How whiskey is made?
The whiskey production process takes several steps and may not seem too complicated. However, at any stage, something can make it difficult or impossible to create a wholesome drink.
Blurring
It all starts with mashing, that is, milling of barley - malt whiskey. Fermentation cannot be started without grinding. In this process, a so-called mill is produced, consisting in 10% from flour, 20% from the chaff and in 70% from pure starch. The mill is placed in mash vats. The capacity of each of these vats can be as high as 20 cubic meters. The contents of the vat are poured several times with hot water (it has a temperature of 60 do 90 degrees). A wort is produced very similar to this one, which is created in the beer production process. The wort is drained, a to, what's left, can be used as an additive to animal feed.
Fermentation
When the wort has cooled down to approx 20 degrees, can be poured into a fermentation vat. At a higher temperature, yeast, that will ferment, they might not survive.
If you think, that the mash vats are enormous, then you are not quite right. The fermentation vats can have a capacity of more than 70 thousand liters. They are made of Oregon pine, which is traditional, but with more difficult material to clean, or made of acid-resistant steel, which supposedly does not change the taste of the whiskey, a is definitely easier to keep clean. The same procedure of converting wood into steel is used by American whiskey producers, thus lowering the cost of producing alcohol.
After 48 hours after inoculation (inoculation of the wort with whiskey distillery yeast) an intermediate remains in the vat, which in fact is not much different from beer. About that, what strains of yeast a particular distillery uses, impossible to find out, because it is a best kept secret.
Distillation
Whiskey distillation has two passes. After the first, a solution is obtained with a concentration of approx 20%, while after the second, the whiskey reaches its target strength. This, however, is not yet unusual. The fact is more remarkable, that malt whiskey cannot be distilled in a continuous distillation apparatus. Means, that an expensive and less efficient alembic distillation process is carried out. While the first distillation is a relatively simple process, in the second time things get more complicated. It is necessary to divide the products of distillation into three classes: forerun, spirit and chase. Only properly purified spirit is suitable for aging, but the forerun and the pursuit, containing many chemical compounds, which cannot be in whiskey, they must be returned to the stills.
On average, one ton of barley is obtained 400 liters of concentrated spirit 96%.
Aging
Alcohol, after dilution with demineralized water, aged in barrels. The necessary condition is the use of barrels, which previously aged bourbon, cherry, or another drink of a similar nature. The minimum maturation period of whiskey is three years. So if you don't find the age statement on the label, probably the liquor in question is this, which lay only a minimum and not a day longer. Numerous chemical reactions take place during the aging process, which create a unique flavor, and most of all the whiskey aroma, therefore, longer-aged drinks are considered to be better, fuller and more perfect.
Part of the drink evaporates during aging in barrels. This is later topped up with water to equalize the alcohol concentration. Of course, the cavities are not great, about 1% on the rock, but they still cause changes in concentration, which in the final product should amount to 40-43%.
