credit can be given them for no such moral or philanthropic motive. The nece ity of the exchequer to raise a great revenue, created by the wasteful expenditure of the state, on the one hand, and the efforts of fraudulent ingenuity on the other, to evade the payment of the high duties imposed, are the true origin of that regime . Examinations in distilleries are constantly made by the officers of excise. There is a survey at 6 o’clock in the morning, when the officers take their accounts and gauges, and make calculations which occupy several hours. At 10 o’clock they again survey, going over the whole premises, where they continue a considerable time, frequently till the succeeding officer comes on duty; at 2 in the afternoon another survey takes place, but not by the same people; at 6 in the evening the survey is repeated; at 10 there comes another survey by an officer who had not been engaged in any of the previous surveys of that day. He is not relieved till 6 o’clock next morning. In addition to these regular inspections, the distilleries are subject to frequent and uncertain visits of the surveyor and general surveyor. “We are never,” says Mr. Smith, the eminent distiller of White chapel, “out of their hands.” [24] [24] Report of Committee on Mola es, 2198. Before the fermented wort goes into the still, a calculation is made of the quantity of wash drawn from the wash back, and which is first pumped into what is called the wash charger. If the quantity in the wash charger exceeds the quantity in the wash back, the distiller is charged upon the higher quantity; if it contains le , he must pay according to the wash back, as being the larger quantity. When the quantity of wash is all transferred to the charger, the discharge cock of the wash charger is unlocked, and the wash is allowed to be drawn off from the charger into the still, the charging and discharging cock of the still being locked by the officer. There can be no transfer of wash but through the pumps, which are locked also. The first distillation from the wash is worked into the low-wine receiver, which is also a locked-up ve el; then of those low wines, the strength and quantity are ascertained by the excise. The account of them affords a comparison with the quantity which the contents of the wash-back had been estimated to produce; they are then pumped from the low-wine receiver, through pumps previously locked into the low-wine charger, which is also a locked-up ve el; from the locked-up charger, after the officer has done his duty regarding it, they are allowed to be drawn off into the low-wine still, which is a distillation of the second extraction; then that low wine still works into another locked-up cask, called the spirit receiver, for the receiving of raw spirits; when that distillation is finished, the officer, attending again on regular notice for that purpose, takes the quantity and strength of the spirits therein, and upon the quantity so ascertained he charges the duty. In distilling low wines, one portion of them goes into the spirit receiver, and a portion into what is called the faint receiver, which is another locked-up ve el. These faints are in the next distillation united with the low wines, from the succeeding wash-back on their second distillation, and are worked together; the united produce of these goes partly into the spirit cask, and partly back again into the faint cask. The operation is thus continued till all the backs in the house are emptied. [25] [25] Thomas Smith, Esq., of White chapel Road, in Report of Mola es Committee, Part II. p. 149. There is a kind of ardent spirits manufactured in Holland, vulgarly called Dutch gin, Hollands, and sometimes geneva , from genievre , the French for juniper, a plant with the e ential oil of whose berries it is flavoured. One cwt. of ground malt mixed with two cwt. of rye meal are mashed for two hours, with about 450 gallons of water at the temperature of 160° F. The mash drawn off is reduced with cold water till the liquid part has the density of 45 libs. per barrel, = specific gravity 1·047; and is then put altogether into the fermenting back at the temperature of 80° F. One or two gallons of yeast are added. The fermentation soon becomes so vigorous as to raise the heat to 90° and upwards, but it is not pushed far, being generally over in two days, when the gravity of the wash, still indicates 12 pounds of saccharum per barrel. By this moderate attenuation, like that practised by the contraband distillers of the Highlands of Scotland, it is supposed that the fetid oil of the husks is not evolved, or at least in very small quantity. The grains are put into the alembic along with the liquid wash, and distilled into low wines, which are rectified twice over, some juniper berries and hops being added at the last distillation. But the junipers are sometimes bruised and put into the mash. The produce of worts so imperfectly fermented, is probably little more than one half of what the British distiller draws from the same quantity of grain. But the cheapne of labour and of grain, as well as the superior flavour of the Schiedam spirits, enables the Dutch distiller to carry on his busine with a respectable profit. In opposition to the above facts, Dubrunfaut says that about one third more spirits is obtained in Holland from grain than in France, because a very calcareous spring water is employed in the mashing operation. Were this account well founded, all that the distillers of other countries would have to do would be merely to introduce a portion of chalk into their mash tuns, in order to be on a par with the Dutch. But the statement is altogether a mistake. In the vine countries, the inferior wines or those damaged by keeping, as also a fermented mash of the pre ed grapes, mixed with water, are distilled to form the eau de vie de Cognac of the French, called Brandy in this country. It contains le e ential oil, and that of a more agreeable flavour, than corn spirits. See Brandy . Berzelius says that there are distillers who are guilty of putting a little arsenious acid into the still; that the spirits contain pretty frequently traces of arsenic, which may be detected by adding to them a little muriatic acid, then evaporating off the alcohol, and pa ing a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the residuary liquid, which will give it the characteristic orpiment yellow tinge, arsenic being present. Copper, which is sometimes introduced into distilled grain, or even malt spirits, in consequence of the soap employed in the proce of distillation, may be detected best by the brown precipitate which it occasions with ferropru iate of potash. No arsenic is ever used in this country. When damaged grain has been mashed in making whiskey, a peculiar oily substance makes its appearance in it. On approaching the nostrils to such whiskey slightly heated, this volatile matter irritates the pituitary membrane and the eyes very powerfully. These spirits have exactly the smell of an alcoholic solution of cyano gene; they intoxicate more powerfully than pure alcohol of equal strength, and produce even temporary frenzy, with subsequent sickne and disordered functions. This volatile body is not cyano gene, though it be so like it, for it forms no such combinations as cyano gene does. It may be extracted from diluted alcohol by agitating it with an unctuous oil, and then distilling the oil along with water. At the end of 3 or 4 months, this volatile matter disappears in a great measure, even when the spirits impregnated with it are inclosed in well-corked bottles; obviously from its undergoing a spontaneous decomposition. It may be preserved much longer in the state of a watery solution. When acetic ether is added to well purified or clean spirits, such as the distillers call silent whiskey, it gives it somewhat of the flavour of brandy. For this purpose, also, the spirits are rectified from bruised prunes, or the lees of the cognac distilleries, whereby they acquire additional flavour. The astringent taste of old brandy is imitated by the introduction of a little catechu into the British spirits. Burned sugar is employed as a colouring in these imitations. IV. Of making whiskey from potatos. —This root in certain localities where it abounds at a moderate price, is an excellent material for fermenting into alcohol. When sound, it po e es from 20 to 25 per cent. of solid substance, of which starch constitutes at least three-fourths; hence 100 pounds contain from 16 to 22 pounds of starch susceptible of being saccharified. In the expre ed juice there is a small quantity of tartaric acid. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0405b.png:Potato steamer Previously to mashing, potatos must be first well washed in a horizontal cylindrical cage revolving partially in a trough of water, as will be described in treating of the manufacture of sugar from beet root . They must be then boiled in a close ve el with steam, provided with a perforated bottom a few inches above the real one. The top has an opening with a cover fitted tightly to it; through that the potatos are introduced; and immediately above the false bottom there is a similar aperture through which the boiled potatos are taken out. The steam-pipe enters at the top, runs down the side a little way; and terminates in a widened mouth. The large lids are secured by cro bars, the small hole by folds of linen. In the lower valve there are two small holes closed with pins, for inserting a wire to feel whether the potatos be sufficiently boiled. If so, the steam is immediately stopped off, the lower lid is removed, and the potatos pulled out with a hook into a tub. They must be immediately made into a homogeneous paste before they get cold. Fig. 361. represents, in plan, or horizontal section, the apparatus used in France for this purpose. A B are two cylinders covered with wire cloth, but open at the ends; C C and D D are two pieces of wood fixed on the two axes, in the form of two cones, with the adjoining surfaces truncated; upon which, as also upon iron rings E F , of the same diameter, made fast to the axes, the wire cylinder rests. Of the two wheels G , H , the smaller has 18, the greater has 21 teeth. The diameter of each cylinder is 14 inches, the length 18. Above and between the two cylinders, there is a hopper for the reception of the boiled potatos. This machine triturates 1200 pounds of potatos per hour. Their paste must be forthwith mashed with some ground wheat or barley, and a proportion of malt; then be set a fermenting. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0405a.png:Potato steamer As in the above mode of trituration, the potatos are apt to cool to such a degree as to obstruct their ready admixture with water, it is better to make them into a paste in the ve el in which they are steamed. The apparatus contrived by Siemens fully answers this end. It consists e entially of a tub A , represented in fig. 362. in section. It is cylindrical, and made of planks from 3 to 4 inches thick, joined firmly and steam-tight; the upper and under ends being well secured with iron hoops. The lower part is about 2 inches more in diameter than the upper. About a foot from the bottom, in a circular groove, a cast iron partition W or disc full of holes is made fast, which serves the purpose of a scarce, the apertures being an inch asunder; above, from 1 ⁄ 8 to 1 ⁄ 10 of an inch in diameter, and below, scooped out to half an inch. This disc is half an inch thick in the edges, and five fourths of an inch in the middle. Through the female screw a in the top of the cylinder, there pa es the screwed rod b , one and a half inches thick, provided at top with a strong cro bar C C , for turning it round. The under end of this rod has a square piece terminating in a short screw, upon which a wrought iron cro is secured by means of a screw nut, so as to stand at right angles to the rod. This cro is composed of two distinct arms; of which one of them is mounted on the upper side with little knives an inch and a half long; the other, upon the under side, with a wire brush, that may be made to rub against the perforated cast iron disc. On the side of the cylinder at E , fig. 362. , there is a narrow aperture provided with a bung secured by a cro bar, and near the bottom at H there is another like it. Both openings serve for taking out the residuary matter. Through the opening E , the above two arms are introduced; and secured to the square of the rod by the screw nut. In the top there is an opening, D , for putting in the potatos which may be shut in the same way. From the lid there likewise i ues a lateral tube F , which terminates in a tubful of water, for condensing the waste steam. G is the tube connected with the steam boiler, for conducting the steam into the space under the iron disc W . With this apparatus the potatos are prepared as follows: when the screw rod is so fixed that the cro touches the disc, the cylinder is to be filled with washed potatos to within one foot of the top, leaving them some space to expand. The orifice D is to be then closed, and the steam admitted. When the potatos are boiled enough, two labourers lay hold of the lever handles C C , of the screw rod b , and turn it round with the effect of screwing up the spiked cro , and of triturating the potatos; an operation which may be still more effectually done by screwing it down again. The potato paste is now let off by the plug hole H , into the tub L , where it is mixed with about 30 per cent. of boiling water, and one thousandth part of potash, made caustic with quicklime, in order to di olve the albuminous matter coagulated by the heat, and give complete fluidity to the ma . The alkali also neutralises the tartaric acid present. The mashed matter must now be mixed with the crushed malt diffused through 40 or 50 pounds of cold water for every 100 pounds of potatos, which lowers the temperature to 167°. The wort must be then diligently stirred during two hours; mixed with 40 or 50 pounds of cold water for 100 pounds of potatos, and when reduced to the temperature of 77° put into the fermenting tun along with the proper quantity (3 or 4 per cent.) of yeast. As potatos readily pa into the acetous fermentation, the admixture of the malt, the mashing, and the cooling should be rapidly performed, while the utmost cleanline must be observed. The fermentation is brisk, probably from the agency of the albumen, and furnishes a good head of barm, which answers well for the bakers; 100 pounds of potatos yield from 18 to 20 pounds measure of spirits, nine elevenths of our excise proof; or about 16 pounds measure of proof, = about 1 2 ⁄ 3 gallons. It has been observed that after the month of December potatos begin to yield a smaller product of fermented spirits; and when they have once sprouted or germinated, they afford very little indeed. From the difficulty of keeping and transporting potatos, distillation from them, even though our laws now permit it, can never become general till some plan be adopted for overcoming these disadvantages. A scheme of this kind, however, has been succe fully practised in Vienna, which consists in subjecting the washed potatos to strong pre ure in a perforated chest by a hydraulic or screw pre , whereby they lose about three fourths of their weight, and may then be readily dried into a white flour, that may be kept for several years without injury, and transported to considerable distances with comparative ease. This flour, mixed with a moderate quantity of ground malt, and saccharified by mashing with water, at the temperature of 167° F., becomes capable of affording a sweet wort convertible by fermentation either into beer or whiskey. Horse-chestnuts, according to Hermstaedt, are an eligible material for producing alcohol, as 128 pounds of them afford 100 pounds of meal; which 100 pounds yield, by proper treatment, 34 pounds of spirits, containing 36 per cent. of absolute alcohol, by Richter’s tables. Barley to the extent of 10 pounds per 100 should be ground up with them, after they have been boiled in a steam apparatus, not only for the purpose of softening them, but freeing them from their bitter astringent matter. Acorns are productive of alcohol by similar treatment. The best means hitherto discovered for depriving bad whiskey of its nauseous smell and taste, is to pa it through well-burned and coarsely pulverised charcoal, distributed as follows in a series of cylindrical casks. Each ve el must have a double bottom, the false one being perforated with conical holes, and placed a few inches above the true. Upon this perforated board a layer of chopped clean straw one inch thick is laid; and over the straw, a stratum of small river gravel, the size of large peas. This is to be covered with a pretty thick stratum of the charcoal, previously freed from dirt and dust by washing; upon which a piece of close canva is to be spread, and pre ed down by a thin bed of river sand. The cylinder or cask should be filled with these succe ive layers to within two inches of its top, and it is then to be closed air-tight. Immediately below the head, a round orifice is pierced in the side, for receiving an overflow tube, which is either screwed rectangularly to another elbow pipe, or is bent (when of block tin) so as to enter tight into an orifice beneath the false bottom of the second cylinder or cask. In this way, the series may be continued to any desired number of ve els; the last discharging the purified spirit into the store-back. The foul spirit must be made to flow into the bottom space of the first cylinder down through a pipe in communication with a charging-back placed upon such an elevated level as to give sufficient pre ure to force the spirits up through the series of filters; the supply-pipe being provided with a regulating stop-cock. The spirit may be filtered downwards through sand and cloth in its final pa age to the receiver. It has been found, with very crude spirits, that eight succe ive cylinders were required to deprive them entirely of the rank flavour. In the year 1831, 23,000,000 gallons of spirits were made in the United Kingdom, equivalent to the consumption of 1,500,000 quarters of grain, and for that year and the four preceding years, there were imported annually 2,000,000 of quarters of foreign barley. | In | 1832, | 20,778,521. | gallons paid excise duty. | | 1834, | 23,397,806. | | | 1836, | 27,137,000; | of which 14,000,000 were Irish. | We may add to the last quantity, 3 millions of gallons at least on the score of smuggling, in licensed and illicit distilleries; making 30 millions to be the frightful amount of whiskey consumed by the British people, independent of other intoxicating liquors.