Pot Still Vs Column Still

But the rudimentarily reliable pot still remains king in some important circles.

The day the earth stood still 1951. As mentioned above distillation stills come in two main varieties. Pot stills and column stills. Pot stills are used to make many of the worlds great spirit styles such as single malt scotch cognac many rums and most mezcal.

In this ep rex and daniel explore the pros and. The science of pot stills vs. A pot still at its simplest consists of a large kettle or pot which is heated from the bottom boiling off the alcohol and allowing the vapors to be sent to a condenser and separated.

Their fundamental processes are the same though there are important differences to understand. Conversely large industrial column stills make the bulk of the alcohol produced on earth. The obvious starting point in any discussion of whiskey distillation is pot stills versus column stills.

Whats the difference between the two. A critical piece of any good distillery is its still. Also known as a patent or continuous still but best known these days as a column still coffeys still behaves like a series of pot stills all linked together stacked on top of each other.

This still had a pot still type kettle but replaced the traditional lyne arm and cooling worm with a vertical column of perforated plates. Using a pot still vs a column still by shane baker to distill a quality high wine suitable for kentucky bourbon it needs to be double distilled and have the proper cuts made keeping the right amount of flavor from the mixture of alcohols and congeners and avoiding the congeners that make it taste bad from a pot still or a column still. The varieties to know are pot and column distillation named after the stills in which they take place.

Pot still distillation 101. The purpose of the doubler or thumper is to bring the spirit up to a higher alcoholic strength. But whats the best kind of still for making whiskey.

Many bourbons undergo the first distillation in a column still and then undergo their second distillation in a pot still attached to the column still also known as a thumper or doubler. Although many of the details of cellier blumenthals column were improved upon in later years the general concept was to provide the basis for future column still designs. The liquid to be distilled falls through each chamber from the top of the column while superheated steam comes up from the bottom.