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
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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.



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