The Practical Distiller

Or, An Introduction to Making Whiskey, Gin, Brandy, Spirits, &c. &c.

John Wyeth

• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781449428723
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Culinary Arts

 Published in 1809 when distillation of spirits was legal, The Practical Distiller provides recipes and distillation methods for homemade whiskey, gin, and brandy as well as history of the various ways that alcohol has been made since the 1600s. This tome includes entire sections devoted to yeast, choosing the best rye and malt, hogsheads, methods for setting stills, clarifying whiskey and recipes for making honey wine, elderberry wine and American wine. With an effluence of recipes, methods, and historical information, The Practical Distiller is quaint and charming combined with useful and practical distilling techniques.
 
This edition of The Practical Distiller was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The Society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• CONTENTS.
• PREFACE.
• INTRODUCTION.
• Observations on Yeast.
• Observations on the best wood for hogsheads
• To mash rye in the common mode.
• Observations on the quality of rye.
• To make malt for stilling.
• Of hops.
• How to order and fill the singling still.
• Best mode of setting stills.
• How to clarify whiskey.
• Observations on weather.
• Duty of the owner of a distillery.
• The profits arising from a common distillery.
• Observations on erecting distilleries.
• On Wines.
• Of brewing beer.