alcohol distillation

Selection of appropriate distillation equipment is critical to producing top-quality results from distillation. A still is a central piece of this machinery and comes in two main varieties: pot stills and column/reflux stills. Distillers must select their still depending on what kind of spirits they wish to create; pot stills tend to produce stronger alcohol but may have lower flavor intensity than column stills.

Other essential equipment includes a heat source, distillation flask, condenser, receiving flask and thermometer. A thermometer measures the temperature of both liquid and vapor coming through the still, so its position must be carefully set as its readings will have an impactful impact on separation in the distillation column itself. Furthermore, countercurrent flow cooling tubes must be designed so as to avoid hot spots that could harm glassware or cause contamination of product.

Stills equipped with sieve plates containing holes designed to allow only liquid through are commonly used to separate beer and other low-alcohol liquids from solids and waste material. Plate-type columns must be designed by professionals for proper functioning.

Reflux distillation is a technique that concentrates alcohol-water vapor concentrate by controlling temperature of condenser outlet product. While this method produces high-quality alcoholic beverages efficiently, it requires expensive equipment and can cause problems like column plugging or changes in solids percentage in feedstock.

Distillation is the second key step in spirits production, used to remove non-alcoholic components such as water, proteins and carbohydrates as well as lesser volatile alcohols like esters and aldehydes from fermented liquids like wine or beer, such as congeners which contribute flavor profiles.

This process relies on basic science. Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, making its vapor more easily evaporate into the atmosphere. As this vapor rises it passes over several cooled plates where heavier molecules condense onto them before falling back down through another series of cooling plates and condensing into an alcoholic beverage – known as the heart of distillation.

At the conclusion of a still run, any leftover water and proteins are collected as byproducts called the “heads” or ‘faints”, with very unpleasant odours and potential health risks for humans. Any residual ethanol is called “tails”, which can either be recycled in future still runs or used to make paint or fertiliser products.

An initial base product for spirits production depends on the style of spirit being created; this could include wine, beer or any fermented fruit/grain drink. A distiller then uses appropriate tools such as pot or column stills with distillation methods such as continuous flow to craft their desired spirit.