How Is Whisky Made?
There are literally hundreds of whisky recipes to choose from all with their own delightful flavors and characteristic. Different whiskys from different countries reflect the countries’ rich heritage. Whisky has been part of shaping the country. Whisky certainly has special importance to countries where it was made.
Some of different whisky recipes include: Brandy, Rum, Vodka and Gin. Brandy is made up of distilled wine. Rum is a spirit distilled from sugarcane juices or molasses. Vodka is a spirit distilled from grain but it is not aged and lastly Gin is also distilled from grain unaged but flavored with juniper berries and other ingredients.
Making whisky is a process that has been refined by manufactures for centuries. The art of distilling which spread westward was passed on from generation to generation. Whisky recipes were spreading faster because of increasing popularity. Despite heavy duties and restrictions imposed by governments down the years and despite destructive wars that impeded whisky production at some point, nothing has been able to stop whisky becoming the biggest selling short drinks in the whole world. The production of whisky is almost the same with beer but the difference is that whisky making process involves distillation because whisky is intended to have a high alcohol percentage.
Here is the entire process of producing whisky:
Take the barley and soak it in water give the barley moisture content for it to develop into malt. This process is called germination.
Once it germinated into malt you need to remove the excess moisture through the process of drying. In order to perform the process you have to transfer the malt into the malt kiln. What you need to do is to spread the malt into the floor and slightly expose it to heat to allow the excess moisture to evaporate. After the process you have a less moisture in the malt. The moisture is reduced to 41% in this stage.
Put the malt into the malt bin. The bin will crush it and then make the dressing and the result is malt mill. From malt mill you produce what is called crist. Crist is the dust part of the malt.
Take the crist and mix it with hot water inside mashing tun.
Add hops into the mashing tun.
After mixing crist, hot water and hops inside the mashing tun then next to do is to separate the liquid from solid ingredients.
The screening process will allow you to get the liquid part called wort or sweet wort.
The wort is supposed to be poured into the fermentation tank. In the fermentation tank you will add the yeast. The yeast is necessary in the process of fermentation. The yeast will convert that carbohydrates in the liquid into alcohol.
After fermentation you will now undergo the distillation stage.
Put the fermented mixture in the copper tunnel.
Heat the copper tunnel. The heating is intended to make the alcohol evaporated. The alcohol is being collected and transferred into collecting chamber.
Repeat the process several times until you get the concentrated alcohol.
After distillation you have to cool it.
After cooling you need to subject it to aging process for several years.
This is the process that different whisky recipes must undergo. Have you ever tried to make your own whisky?