This process ought to be attended to by every distiller, and with all whiskey, and if carefully done, would raise the character, and add to the wholesomeness of domestic spirits.
It may be done by clarifying the singlings as it runs from the still—let the funnel be a little broader than usual, cover it with two or more layers of flannel, on which place a quantity of finely beaten maple charcoal, thro' which let the singlings filter into your usual receiving cask. When doubling, put some lime and charcoal in the still, and run the liquor thro' a flannel—when it loses proof at the worm, take away the cask, and bring it to proof with rain water that has been distilled. To each hogshead of whiskey, use a pound of Bohea tea, and set it in the sun for two weeks or more, then remove it to a cool cellar, and when cold it will have the taste and flavor of old whiskey. If this method was pursued by distillers and spirits made 2d and 3d proof, it would not only benefit the seller, but would be an advantage to the buyer and consumer—and was any particular distiller to pursue this mode and brand his casks, it would raise the character of his liquor, and give it such an ascendancy as to preclude the sale of any other, beyond what scarcity or an emergency might impel in a commercial city.
If distillers could conveniently place their liquor in a high loft, and suffer it to fall to the cellar by a pipe, it would be greatly improved by the friction and ebullition occasioned in the descent and fall.
SECTION VIII.
ARTICLE I.
Observations on Weather.
Some seasons are better for fermentation than others. Should a hail storm occur in the summer, the distiller should guard against cooling off with water in which hail is dissolved, for it will not work well.
If a thundergust happens when the hogsheads are in the highest state of fermentation, the working will nearly cease, and the stuff begin to contract an acidity. And when in the spring the frost is coming out of the ground, it is unfortunate when the distiller is obliged to use water impregnated with the fusions of the frost, such being very injurious to fermentation—Those changes and occurrences ought to be marked well, to enable a provision against their effects. This will be found difficult without the assistance of a barometer, to determine the changes of the weather—a thermometer, to ascertain correctly the heat of the atmosphere, and to enable a medium and temperature of the air to be kept up in the distillery; and from observation to acquire a knowledge of the degree of heat or warmth, in which the mashing in the hogsheads ferments to the greatest advantage, and when this is ascertained, a distiller may in a close house sufficiently ventilated, and provided with convenient windows, always keep up the degree or temperature in the air, most adapted to the promotion of fermentation, by opening his windows or doors to admit air, as a corrective; or by keeping them closed in proportion to the coldness of the weather:—And a hydrometer, useful in measuring and ascertaining the extent of water. Instructions for the management of those instruments generally attend them, it is therefore unnecessary for me to go into a detail on this subject.—But it is absolutely necessary that the careful and scientific distiller should possess them, especially the two former, to guard against the changes of the weather, and preserve the atmosphere in the distillery, always equally warm.