The Room For Fermentation


The room destined to the fermentation must be close, lighted by two or

three windows, and large enough to contain a number of hogsheads

sufficient for the distillery. It may be determined by the number of

days necessary for the fermentation; 30 or 40 hogsheads may suffice,

each of 120 or 130 gallons.



In the middle of the room must be a stove, large enough to keep up a

heat of 75 deg. to 80 deg., even in w
nter. A thermometer placed at one end of

the room, serves to regulate the heat.



As soon as the liquor is in the hogshead, the yeast, or fermenting

principle, is put into it, stirred for some moments, and then left to

itself. A liquor as rich as the above described ferments with force, and

runs with rapidity through all the periods of fermentation. It is fit to

distil as soon as that tumultuous state has subsided and

the liquor is calm.



The essential character of the spirituous fermentation, is to exhale the

carbonic acid gaz in great quantity. This gaz is mortal to mankind, and

to all the living creation. Thirty hogsheads of fermenting liquor

producing a great deal of this gaz, the room should be purified of it by

opening two opposite windows several times a day. This is the more

essential, as the pure air, or oxigen, contributes to the formation of

the spirit, of which it 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.



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