Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/88

78 fermentation; the greater the attenuation of the beer, as shown by the saccharometer, the greater the quantity of spirit.

Fermentation being completed, where the ordinary copper stills are used, the beer is run into one still and is boiled; the alcohol in the beer, being more volatile than water, rises, combined with more or less water, and passes through a copper coil or worm submerged in a cistern of water into which a continuous stream of cold water is running; at the top of this cistern is an overflow-pipe conveying the heated water off as it rises. This operation condenses the vapor in the worm, and the spirit flows out colorless; as all spirits, whether made from grain, fruit, or vegetables, flowing from the still-worm, have the appearance of water.

The product of this first distillation is called low-wine, from the fact that it is not of sufficient strength and purity to put upon the market. The boiling is continued until all the alcohol in the beer is evaporated and condensed; then the refuse is drawn off from the still and fed to cattle and hogs. The low-wine is then run into still No. 2, called the doubler, and boiled again. The product from the doubler will be whisky varying from 100° to 150° in strength.

When the three-chambered wooden still or column is used, and the beer is boiled by steam, spirits are produced of marketable strength at each run of the still.

Under the internal revenue laws the distillers of grain and molasses can have no access to the spirits during the process of their manufacture, as the spirits are conveyed from the still in continuously closed pipes to large cisterns in a room with only one entrance, upon which is a Government lock, of the key of which the United States gauger is the custodian, until the spirits have been drawn off into barrels, and he has gauged the quantity and tested their degree of strength by the aid of a hydrometer and thermometer, placed a warehouse stamp on each package, and marked on each the capacity, quantity, and degree of strength of the contents.

The gauger is, fortunately, not required to taste of the spirits to test their quality, as quality is not taken into consideration in levying the tax. After the gauger has completed his duties, the United States storekeeper takes charge of the spirits and sees that all of the packages are safely deposited in the distillery bonded warehouse, where they remain under a Government lock the key of which is in the care of the storekeeper until—the tax is paid.

The limit of time that spirits can remain in bond, by the present revenue law, is three years. Congress was petitioned at the last two sessions, by parties interested in distilling, for an extension of the bonded period, but the petition was, I think, unwisely denied.

It would be a blessing to the whole country if Congress would pass a law embodying the substance of the three following items: 1. Granting unlimited time for spirits to remain in bond, in order to give all