While it is true that every alcoholic drink is different and that every single brand out there is unique in some way, we cannot deny the fact that everyone needs to go through the same steps when starting a distillery. For one thing, you’ll need to obtain a distilling license. Then, you will also need to create the perfect business plan, as well as make your company legal. Apart from that, you’ll have to worry about accounting and define your specific brand so that you can start marketing it the right way.
This should help you take the right steps through this process: https://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Distillery
Now, you could perhaps make some errors on your initial business plan or in your initial marketing efforts. But, there is one process that you certainly shouldn’t make any mistakes in, because those could cost you your entire business. To put it as simply as possible, you mustn’t make mistakes in the distilling process, because that would lead to poor-quality drinks and to the consequent failure of your business. So, while there are certain areas that you can learn as you go, you need to be quite knowledgeable in the area of actually distilling alcohol before setting up your business at all.
If you have some knowledge in that area already, but you’d like to improve it, then here is what you should do. Keep on reading, because I will give you a clearer picture on the actual alcohol distilling process, as well as help you understand which equipment you should get if you want to succeed in creating great quality drinks. So, let us take this one step at a time, and start answering one question after another.
What Is Alcohol Distilling?
The first question that you need to get your answer to is, without a doubt, the question of what alcohol distilling is to begin with. After all, if you don’t even know what this is, or how it works for that matter, you certainly won’t be able to set up a successful distillery. It would be like opening a coffee manufacturing firm without knowing how coffee is made. I suppose it is clear why learning this is important.
Basically, alcohol distillation is a process in which the liquid is actually distilled into vapor, only to be condensed into liquid again. I know that it sounds a bit like magic, but it can definitely be done quite easily with the right equipment. When you visit this website, you’ll certainly understand the importance of getting the right distillation equipment, and you’ll start adding things to your shopping list. We will get to the equipment a bit later, though, because there is still one more important question to answer first.
How Is It Done?
There are various steps that you’ll need to take in the process of alcohol distillation. All of those steps can be summed up into three different categories. So, if we look at it in a broader sense, we could say that there are three specific steps that you’ll need to take in the process of distilling alcohol. Let us now have a closer look at those steps.
1. Fermentation
Those who have dabbled in making beer or wine at one point or another in their lives will already know what fermentation is and how it works. It wouldn’t hurt to get reminded, though. Those who haven’t done this before in their lives will also be able to do it pretty easily if they simply learn how the process works, and we’ll explain that now.
First things first, you need to introduce sugar to the liquid and the yeast. After a while, the yeast will process the sugar into alcohol. And, of course, once all the sugar has been used up, the yeast will stop producing alcohol, because it will have no more material for it. Now, depending on the type of alcohol, you can use different sugar sources, but grains are used most commonly.
2. Distillation
After the fermentation process has been finished, the liquid will be heated in a still, that can take many forms, but that always consists of a boiler, a condenser and a column. The temperature is then slowly increased 190 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point the liquid will vaporize and rise through the column. After it reaches the condenser, the liquid will come in contact with a cold surface, which will make it condense back into liquid state. So, the magic that I have described above is, as you can see, actually pure science.
3. Finishing
There is just one more thing to be done before bottling, and it is referred to as the finishing process. This particular process has a few different steps, and your choice will depend on the actual alcohol type that you are making. There is filtering, done to smooth out the flavors. Then, there is flavoring, which you can use to add some commercial flavor types, or to soak fruit into spirits, or use certain spices. And then, there is also oaking or aging, used for whiskey, scotch, bourbon and other brown spirits.
What Equipment Should You Get?
Now that you know how the distillation process works and what it entails, you will have to get the proper equipment to do it all. Naturally, you will need to invest in a fermenter and a still, but there are also some other equipment pieces that you should get. Those include mills, mash tuns, as well as packaging equipment.
It goes without saying that you want to get high quality equipment when setting up your distillery, which is why you’ll need to be careful when deciding where to buy it. The key is in finding great, reputable suppliers that can offer perfect quality products. So, do your research on various different ones and don’t forget to check their reputation, among other things. Once you find your supplier, simply order the products, wait for them to arrive, set everything up and start your alcohol distilling process.
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