Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-01-01
Manufacture of Whiskey in Ohio.


Cincinnati, Ohio, has now become the great.
est whiskey market in the world and the Ohio
valley the greatest whiskey producing region
on the face of the earth, and therefore it may
be worth while to devote an article to this
subject. But few people, comparatively. have
taken the trouble to make themselves acquain.
ted with the extent Of the business in the Uni.
ted States, or of the maaus operanh of con,
verting corn into whiskey. This is probably
to be attributed to the fact that a prejudice
exists against the business Although the visi.
tor at " Porkopols," as some call Cincinnati
may be ignorant of the existence of huge dis.
tillerles around the city, the huge columns of
black smoke that roll up night and day, and
IN some cases every day and night in the week,
the acres of hog pens and the contaminated at,
mosphere soon make him acquainted with this
fact
Notwithstanding the fact that little is known
outside OF those immediately Interested in the
business, OF the various improvements. conDnec.
ted with the distillaton Of liquor, no branch of
business has drawn more heavily upon the in
Ventlve genius of the age than this and it has
been as faVorably affected by modern improve
ments as any other The latter have vastly
Increased the capacities of distileries, and en-
larged the margin for profits, by increasing the
relative yield o. grain, and improving the quail
ty Of the article produced Distilleries NAV
therefore be said to have attained as near a
fomt OF perfettio as it seems possible to bring
them, inventive genius having apparently ex-
hausted itself in this line.
This certainly would be the impression re-
celVed upon visiting one of the extensive dis
tlIleries III the vicinity of Cincinnati. Steam
IS made to perform nearly all the labor Few
men are employed, and they do little else than
look at the machinery as it performs the work
The distIllery that we propose to notice par
tlculariy is situated convenient TO the Miami
canal. A railroad connects the distiIery with
this canal, whence the supplies of corn are OBJ
tanned The latter is transferred from canal
boats into large boxes set upon cars. and thus
conveyed to a hinge bin where stocks are kent
This bin is also connected by railroad with the
dlStilery, and the corn on being conveyed from
theiCrmer TO the latter is thrown into the hop-
per OF large corn shelter which separates the
grains from the cob with great rapidty. The
corn being shelled, is carried by elevators to
the second story Of the building and empticd
into the hoppers of mills, by which it is ground.
and the meal deposited in the first story. The
cobs are taken by machinery from the shelter
and thrown in the vicinity of the boilers, where
they are used for fuel
The meal as it is ground IS carried Lv ele.
vators into the upper part of the building, and
thence it is conveyed to the back part of the
establishment and deposited in large tanks on
the first floor. Here the distillers make what
they call mash. The " cooking" is performed
entirely by steam. From these tanks the mash
is drawn off into other tanks of equal dimcn-
slons, situated Oh either side, where it goes
through the cooling process, and receives the
yeast. In the latter tanks the mash remains
two or three days, until it becomes thoroughly
worked by the yeast Here it frequently spoils
in consequence Of bad yeast or unfavorable
weather. but when no accident of this kind
happens, 1t is drawn off and run into still. The
latter is about thirty feet high and five or six
feet in diameter. The mash is boiled in the
lower part Of this still, aud the steam escapes
through pipe connecting the upper end Of
the still with the worm. The latter is set in
a large cistern filled with cold water, and here
the steam is condensed, md from this worm
the whiskey is drawn in the lower story, and
thence it is run into a cstern ia the whiokey"
house." where it is barrelled and made ready
for market. What remains in the still after
extracting the whiskey is called "still sop"
This is drawn off into tanks which stand out
OF doors, and it is upon this that dstery hogs
are fed. This is, in brief, the process of man
ufactnring whiskey. 1t is simple and rapid
one. 1t requires on an average about four
days to convert the corn into whiskey, aud q
d.stlltcrs capita! is therefore turned over once
every week--corn and whskcy being both
cash articles The quantity of corn consumed
IN this distillery is about one thousand bushels
per day, from which about four thousand gal
Ions of whiskey is produced This gives for
this single establishment a consumption of
5000 bushels of corn per annum. and pro-
duction Of 100000 gallons of whiskey.
There are other distilleres in this vicinity,
the capacities of which are severally two or
three times greater than the one we have de-
scribed. The quantity sold in Cincinnati year
ly is Line million gallons, This is not m2re
than onc-haIf the aggregate production Of Ohio
and Indiana alone. Presumng that the pro-
ducton is eighteen million gallons, and we
find that the consumption of corn to be four
and half million bushels, to produce which
requires million and quarter acres of good
land, 1t is probable the production of whis-
key in the Ohio valley is fifty million gallons
per annum. involving consumption of twelve
and half million bushels Of corn, the average
value of which is five million dollars
B9- The Jews had no surnames, nor had
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