Distillation

Question 1

What is the source for all distilled drinks

Answer 1

Fermentable sugars (Complex Carbohydrates)

• if cereals are used they must first be processed to fermentable sugars (malting) -> first step during malting is the application of heat.
• Sugar cane (molasses derived from sugar) has sugars already fermentable
• Grape juice is readily fermentable

**Fermentable sugars come from almost all plants, amount of material needed changes. Grapes have the highest concentration of complex carbohydrates.

Question 2

When was distillation discovered and by who?

Answer 2

• 8th and 9th century North Africa to Spain,
• The Moorish alchemist
• they discovered that using heat, create steam, trap vapours, condensation
• They thought it had medicinal qualities

Question 3

When and how did distillation arrive in Western Europe?

Answer 3

15th-16th century:
- Distillation application to beverages
- Perfume, ethanol present and evaporation of which release the aromas suspended
in the perfumes

Start to see the first linkage to parts of Europe
i.e. Gin - Dutch,
Brandy- Netherlands,
Whiskey - Ireland/Scotland (monks of Ireland travelled and took their knowledge to Scotland)

**Traditionally, many medicines were suspended in alcohol

Question 4

Describe Distillation

Answer 4

Boiling + evaporation = distillation

• the wash, the alcohol/water mix (fermented beverage), boiled to produce vapour
• Vapour is separated and trapped
• Vapour turned back into liquid via condensation
• Repeat this process several times
• Different compounds evaporate at different temperatures
• Pure alcohol boils at 78.5C - more volatile, releases faster than water
• Congeners are also released also: role in the essential flavours.
• white spirits (vodka) = try to have none
• Distillation is repeated to produce purest concentration of ethanol possible

Question 5

What are congeners?

Answer 5

Chemical compounds produced from the mash by yeast fermentation
- Congeners come to top (heads) and ends (tails) of where ethanol is released
- They are the basis for the typical tastes of the various types of brown spirit such as
whisky, dark rum and brandy.

Question 6

Vapor into spirit notes

Answer 6

• traditionally, distillation is in a pot still
• Vapour captured in still, turned to liquid by cooling
• Vapour passes through chilled copper coil
• First distillation, we get cloudy & 27% AlcVol
• This is low, so we distill again
• It is cloudy becomes it contains the congeners, which are proteins coming out of the base
• On the second distillation we get the 72% AlcVol
• can be repeated until 97.3% ABV (SVR)

Question 7

What is the cut?

Answer 7

The point at which the still operator changes between the different fractions of distillation.

• The distiller knows the temperature and time for each cut for best flavor combinations -> can be done by taste

Question 8

What are the ‘Fractions’?

Answer 8

The different flavor compounds/congeners that are released at different points during distillation.

Question 9

Distillation ‘Cut’ Jargon

Answer 9

• Feints & Foreshots
• Heads
• Hearts
• Tails

Question 10

How is batch distillation carried out?

Answer 10

Batch distillation is usually carried out in a simple pot still or wash still
- Batch distillation is traditionally used to produce powerfully flavoured distillates whisky, rum and brandy

Question 11

What is the the final collected spirit from the end of the distillation called

Answer 11

‘new-make spirit’ (distinguishes it from matured spirit)

Question 12

What is a basic pot still made of?

Answer 12

Copper

Question 13

What is the ABV of a new-make spirit?

Answer 13

70% ABV

Question 14

How is pot still operation carried out?

Answer 14

• The pot still consists of a vessel or tank that has a heating system.
• The heating is usually by steam coils or steam plates inside the pot
• Some older systems have direct firing under the base of the pot; gas, coal, wood
• The still has a vertical neck that bends via the Swan Neck to overhead vapor pipe.
• The vapor pipe leads the vapor to the condenser.
• The condenser converts the vapor to a liquid and then cools the liquid to a temperature below 20 degrees Celsius.
• The cooled spirit is stored in the ‘Spirit Safe’
• ‘Rumbellion’ took place because the colony was using it as a currency.
  (Pot Still diagram on slide 14 &15 of distillation slides)

Question 15

What is rectification?

Answer 15

• Rectification is the process of concentrating the amount of alcohol in a existing water/alcohol mixture.

Question 16

How is Rectification carried out?

Answer 16

• Rectification can be carried out in pot stills.
• More distillation has to be carried out to produce spirit at 80%ABV.
• The alcohol from the wash must be distilled three times.
• Irish Whiskey is traditionally Triple Distilled (to remove more congeners) as is some Bourbon.
• The spirit is said to be ‘smoother’, but some would say lacks ‘character’

Question 17

What is column distillation best suited for?

Answer 17

The design of a column still does not allow much rectification to take place.

Thus it is not suited for ‘heavy’ dark spirits.

It is suited to lighter flavored spirits such as Gin.

Question 18

When and how was the Coffey still patented?

Answer 18

• The first well documented column still for whisky was the Patent Still invented by the Stein brothers in Scotland in 1827
• Development was rapid in both Ireland and France
• Demand was growing for a cheap way to produce white spirits, especially Gin.
• Exciseman (auditor of spirit production) Aneas Coffey made some significant inprovements in his Patent Still of 1830 and development continued.

Question 19

How do column (continuous) stills work?

Answer 19

• There is a continuous feed of wash and a continuous output of distillate.
• Continuous supply of energy = form of steam.
• Must be maintained in what is called a ‘steady state’
• This means that the wash entering the column must be:
  
  • at a constant rate
  • at a constant temperature
  • be at the same alcohol concentration throughout the distilling rum

Note: diagram on slide 17

Question 20

What is the Role of Copper in Distillation

Answer 20

Copper has some useful properties for the distiller:

1. Copper surfaces react with some compounds, for instance, Sulphur compounds that have an unpleasant aroma, removing them from the spirit.
2. Copper surfaces act as a chemical catalyst, for instance simulating ester formation (‘fruitiness’) in the spirit.
3. Copper is malleable and durable ie easily worked into a required shape and does not corrode.
4. It has good heat conductivity.

Question 21

Bourbon Whiskey

Answer 21

• The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, that gave its name to a huge area of North America that was explored by the French.
• the distinctive “charred and caramel” flavours have much to do with the properties of new American oak that is heavily charred, even to “alligator scales” on the inside.

Question 22

What are ‘Over Proof’ Spirits?

Answer 22

• tax/duty based on alcohol content tested with ‘burn/no burn’ test
• if it would ignite ‘above proof’
• if it would not ‘under proof’
• 100 ‘break-point’
• 100 proof is 57.15%ABV

Question 23

What changes the flavour of congener?

Answer 23

The beginning alcohol is varied, so flavour compounds are varied too

- Using different wines, beers to be distilled get different flavours 
    - Use different mash
    - Understanding what temperature and time allows us to control them

Question 24

Why don’t we discard congeners?

Answer 24

Why don’t we discard them?

- You lose volume 
- They can be good if when matured, the tails, can give good complexity 
    - Can enhance

Question 25

What is wash?

Answer 25

Wash - the term for base alcoholic beverage (mainly in production of whiskey)

Question 26

What is low wines receiver?

Answer 26

Low Wines Receiver:
Even though base beverage being from grains cause its
20%AlcVol its still known as wine