102: Pot Still VS Column Part 1

The_Whiskey Shaman

Have you ever wondered some of the flavors you pull out of whiskey like. Buttered popcorn or banana has a lot to do with still type and the esters and congeners it pulls over. Today we scrap the surface on it all, stay tuned.

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A pot still is a type of distillation apparatus or still used to distill liquors such as whisky or brandy. In modern (post-1850s) practice, they are not used to produce rectified spirit, because they do not separate congeners from ethanol as effectively as other distillation methods. Pot stills operate on a batch distillation basis (as contrasted with Coffey or column stills, which operate on a continuous basis). Traditionally constructed from copper, pot stills are made in a range of shapes and sizes depending on the quantity and style of spirit desired.

Spirits distilled in pot stills top out between 60 and 80 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) after multiple distillations.[citation needed] Because of this relatively low level of ABV concentration, spirits produced by a pot still retain more of the flavour from the wash than distillation practices that reach higher ethanol concentrations.

Under European law and various trade agreements, cognac (a protected term for a variety of brandy produced in the region around Cognac, France) and any Irish or Scotch whisky labelled as "pot still whisky" or "malt whisky" must be distilled using a pot still.

Method of operation

During first distillation, the pot still (or "wash still") is filled about two-thirds full of a fermented liquid (or wash) with an alcohol content of about 7–12%. In the case of whiskey distillation, the liquid used is a beer, while in the case of brandy production, it is a base wine. The pot still is then heated so that the liquid boils.

The liquid being distilled is a mixture of mainly water and alcohol, along with smaller amounts of other by-products of fermentation (called congeners), such as aldehydes and esters. At sea level, alcohol (ethanol) has a normal boiling point of 78.4 °C (173.1 °F) while pure water boils at 100 °C (212 °F).[7] As alcohol has a lower boiling point, it is more volatile and evaporates at a higher rate than water. Hence the concentration of alcohol in the vapour phase above the liquid is higher than in the liquid itself.

During distillation, this vapour travels up the swan neck at the top of the pot still and down the lyne arm, after which it travels through the condenser (also known as the worm), where it is cooled to yield a distillate with a higher concentration of alcohol than the original liquid. After one such stage of distillation, the resulting liquid, called "low wines", has a concentration of about 25–35% alcohol by volume.

These low wines can be distilled again in a pot still to yield a distillate with a higher concentration of alcohol. In the case of many Irish whiskeys, the spirit is distilled for a third time. However, cognac and most single malt Scotch whiskies are distilled only twice.

A still used for the redistillation of already-distilled products (especially in the United States) is known as a doubler – named after its approximate effect on the level of the distillation purity. Distillers from the early 1800s with sufficient resources to operate both a primary still and a separate doubler would typically use a smaller still for the doubler (typically about half the capacity) than for the first distillation.