Pot stills are the current descendant of the alembic still. They were the earliest still types created to manufacture spirits. Pot still are comparatively inefficient which can be beneficial when making whiskey. For example, when making neutral spirit with no flavor and high alcohol yield you would use a reflux or column still. For whiskey you will need to produce a product which preserves the flavors of mash. In this case the pot still is most suitable.
A pot still possesses 4 primary parts: We will look at each one in more detail.
Pot: The body of the pot is generally a cylinder which is wider on top than the base. The pot is filled with the fermented mash and heated with fire or an internal heating device. The vast majority of commercial distilleries heat up the wort (aka wash) with four hundred degree steam pumped by means of tubing that is coiled inside the pot.
Swan Neck: The neck permits the vaporized alcohol plus some water\flavor to rise up and enter into the lyne arm. The neck can often be narrower at the topin comparison to the bottom allowing for non-ethanol compounds to condense around the walls and fall down into the wash.
Lyne Arm: The lyne arm will alter the amount of non-ethanol components that make it into the distillate. For instance, while the vapors rise up the neck and into the lyne arm the temperature becomes cooler and the less volatile compounds (h2o, flavor, etc.) change from a gas to a liquid. If the lyne arm is ascending at a forty-five degree angle those compounds will flow back down into the wash. This gives you a 'lighter' flavor and greater alcohol content in the final product. On the other hand if the lyne neck was angled down at a 45 degree angle the less volatile compounds will condense and flow down into the condenser combined with the ethanol vapors thus giving the distillate a far more flavorful, 'fuller', taste.
Condenser: The condenser cools the ethanol vapors to a temperature less than the boiling point of the ethanol. As a result, it condenses the vapors into liquid. Condensers may be cooled by the surrounding air temperature, flowing air (a fan) or water. With a water cooled condenser the cold water is pumped through a coil or around the outside of the tube that carries the ethanol vapors. Different designs will utilize different strategies. The key is to cool the vapors so that they drip into a collection container as opposed to escaping into the surroundings.
In the long run, the distiller must experiment with different mash recipes, still shapes and designs to produce the end product that the distiller set out to create. Bottom line, take notes, take your time, enjoy yourself and experiment.
A pot still possesses 4 primary parts: We will look at each one in more detail.
Pot: The body of the pot is generally a cylinder which is wider on top than the base. The pot is filled with the fermented mash and heated with fire or an internal heating device. The vast majority of commercial distilleries heat up the wort (aka wash) with four hundred degree steam pumped by means of tubing that is coiled inside the pot.
Swan Neck: The neck permits the vaporized alcohol plus some water\flavor to rise up and enter into the lyne arm. The neck can often be narrower at the topin comparison to the bottom allowing for non-ethanol compounds to condense around the walls and fall down into the wash.
Lyne Arm: The lyne arm will alter the amount of non-ethanol components that make it into the distillate. For instance, while the vapors rise up the neck and into the lyne arm the temperature becomes cooler and the less volatile compounds (h2o, flavor, etc.) change from a gas to a liquid. If the lyne arm is ascending at a forty-five degree angle those compounds will flow back down into the wash. This gives you a 'lighter' flavor and greater alcohol content in the final product. On the other hand if the lyne neck was angled down at a 45 degree angle the less volatile compounds will condense and flow down into the condenser combined with the ethanol vapors thus giving the distillate a far more flavorful, 'fuller', taste.
Condenser: The condenser cools the ethanol vapors to a temperature less than the boiling point of the ethanol. As a result, it condenses the vapors into liquid. Condensers may be cooled by the surrounding air temperature, flowing air (a fan) or water. With a water cooled condenser the cold water is pumped through a coil or around the outside of the tube that carries the ethanol vapors. Different designs will utilize different strategies. The key is to cool the vapors so that they drip into a collection container as opposed to escaping into the surroundings.
In the long run, the distiller must experiment with different mash recipes, still shapes and designs to produce the end product that the distiller set out to create. Bottom line, take notes, take your time, enjoy yourself and experiment.
About the Author:
Get educated on making whiskey at home and how to distill by visiting your neighborhood craft distillery. While you are there, try some whiskey.
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