Small batch traditionally allows for good control and therefore good whiskey ...
Batch size growth associated problems As distilleries grew bigger, mashing basically scaled up from small batch to big batch, and yield didn't suffer. Fermentation scaled up from small batch to big batch as well, and this did created a major problem. Fermentation creates heat, and the bigger ferments created more heat. The warmer fermentations stressed out the yeast and produced multiple unwanted flavor compounds in the base beer, of which sulfur was (and is) the most important. In short? As distilleries got bigger, mashing didn't get compromised, but fermentation did. Yield didn't suffer, but flavors did. Interestingly enough, it took a few more decades for distillers to realize they actually had a problem.Bigger, uncontrolled ferments generate bad flavors that copper catalyses ...
Houston, we have a problem! In the 1960's new metallurgic innovations found their way into the distilling industry. As growing distilleries needed bigger stills, traditional copper stills were replaced with more modern stainless steel set-ups. And guess what? All of a sudden the whiskey they produced had bad, sulfur associated flavors in them! What had happened, was the following: copper reacts with sulfer. The traditional copper stills had managed to polish-up the bigger, overheated, sulfur-rich whiskey beer! Copper, it turned out, was a really good medicine for a bad ferment.With SS stills, sulfurs no longer got catalyzed, and bad ferments got exposed ...
The traditional solution The switch from copper to stainless steel stills brought to light a major problem: bigger ferments created off-flavors. The solution the industry rallied toward, was to switch back to copper stills. The copper catalyzed the sulfuric compounds to below the taste threshold, and the problem was solved. Or wasn't it? Bigger ferments, left unchallenged, grow too hot, stressing the yeast into making multiple unwanted flavors. Sulfur is the most significant of those and copper does a good job at cleaning up these sulfuric flavors, and at hiding the poorly managed ferments.So the distilling industry switched back to copper stills ...
Compromised solution Using copper stills, to counter bad ferments, is a treatment of effects, not a root cause solution. By allowing for non-optimized whiskey production via copper stills, the following set of new problems occurs:iStill gives you the control to make better whiskies ...
Design choices Because we optimize fermentation, the creation of undesired, bad flavors is minimized. As a result, we do not have to build our stills out of copper. This way, we can deliver a still that is easy to clean, does not cause copper particle contamination in your spirits, and has tremendous longevity. But if you decide you are going to do your fermentation quick & dirty anyhow, well, please know we have copper waffles that you can insert at the bottom of the column. It takes less than a minute to put them in place. It takes less than 10 seconds to take them out, when the run is done. They have the same surface area as a complete copper column, without the hassle.iStill copper waffles: well-used ...
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