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alcohol content of the tails. If the alcohol content of the tails is above 70%, you know that
the flow rate can still be increased. If the alcohol content of the tails is getting down to the
low 50s, then you re probably running on the fast side and should slow it down a little.
These determinations, of course, can only be made from one run to the next.
With small runs like the 20L discussed above, the transition points will come by fast and you
will have to pay close attention to avoid misjudging the switches of the phases. However,
larger runs will have longer transitions and will be much easier to judge at the higher flow
rates. Naturally, higher flow rates and larger runs, particularly in the case of spirit-runs of
large volumes of low wines from multiple beer stripping runs, scale nicely to larger
operations.
See the table at Figure 4 for actual data from a spirit-run operated at higher flow rates. The
flow rates can be run even faster than those of Figure 4 and once you are comfortable with
judging the transition points this is well worth experimenting with.
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Actual data from a spirit-run of 20.5L of corn mash
(7.3% alc with a 500-ml adjunct of feints @ 92% alc)
[(20500-ml X .073) + (500 X .92)] / .95 = 2060-ml alc @ 95%
TIME FLOW RATE PHASE AMOUNT TOTAL AMOUNT
(DROPS/SEC) COLLECTED COLLECTED REMAINING
(ml of 95% (ml of 95% (ml of 95%
alc/vol) alc/vol) alc/vol)
12:20 0 Equilibrating 0 0 2060
12:55 1.2 Foreshots 60 60 2000
14:05 2.5 Heads 270 330 1730
15:20 2.5 Heads 250 580 1480
16:00 2.5 Heads 140 720 1340
16:45 3.5 Middle-run 250 970 1090
17:30 3.5 Middle-run 250 1220 840
18:15 3.5 Middle-run 250 1470 590
18:35 3.5 Middle-run 100 1570 490
18:45 3.5 Middle-run 40 1610 450
18:47 3.5 Middle-run 10 1620 440
19:30 3.5 Tails 175 * 1795 265
PHASE VOLUME ALC CONTENT % OF OUTPUT
(ml) (%)
Foreshots 60 95 2.9
Heads 660 95 32.0
Middle-run 900 93 43.7
Tails 175 * 75 8.5 *
Lost 265 95 12.9
* Volume corrected to 95% alc/vol from 75%. (220-ml X .75%) / .95 = 175-ml @ 95%
FIGURE 4
Diluting: The final stage in making pure corn whiskey is to dilute the middle-run to between
40 and 50% alc/vol. It s a good idea to use distilled or deionized water as sold at
supermarkets and pharmacies to dilute corn whiskey. However, many people simply use soft
or filtered tap water.
Hard water should be avoided because, not only can it impart off flavours, but it can cast a
white precipitate that often results in a turbid or cloudy appearance, or a chalky sediment at
the bottom of the bottle. This precipitate is perfectly harmless, but is aesthetically
unpleasing.
An example of diluting the middle-run to produce an excellent corn whiskey is to mix 900 ml
of middle-run with 1100 ml of distilled water to produce 2L of 45% alc/vol corn whiskey.
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Blending: Whiskey produced in a high-separation spirit still tends to have a very rich and
intense flavour profile. This is because high-separation stills concentrate more of the
desirable congeners into the middle-run while keeping the undesirable ones out, as opposed
to lower-separation stills which lose more of the desirable congeners to the heads and the
tails in the course of keeping the undesirable ones out. In the end, whiskey made in a high-
separation still is clean and rich, but may or may not be too intense.
There are several ways to reduce the intensity of the flavour. One is to blend the whiskey
with grain-neutral. Grain-neutral is about 95% alc/vol and is, for all practical purposes,
almost pure alcohol that is very nearly devoid of all congeners.
The grain-neutral should be diluted with pure water to the same alcohol content as the
whiskey. A small sample, say 30 ml (1 oz), of the whiskey can be blended 50/50 with
diluted grain-neutral and tasted. If the flavour has become too insipid or is still too intense,
the ratio can be adjusted slightly and tasted again. This is repeated until the right blend is
achieved. Typically, the right blend is somewhere around 50/50.
There are certain advantages to blending with grain-neutral to reduce flavour intensity, and
they are that the high-separation spirit still is eminently suited to producing pure alcohol and
therefore grain neutral. Also, it s considerably easier to produce large volumes of pure
alcohol than it is to produce large volumes of whiskey, so blending 50/50 or so with grain
neutral becomes a very economical way to stretch your whiskey.
However, purists can quite rightly argue that once blended with grain-neutral, pure corn
whiskey is no longer pure. So, in order to reduce flavour intensity without violating the
purity of the whiskey, the distillation process must be adjusted.
First, by reducing the adjunct of feints, the intensity of the whiskey flavour will decrease.
How much of course, can only be determined from one run to the next. But, don t reduce the
adjunct of feints to less than 250 ml to 20L of strained mash.
If it s still too intense, start taking a slightly narrower cut. That is to say, let the heads run a
little later and end the middle-run a little earlier. This way less congeners go into the middle-
run and therefore the flavour is less intense.
And finally, you can run the flow-rate faster and thereby reduce the level of separation. This
will cause more of the desirable congeners to bleed into the heads and the tails. Hence,
behaving more like a low-separation still
Storage: Distilled spirits should be stored in glass, not plastic. Corn whiskey, by tradition,
does not require maturing or aging in oak or charred oak barrels. Pure corn whiskey can be
consumed right away. However, many distillers including the author contend that corn [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]