Spirit And Distillation General/History Flashcards
What is the premise behind distillation?
Alcohol has a lower boiling point that water. At sea level, ethyl alcohol boils at approximately 173°F (78°C); thus, alcoholic vapors can be separated from liquid water and collected in a still.
What does alcohol boil at?
°F and °C?
What does water boil at?
°F and °C?
173°F (78°C)
212 °F (100 °C)
What is fractional distillation?
The separation of two liquids with different boiling points.
-Ancient Babylonians used fractional distillation to make perfumes, and Aristotle was perhaps the first to note that the condensation of boiled seawater was not, in fact, salty.
5 general steps of distilling
—Fermentation (distiller mixes yeast, water, and sugar (or a sugar-containing grain) in a fermenter (mash tun). After 3 to 7 days of voracious fermenting, the yeast has consumed most of the sugar, turning the mash into a wash (10 or 12 percent alcohol by volume).
—Heating
—Vapor Collection: through the Lyne arm
—Cooling: Vapor in the lyne arm flows into a vertical chamber, where a pipe of cool water surrounds a pipe of alcohol vapor.
—Collection: As vapor cools, it condenses into liquid ethanol, which drips from the condenser into a collection vessel.
Who is responsible for the beginning of modern distillation?
Jabir ibn Hayyan, an 8th century Arabic chemist/alchemist who developed an improved alembic still—the precursor to the pot still—which allowed for a much purer distillation.
- Despite religious prohibitions on consumption of alcohol, Arab thinkers spread the rekindled knowledge of distillation throughout Europe
- the Arabs were mostly interested in the promise of alchemical and medicinal advances, but in Europe and elsewhere the allure of potable, powerful, and nearly indestructible distilled spirits soon became clear.
Where did the term “alcohol” derive?
The Arabs gave the spirit its name: “alcohol” is derived from the Arabic al-koh’l, a cosmetic powder purified through distillation.
What are other names for the continuous still? (3)
Coffey, column, or patent still.
Who invented the column still and when?
Aeneas Coffey in the 1830s
How does a pot still work?
What spirts are more often than not produced in columns?
fermented liquor (the “wash”) is placed into a closed vessel and heat is applied directly to the vessel, vaporizing the ethyl alcohol, a certain amount of water, and congeners—volatile molecules such as esters, other alcohols, and aldehydes, which contribute to the flavor (or off-flavor) of a spirit. These vapors travel up through the vessel and into a condensing coil. The vapors will be cooled, condensed into liquid and collected in a separate vessel.
Single malt Scotch, Mezcal, rum (other than white)
What are the heads and the tails?
What congeners do the heads contain?
After the vapors are cooled and condensed into liquid the spirit will still be impure.
—distiller must take care to discard the foreshots/heads—the first 5% of the vapors to condense—as these contain congeners, or volatile compounds such as methanol (a toxic alcohol), acetone, aldehydes, esters, and fusel oils.
—next comes the hearts, the high-proof alcohol base.
—Distillers mix the hearts with small amount of heads, and the blend is diluted and aged. With too high a percentage of cogeners, the drink tastes rough; with too little, it’s bland.
—the tails, is a low-proof mix often set aside and redistilled later. tails are also discarded, as unwanted congeners tend to collect in the distillate residue.
What is a continuous still?
What are the two columns called?
What spirts are more often than not produced in columns?
—uses steam, rather than direct heat, to vaporize the alcohol.
—The first column (called the analyzer) in a column still has steam rising and wash descending through several levels. The second column (called the rectifier) carries the alcohol from the wash, where it circulates until it can condense at the required strength.
-Roughly speaking, imagine a tall column filled with pot still upon pot still upon pot still. Each chamber has partitions, or perforated plates. The mash enters near the top of the still and immediately starts to sink.
—Constant heat from the bottom. Usually this entails pumping steam in to the bottom of the still and letting it rise.
—Top of the column is the coolest part, so as the mash enters, it sinks toward the bottom. As the liquid interacts with the steam, the heat vaporizes the mash and forces the alcohol and other volatile molecules up the still. (Water and grain solids in the mash fall back to the bottom of the still.)
—Each time the vapors hit a plate, they start to condense again and cogeners are left behind the condensation. As the vapors rise from chamber to chamber, they shed more of the stuff that isn’t ethanol and keep more of the stuff that is ethanol.
-Bourbon, most white rums, nearly all gins and vodkas, some brandies (including Armagnac), and the grain spirits used in blended Scotch.
What is the arguement for/against pot stills and column stills?
Column still the alcohol is condensed in a purer fashion, stripping the liquor of excess congeners and creating a higher-alcohol spirit. While congeners are responsible for impurities, they are also the source of flavor; thus, the continuous still sacrifices distinction for a clean spirit, whereas pot stills will have a lot of flavor, but can be a less clean spirit.
—Pot stills allow a distiller to make only one batch of spirits at a time, and so the still needs to be emptied out and cleaned up before the next batch can begin. Also, pot stills can only distill to a certain level of purity: usually between 60 and 80 percent ABV, whereas Column stills can distill proofs as high as the 95% ABV.
What is the benefit of using copper in still?
Helps strip most of the sulfur (which arises naturally in the fermentation process) from a distillate.
Where do spirits gain their color?
All spirits are colorless. Brown spirits, such as brandy and Scotch whisky, gain color and character from aging in oak casks.
What are the three ways flavors are added to spirits?
Maceration-Steeping a flavoring agent in alcohol in a slower, cold method.
Infusion-Steeping a flavoring agent in alcohol in a quicker, hot method.
Percolation- Resembles coffee brewing, as the base spirit is pumped through the flavoring material.
-lower quality flavored spirits may be the simple product of artificial flavor and color additives.
