Most whisky is made by the process known as •steam.' In this the corn and rye meals and malt are mixed with water in the mash-tub. where they are scalded with direct or live steam. introduced by means of a perforated pipe at the bottom of the tub. When fully scalded the mash is cooled down and run into the fer menting tubs. Fresh yeast is used in ferment ing, which gives the name of 'sweet mash.' The still is made of wood and divided into two or three compartments. When the still is charged a certain amount of beer is placed in each compartment, live steam is admitted into the lower, which boils the beer, and the vapor from it ascends through a curved pipe into the compartnsent above, where its continued ec tion boils the charge therein vapor from this again ascends into the next compartment above, where the same process is repeated The vapor then passes through a pipe into a wooden doubler, where it boils the low wines; and the vapor arising thence passes into a copper worm, where it is condensed and then run into the whisky cistern. Only one worm is used and one condensation made. Highwines, as well as whisky, are manufactured by this The yield is from three and a half to process and a half gallons. In making whisky by the 'steam coppers process, the mash is made and fermented and the beer boiled in the same manner as for the "steams process. The same wooden still is used: but, instead of the vapor from the upper compartment passing directly into a wooden doubler, it is run through a worm and condensed into singlings, which are doubled to a copper still by live steam, or by steam confined in a jacket around the still, or acme times by fire underneath.
In locating a distillery a full supply of clear, bright water that contains the proper chemical qualities is the first consideration. It is well known to both chemists and practical distillers that water containing a large quantity of sul phate of lime, earthy carbonates and no organic matter is best adapted to distilling. The lime and carbonates being dissolved in the acid gen erated during the fermentation of the mash mostly pass off in the form of carbonic add gas and leave the water soft and best suited for extracting the active properties of the malt and grain. Great care has to be taken in the selection of the grain to have it well developed and sound. Musty or unsound grain is fatal to the production of fine whisky, and its defects become more prominent as the whisky increases in age. Those distillers most careful to manu facture only fine goods use the grain that is grown in their own section of the country in order to have both the grain and water spring from the same kind of soil. Successful fer mentation requires of the distiller not only con stant attention, but also extensive knowledge both of the principles of chemistry and of prae tscal results. It is exceedingly injurious to allow the fermentation to be prematurely con cluded or to proceed too long. As a general rule, the slower the fermentation and lower the beat at which the distillation is carried on the finer and purer will be the spirit. The mash being made and fermented, and the beer distilled by whatever process, the whisky is col lected in the cistern and thence run into barrels, under the control of the United States in spector, and in the custody of the United States storekeeper, who has also charge of it while in the bonded warehouse, till the tax is paid.
Barrels, and the cooperage thereof, require much attention, and must be made of well seasoned oak. For highwines they are not charred, but for whisky they should be well charred, as the char has some peculiar chemi cal effect on the character and ripening of the whisky that is very desirable.
The subsequent purity of the product depends largely upon the care exercised by the distiller is stopping the distillation when the temperature of the vapor rises above the boiling point of = and water and certain flavoring depending upon the material employed.
The process of fermentation which precedes that of distillation produces a number of alco hols radically different from ethyl alcohol (which, with water, is the body of whiskies) and which seriously serve to contaminate the product. These are usually referred to by the distiller in America as the 'heads' and •tails.° because the former have a lower boiling point than that of ethyl alcohol, and the latter a higher boiling point, as a result of which a careful distiller can separate them from the main body of the distillate which is to be preserved.
In England these heads and tails are called "feints.' Among these is fusel oil, from which it is very desirable that the spirit should be freed as much as possible. This may he par tially accomplished by the action of charcoal and heat, which are the principles underlying the barrel-charring process of refutation and maturation. If, however, the fusel oil contents are too large to start with, they will never be sufficiently reduced by such process to make the product wholesome and palatable. In such case, they can only be removed or reduced by a sub sequent process of rectification, including redis tilling and the passage of the spirits through leach tubs. It follows, therefore, from the process of manufacture, that the fusel oil con tents or percentage of impurities is not fixed or constant, and this fact led to the process called blending. Under the present system of internal Revenue Laws in the United States distilled spirits can be sold only by one who qualifies thereunder as a wholesale liquor dealer, and such person may also be a rectifier. A rectifier is one who rectifies, purifies or refines distilled spirits, or who merely mixes without refining. Whenever it is found that whisky which has been subjected to the barrel-charring process still contains an excessive quantity of fusel oil, or has acquired an excessive quantity of tannic acid, it can only be corrected by redistillation or other rectifying processes or by the addition thereto of ethyl alcohol and water (termed for commercial purposes either 'neutral spirits' or •cologne spirits') which contains no fusel oil and no tannic acid. One effect of charring a barrel is to produce a coifing of a gummy, resinous substance beneath the char and next to the hard wood which is classed as caramel and which not only imparts a flavor, but pro duces about two-thirds of the color usually ob tained by spirits which have been stored in such a barrel for a length of time. The other one third of the color is imparted by the tannin or flavescin which the spirits extract from the wood.