WAS
WARTH, in our old writers, feems to be the fame with ward-pe/tyi being a cuftomary payment for fome caftle-guard. Bfount's Tenur. 60. Blount. WASH, the dtft 1 Hers name for the fermentable liquor, made by dilTolvtng the proper iubject for fermentation and distillation in common water.
' With refpect to the proper workings of this liquor, great re- gard is to be had to the containing veflel. Its purity, and the provifion for its occafional clofenefs, are the things to be principally confidcrcd. Though it is neceflary that the vef- felbe perfectly clean, yet in the cleanfing it great care muft be taken that no foap, or other unctuous body, be ufed, for this would check the fermentation in it ; and for the fame rea- foii all ftrong alkaline lixiviums are to be avoided. Lime- water, or even the turbid folution of quick lime, how- ever, may be fafely ufed for this purpofe ; and this is in- deed particularly proper to deftroy a prevailing acid, which is very apt to be generated about the fides and bottoms of thefe veflcls, if the warm air has accefe to them, and thus prevents the order of the fermentation. All ftrong alkaline lixiviums have as had an effect on the contrary, and a fpecial care mull be had that no corrupt or putrified yeafl, nor any remains of former fermented matters, hang about the fides of the vclTels, for this would infect whatever mould be afterwards put into them. Fpulnefles of this kind, when of long {land- ing, are of all others the moll difficult to be cured, and often are of great damage to the diftiller.
The occafional clofenefs of the veiTel may be provided for by having covers very well adapted to it, in the large way of bu- finefs, and by the ufe of valves in the fmaUer, where common light cafks will ferve the purpofe, while the valve occafionally gives the neceflary vcat to preferve the veflel, and othcrwife it remains perfectly clofe, and impervious to the air but _at dif- crction.
It is a very prejudicial miflake, in the bufinefs of fermenting the Ifaj}}, to fuppofc that the free concourfe or admuTion of the, external air is neceffary to the operation. The exprefs contrary is the truth, and a great advantage will be found in practiling upon this fuppofition. A conusant influx of the ■open air, if it docs not carry off fome part of the already formed fpirit ; yet it certainly catches up and diffipates the fine fubtle oleaginous and faline particles, of which the fpi- rit is formed, and thus confiderabiy leflens the quantity to be procured. This inconvenience is wholly avoided by the way of clofe fermentation, by which all air, except that which is contained in the veflel, is kept out. The great fecret, in this procefs, is to have a proper fpace for the reception of this air, at the top of the veflel, over the furface of the liquor ; and when fuch a fpace is left, as foon as the fermentation is fairly fet on foot, the vcffel is to he clofe bunged down, and left to itfelf, no more frefh air being left in hut what is admitted by the valve. No new air is neceflary, when the fpace unoccu- pied by the liquor is more than one tenth part of the gage, the artificial air generated in the operation being very feldom of force, to endanger the burfting of the cafk, or any other mif- chief.
This method of clofe fermentation is practicable to good ad- vantage in the finall way of bufinefs ; but it requires fuch a conliaerable time, that it will never be liked by the large dealers, who are in a manner forced to admit the free air, and thus fuftain a very conliderable lofs in the fpirit, onlv to get the operation over in a proper time. Excepting for the neceffity of expedition of this kind among the large dealers, it is certain that this flow and imperceptible vinous fermentation is greatly preferable, on all accounts, to the other. During the whole courfe cf this operation, the veflel is to be kept from all ex- ternal cold and external heat that is confiderable, it being ne- ceflary that it mould, be kept in an equable uniform and tem- perate ffate, fo as not to be cognizable to the fenfes, either as heat or cold. In the winter a ftove-room, fuch as are com- mon in Germany, would be fitteft for this purpofe, the veflel being placed at a proper diftance from the ftove ; but at other feafons no particlar cautions are neceflary with us, provided that the place be well flickered from the violent heat of the fun, and from the bleak northerly winds. The operation is known to be ever in this clofe way offer- mentation, as foon as the hifling noife ceafes, and can no . longer be heard on applying the car to the veflel ; and when, on opening it, the liquor is found to be clear, and of a vinous pungent tafte ; when it is arrived at this ftate, it fhould be fet: by for a time in a cooler place than that in which it was fern mented - 3 in this manner it will thoroughly purge itfelf of its; lees, and will become perfectly clear, vinous, and pungent , in this ftate it mould be drawn clear off from the lee, and Immediately committed to the ftill ; and by this method a per- fectly pure vinous fpirit will be procured, greatly better than that which can be obtained by the common way, which thofe who work large quantities fall into for the fake of expedition. Tiie action of fermentation works fuch a change in the body of the tincture or folution, called the Wa/h, as to render it feparable by the action of fire, into parcels of matter that are fpecifically different, and of a nature entirely foreign to what the fame liquor would have yielded without the fermentation. The ftill being charged and luted, and brought to work with 4
WAS
a foft boiling heat, there firft comes over a quantity of ia- tenfely pungent aromatic and nidorous liquor, which, if re- ceived into a large quantity of cold water, throws off a co- pious eflential acrid or aromatic oil, though the original fufj- ject, before the fermentation, were ever fo cooling, mild, or contrary to a fpicy nature. This eflential oil is found to be the principal thing that gives the predominant or peculiar tafte to the fpirits, according to the feveral fubftances from which they are made ; and the fpirits are, from the flavour they receive from this, diftingui filed into malt fpirit, melafl'es fpirit, cyder fpirit, wine fpirit, arrac, and the like. The fineft, moft fubtle, and moll efficacious part of this eflential oil is what comes firft, the portions that come after being gradually more and more vifcous and naufeous, and the fpirit running in a continued thread from the end of the worm, will be found to change its nature oftener than could be imagined, iftafted at different intervals. Befide this eflential oil, the fpirit of the firft running contains only an acid, more or Iefs in quantity, and more or lefs pungent and volatile, or fcnflble to the nofe, in proportion as the fermentation has been more or lefs continued ; or according to the degree of acidity acquired in the operation. This acid, and the aqueous part that rifes- with it, may be kept back by a proper rectification ; though where the acid is very volatile, fome part of it is apt always to rife along with the totally inflammable fpirit, fo as to give it a flavour like that of a very much diluted fpiritus nitri dul- cis. Shaw's Eflay on Diftillery.
The JVaJh of the malt diftiller ought to be about the ftrength of the ten fhilling fmall-beer ; and if the fpirit be expected fine, it had better be too thin than too thick. It is only made by mixing the water hot with the malt ground into meal. If the water be too hot, the mixture will become gluey ; and if too cool, a part of the virtue of the malt will be loft. Under the right application of the water is to be confldered the proper manner of agitating the mafs, fo that all the parts of the aqueous fluid may come fully and freely in contact with the foluble particles of the fubject. When once the water is well faturated by ftanding on the malt a proper time, it muft be drawn off, and frefh poured on, till at length the whole virtue, or all the fugary fweetnefs of the malt is extracted, and nothing but a fixed hufky matter remains behind, uncapable of being far- ther diflblved by the action of hot or boiling water, or of being advantageoufly wafhed or rinfed out by the bare affufion of cold. This artificial and external agitation or ftirring about of the mafs, is neceflary not only in the common way of brew- ing for the malt diftillery, but alfo in that more expeditious way, now in ufe with fome, of reducing the operations of brewing and fermenting to one, and grinding the malt to a fine meal, which is to be kept in the Wajb during the whole time, and even put into the ftill with it, and worked toge- ther. The ftirring may be repeated to great advantage more than once in each operation, as at the affufion of every parcel of frefh water, in the common way, and at any fhortly diftant times in the fhort way,, in which it is of greater fervice. Sharp's Eflay on Diftillery.
The difference of feafons is found to require fome alteration in the direction and management of the bufinefs of brewing for the malt-diftillery. The water muft always be ufed colder in fummer than in winter, and the tincture muft be cooled fud- denly in clofe fultry weather, to prevent it from becoming eager or four. The fummer feafon alfo gives malt an over- forward difpofition to ferment, and this impairs the quantity of fpirit, and is to be checked by the addition of a quantity of unmalted meal, which being much lefs difpofed to ferment than the malted meal, will reftrain and moderate its impe- tuofity, fo as to render the operation fuitable and effectual to the production of fpirit, a great quantity of which would be otherwife diflipated, and thrown off by a too hafty fermenta- tion, and that efpecially when the warm air is fuffered freely to come at the fermenting liquor. Some of our malt-diftillers have a cuftom of ufing rye-meal for this purpofe j but though this anfwers the end in moderating the fermentation, as well as the other, yet it gives the fpirit a naufeous flavour, which is not eafy to be got off or altered to advantage by any known method of rectification. Some of the malt-diftillers, the bet- ter to prepare their malt, fprinkle it before the grinding with a folution of nitre, or common fait, in fair water, and fome, inftead of thefe folutions, ufe lime-water j but this is not fo well adapted to the defign of the thing, which, befide the preventing the flying away of the finer part of the flowers in the grinding, is to promote the fermentation, and to increafa the quantity of fpirit, or add to its pungent acid vinofity. It has alfo been judged by fome to be of fervice either in gene- ral, or efpecially at feme particular feafons, to acidulate the water employed in brewing, with a fmall proportion of fome vegetable or light mineral, and which is fuppofed to curb and regulate the fermentation of the tincture, improve the acid vinofity of the fpirit, and occafion fome fmall increafe of its quantity; and with the fame view, tartar, as well as com- mon fait and nitre, have been ufed in the fame manner. The particular intention of the operator may render alfo va- rious other additions neceflary ; thus fome, to difpofe the Wajh to yield more fpirit, or to give the fpirit a greater de- gree of pungency, and a better flavour, add to it the ftrong
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