Origins/history of distillation. The distillery brewhouse, corn cooking, starch gelatinization and solubilisation. Use of enzymes; Measurement of alcohol strength, theory of distillation, boiling, evaporation, volatility of alcohol, water and congeners. Alcohol/water relationship, latent heat of evaporation. Congeners and impurities. Batch vs continuous distillation, batch pot still distillation: operation/reflux/entrainment. Condenser design and operation – shell and tube condensers, worm condensers. Condensation, latent heat and spirit character/strength. Tail pipes, spirit collection and receivers. Role of copper in potable spirit distillation. Copper stills/condensers. Link between spirit quality, cleaning and copper wear. Copper salts in new-made spirits. Column distillation – two column systems. Basics of column still operation, continuous steady state operation. Steam supply, feedstock input, theory of column still operation, rectifying/stripping. Commercial two-column still systems. Neutral spirit production (gin and vodka) and the use of three-column stills to produce flavour-free alcohol. Batch versus Continuous Distillation Basic operation of batch distillation, multi-stage distillation. Material balance of water and alcohol. Heads and tails. Operating stills during production periods. Batch distillation using pot stills with plates. Triple distillation in pot stills. Cut points to control flavour. High volatility and low volatility congeners, removal of unwanted congeners, distillation end points. Collection of distillate: Design/operation of various spirit safes. Foreshots testing. The spirit to feints cut. Feints to foreshots receiver. Column distillation: Operation of a commercial two-column distillation system. Stripper, rectifier columns, fusil oil removal. Control and balance of two-column operations, the use of copper, plate design and maintenance, column plates and still operation. Column vs pot stills. Batch distillation using column stills. Non-Coffey (NC) versus Coffey stills. Control of product rectification in Coffey stills. The two column ‘modified Barbet’ still. Design and operation of continuous stills for neutral spirit, hydroextractive distillation.

Raw Materials for Spirits Production Grapes: Cultivation/varieties. Composition of must. Grape harvesting, pressing, must production. Composition and structure of grapes, ripening, sugar content, acidity. Must treatment: removal of solids, sufliting, addition of yeast nutrients/Free Amino Nitrogen/diammonium phosphate. Molasses: As a raw material for distilling. Types: sugar cane/sugar beet. Composition, harvesting, refining, juice extraction. Production of molasses. Analysis: chemical and microbiological. Molasses pre-treatment (‘mashing’), addition of yeast nutrients/pH adjustment. Sterilizing of molasses

Whiskey/cereal distillation Types of whiskey, whiskey flavour. Terminology. Continuous (column) distillation for grain whiskey and Grain Neutral Spirit. Pot distillation for malt whiskey. The distillation process for malt whiskey. Design of the still house, wash receiver, wash pre-boiler, still body, still head and reflux, purifiers. Malt distillery still house operation. Grape brandy distillation Grape brandies, fruit brandies. Brandy flavour and blending. Brandy rectification. Grape distillation for neutral spirit. Operation of batch (pot) still for brandy production. Simple batch distillation of brandy/Cognac pot still system. Armagnac continuous column stills. Rum distillation Different kinds of rum: Light rums and heavy rums. Rum flavour, rectification of rum and neutral spirit produced from molasses. The use of high alcohol-producing strains for the latter

Rum fermentation: Light rum, similar to neutral spirit. High alcohol-producing yeast strains, high fermentation temperatures. Heavy rum: High levels of esters and butyric acid. Flavour production during fermentation, flavour production by wild yeasts/bacteria/selected Saccharomyces species. Use of Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Clostridium saccharobutyricum. Effect of temperature, pressure and fusel alcohol levels on ester production. Cereals Malt, barley and other cereals – as in brewing.

1. Wine fermentation. 2. Rum fermentation and chemical analysis of molasses. 3. Effect of nutrient addition on yeast growth in molasses and wine must. 4. Effect of must treatment such as sulfiting on wine production/quality. 5. Flavour analysis (GC) of beer, wine and distilled fermentation products. 6. Comparing yeast propagation with commercial dried yeast products for pitching beer, wine and rum fermentations. 7. Comparing ‘natural’ fermentations with propagated yeast inoculation.

1. Construction of a ethanol / water vapour equilibrium chart 2. New Make Spirit from a Multi-stage Pot Still 3. Pot Stills Fitted With Plates 4. The effects of copper on the flavour of new make spirit