After the American Civil War, however, distilleries were getting larger, and demand for whiskey was great. The use of the column still was slow to take off in America at first for these reasons. The column still and boiler were also very expensive pieces of equipment compared to a simple pot still.
COPPER STILL FULL
It was a continuous still fired by steam from a boiler which meant it took a lot of beer to feed the still and take full advantage of the process. This still allowed the distiller to make a lot of alcohol inexpensively and to reach higher proof levels than could easily be done in a pot still. In Ireland, in the year 1830, Aeneas Coffey, developed his still, an early version of the column still. After the American Civil War, most distillers were advertising their whiskey as “Old Fashioned, Fire Copper, Pot Still Whiskey”. The smaller, farmer-distillers, using copper pots and wood fire were making the whiskey everyone wanted. After a couple of years the business went bankrupt. The distillery had two huge copper pot stills and made a lot of whiskey, but evidently could not sell it. In Kentucky, the Hope Distillery, built about 1818, was the first to use steam power to heat their stills and power their mills. Steam heating of the stills was the next improvement in distillation technology. Distilled spirits were also easier to take to market than the grains or fruits themselves. Not every pioneer could afford a copper pot still and some made their stills out of hollowed-out logs, but they needed to distill excess grain and fruits to use as barter. As people moved west into western Pennsylvania and Kentucky in the 18 th century, they took copper pot stills with them. When America first started distilling alcohol in 1640, copper pot stills were being used. These stills were heated using wood fires. They were making alcohol from fruit and grain. Many distilleries are using stainless steel columns because of their durability, but these stills will still be partially made of copper. Copper is still the metal of choice for whiskey distillation. Distillers realized that copper was instrumental in removing sulfurous flavors from distilled spirits. These stills and worms were made of copper because it is a durable material, yet easy to shape and transfers heat very well. It allowed the distiller to make a higher proof alcohol. However the next improvement to the distillation process came out of Germany in the 16 th century in the addition of the “worm” to the pot still. These stills were simple pots with a neck and were not very efficient.
It could be Egyptian in origin where it was commonly used to make perfumes, or it could be a Chinese invention, as the Chinese knew about distilled alcohol. Both papers state that the exact origin of the still is unknown. Liebmann, wrote a paper titled “History of Distillation’ for the Journal of Chemical Education. Underwood, presented a paper titled “The Historical Development of Distilling Plant” at the Hotel Victoria in London for the Institute of Chemical Engineers. There are two very interesting papers written on the subject of distillation that discuss the origin of distillation. The still has been around for a long time. The one piece of equipment that defines the distilling industry is the still.
0 kommentar(er)
