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72
THE
COMrLETE
PRACTICAL
DISTILLER.
as
much
as
possible.
It
is
placed
in
a
heap
on
the
floor,
and
left
to
itself
until
it
becomes
palpably
warm
;
this
heat
is
produced
by
the
grain
beginning
to
work,
and
generally
declares
itself
in
from
twelve
to
twenty-four
hours
after
it
has
been
committed
to
the
floor.
At
this
period
it is
disposed
in
layers
of
from
12
to
14
inches
in
depth,
according
to
the
heating
state
of
the
'floor;
they
are
laid
thicker
when
the
temperature
of
the
grain
is
low,
and
thinner
when
more
elevated.
The
influence
exercised
by
the
thickness
of
these
layers
on
the
progress
of
the
germination
of
the
corn
is
very
great,
with
respect
to
the
heat
which
this
thickness
may
contain;
and
from
this
principle
it
must
be
concluded
that
without
heat
no
ger-
mination
would
take
place,
and
that
from
the
moment
the
watered
grain
has
gained
the
temperature
of
170°
to
180°,
for
instance,
it
begins
to
undergo
an
internal
alteration,
which
produces
heat
itself.
From
hence
it
will
be
easily
conceived
that
this
heat
is
better
retained
by
a
thick
layer
than
by
one
that
is
thin
;
and
on
this
observation
is
founded
the
principle
which
has
been
emitted
on
the
variation
of
the
thickness
to
be
given
to
layers
on
the
malt-floor.
This
kind
of
fermentation,
thus
established
in
grain
placed
under
favourable
conditions,
soon
pro-
duces
at
the
end
of
each
grain,
and
particularly
of
those
that
are
in
the
middle
of
the
layer,
a
white
point,
which
is
a
sure
sign
of
the
commencement
of
the
germination.
This
point
appears
generally
twenty-five
or
thirty
hours
after
the
grain
has
been
placed
in
layers.
At
this
period
it
is
important
to
turn
the
grain,
so as
to
place
at
the
bottom
of
the
layer
that
which was
uppermost
before;
this
effect
is
obtained
by
removing
it
to
another
part
of