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° to 80°, even in winter. 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.