Alcohol, Distilling Of
Alcohol distillation is a heat-dependant process used to purify or separate alcohol mixtures. This process is used in the manufacture of such alcoholic beverages as brandy, whiskey and rum. These beverages, also known as spirits, are made by first preparing a mash of grains or fruit juices. The mash is fermented, that is, natural sugars in the grain or fruit are converted to alcohol by microscopic yeast. Then the fermented mash is heated in a boiler, causing the alcohol to evaporate. The alcohol vapors are collected and then cooled in a condenser to produce the alcoholic beverage. Distilling is done with a still, either a pot still or a column still. A pot still produces one batch of liquid at a time and is a simple still that can be set up and used at home. A column still permits distillation to occur continuously. Most commercial distilleries use column stills.
For thousands of years it was known that heating a liquid to boiling and then condensing it could rid the liquid of impurities. For example, distillation could convert salt water into fresh water. Both the Romans and Egyptians distilled plant oils using air-cooled outlets from a boiling vessel to condense the liquid product. Most likely the Arabians were the first to use a water-cooled condenser to collect the more easily evaporated components which would have escaped with the earlier method.
However, distilling alcohol, first for medicinal purposes, probably began in the early 12th century in Italy when wine was distilled to produce brandy. To this mixture herbs and spices were added, and the first liqueurs were developed, such as Benedictine and Chartreuse. During the 1400s in Ireland and Scotland whiskey was distilled from a fermented mash of grains, primarily barley. In the 1600s gin was invented, a mixture of alcohol and water flavored with juniper berries. Later barley, corn, rye or sometimes even potatoes were mashed and distilled to make vodka. In the United States the very first distillery was established in New York City in 1640. In 1789 the first bourbon was distilled in Kentucky using corn mash. In Barbados sugar cane juice was fermented and distilled into rum and in Mexico fermented juice from the maguey plant was distilled into tequila.
By the 1800s a large-scale distilled spirits industry had been established in Europe and North America. Distilled spirits are usually clear in color but if they are aged in kegs to develop flavor as many whiskeys are, they may also take on an amber hue. The term proof is used to describe the alcohol content of a beverage. In the United States, the proof of a distilled beverage is twice the amount of its alcohol content. For example 100 proof whiskey is 50 percent alcohol. Proof is slightly different in Great Britain and Canada. Today in the United States distilled whiskey consumption has dropped as consumption of fermented beverages such as beer and wine have increased.
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