Whiskey
production Basics
MILLING: The distillery gets truckloads of corn, rye, wheat, malted barley delivered whichare then stored in the grains silos. Depending on the recipe of the whiskey being made, they grind up the grains and weigh them to the correct % of each grain and then that grain is added to the cooker along with water and some of the set back from the previous run (this is also called the “sourmash process…it’s the liquid that is left after the alcohol is all distilled out.) The cooking process is done to release all the starches from the corn, rye, or wheat.
COOKING: For example: for making bourbon, corn is
added first, then the rye and then the malted barley is added last.
Malted barley is very important. “malted” means that it actually sprouts
and starts growing a plant. When it does that it releases enzymes to feed
that plant. When the malted barley is added to the cook, those enzymes
immediately turn those starches in to sugar. The next process is
fermentation, and since yeast cannot feed on starch…the malted barley turns
those starches in to eatable sugars for the yeast.
FERMENTATION:
After the mash is cooked and the barley has
been added to turn those starches in to sugars, it is pumped over to a
fermenter which is a simply a large stainless steel tub, and yeast is
added. Yeast are single celled organisms that are just
like people going to a Las Vegas buffet because all they want to do is
eat. As they eat, they belch out cO2 and piss alcohol, and they give off
heat all during this feeding frenzy. After about 3 days of non-stop
eating, the yeast die off and that sweet mash that started out originally with
all that sugar, now kind of tastes like a stale beer (and a little sour) and we
have a low alcohol “distillers beer”.
DISTILLING:
That distillers beer is fed 3/4 of the way up
to the column still, and steam is coming up from the bottom of that first
distillation in that column still (also called a beer still) under
212 degrees. Since alcohol vaporizes at a lower temperature than water
the alcohol rises out of the top of the still, and cold water tubes surround
that pipe of alcohol vapors and that condenses that vapor back in to liquid,
and that is what comes off the first tail box (also called a trybox).
This still just raised the alcohol content from low proof alcohol, into a
higher proof, usually around 125 proof or so, depending on the distillery and
the product. This is a pretty clean product, but it has a bit too many
fusel oils (bad stuff that gives ya a headache) so it needs one more
distillation to be cleaned up and a little better.
The grains and
liquid that is left over from the first distillation are separated, and the
liquid is added to the next cook, and fermenters to help the PH levels and
helps give a consistent flavor profile from mash to mash. The alcohol is
sent to a second still that is not a column still since it is only liquid and
no grains, and it is a sort of hybrid pot still called a “doubler” (since this
is the second distillation). After it is distilled a second time it comes
off around 135 proof, and is very clean and less oily.
BARRELING: The distillate is then sent to the FILL HOUSE to a retention
tank, since bourbon/rye/wheat whiskey can’t enter a barrel at more than
125 proof in the barrel, water is added to the product to bring it down from
the upwards of 135 down to at most, 125 proof before the whiskey is put into the barrels are put up in the rickhouses
for aging, often times for 4+ years.
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