food and bev assignment

7/31/2019 Food and Bev Assignment

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Michelles assignment

The Process of Making Gin

The botanicals contain essential oils immediately below the skin of the seed, berry, peel or bark

and it is the extraction of this in the presence of alcohol that gives gin its unique flavour.

The method used is batch distillation in a pot still. This is a complete operation like malt

whisky rather than continuous running of the stills as in the production of grain whisky. One of

the main stills used is over 100 years old and going strong. All our stills are traditional copper

construction and our largest is over 10,000 litres.

The alcohol is charged into the pot of the still and reduced with water before the botanicals are

added in carefully controlled amounts. The still lid is then shut and locked. (The alcohol has to

be reduced in strength, as pure spirit would harden the skins of the botanicals and make the

extraction of the oils more difficult).

Depending upon the individual recipe, a delicate pre-heating process is sometimes undertaken

and the complete charge is left for some hours, often overnight, to macerate. At the correct

time, the distillation starts with heat applied to the charge in the case of our Gins, through a

steam jacket encasing the bottom of the still. Initially the stillman will apply enough steam to

make the alcohol boil. As soon as the vaporised spirit starts to come over the top of the still,

the pressure must be reduced, the valve perhaps being only just cracked; otherwise there is

danger of entrainment that is, the whole distillation coming over too soon.

The vapours pass through the swan neck at the top of the still to a water-cooled condenser

(using water from our own underground springs and stream). The initial part of the distillate,

the heads, are impure and are run off into the feints vats until the gin is of the standard and

quality required. The spirit passes through a spirit safe where the quality is monitored before

going into holding vats. The nose of the distiller is critical at this stage of the process.

The pure gin will come over at varying levels to give a final strength of about 80%. When the

strength coming over falls to below about 60% the impurities, turpenes and camphenes will

start to come through so these tails are switched to the feints vats. The steam pressure is

then raised again so that the whole distillate comes over, leaving just water and spentbotanicals in the still. The feints are re-distilled in a rectifying still that has a tall neck containing

scrubbing plates, which remove the impurities so that the recovered pure alcohol can be used

again to make gin.

At this stage the distillate does not taste or have the subtle aromas of our beloved final

product.


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The resulting concentrate cannot be used to make gin without a very important and skilful

process of blending with alcohol to produce a high strength gin at over 90% that in turn is

reduced in strength prior to bottling. The blending process takes skill and time to carefully

consummate the marriage between the crafted concentrate and alcohol to yield a gin of

distinction.

Quality materials, skilled distillers and great attention to detail are all unseen factors that help

deliver that famous aroma and taste.

The result is a top quality fully distilled London Dry Gin worthy of carrying your brand. Our Gins

used for customers own brands regularly win prizes in independent world recognised

competitions.

http://www.alcohols.co.uk/gin_distillation.php

Part 2

There are several methods of producing gin. The European Community Regulation 110/2008,

which governs spirit drinks, defines three:

First and most important is London Gin which is produced by the traditional methoddescribed below. Plymouth gin is made in a similar manner.

Secondly, gin can be made from any spirit alcohol made from agricultural product whichmeets the neutral alcohol requirements laid down in the spirit drink regulation. The

neutral alcohol must be distilled to a minimum of 96% abv and the residues must not

exceed those stated in the neutral alcohol definition. The finest raw materials for this

'neutral' spirit are either grain (normally barley or maize) or molasses. The best neutralalcohol has no flavour at all.

Thirdly, gin can be produced by simply flavouring suitable alcohol with flavouringsubstances which give a predominant taste of juniper; this method is technically known

as 'compounding'.

The flavouring ingredients are all natural and are referred to as 'botanicals'. The type and

quantity of each producer's botanicals vary according to their own closely guarded recipes; all

are carefully selected and tested for purity and quality. All gins include juniper as an ingredient:

other botanicals used are coriander, angelica, orange peel, lemon peel, cardomom, cinnamon,

grains of paradise, cubeb berries and nutmeg. Typically a fine gin contains six to ten botanicals.

Like all gins, London gin should have a predominant juniper flavour.

The detailed processes for the distillation do vary between producers. In most cases the spirit is

diluted by adding pure water to reach the required strength of about 45% ABV. This is pumped

into a still normally made of copper and the flavouring ingredients are added to it and it is then
http://www.alcohols.co.uk/gin_distillation.phphttp://www.alcohols.co.uk/gin_distillation.phphttp://www.alcohols.co.uk/gin_distillation.php


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left to steep. Some producers place the botanicals in a tray over the spirit.

The still is heated, using a steam coil or jacket, to remove from the botanicals the essential oils

(less than 5% of the weight) which give the flavouring to the spirit. The first distillate 'runnings'

are re-circulated until an appropriate standard and strength (over 90% ABV) is reached. Thelower quality early part of the run ('foreshots') and end of the run ('feints') as judged by the skill

and experience of the 'Stillman' are run off to be redistilled. Only the 'middle run' is used to

produce high quality gin; this is run off at about 80-85% ABV. The product then goes through a

quality control 'Tasting Panel' and may also be analysed by gas chromatography to ensure that

it meets the required specification. This ensures product consistency. Only further neutral

alcohol, water and minute amount of sugar can be added after distillation.

Distilled gin is made in a similar way to London gin. Production differs from London in that it is

permitted to add further flavourings, both natural and artificial.

The gin is then brought to the required EU legal minimum alcohol level - at least 37.5% ABV to

meet EC regulations, although some gins have a higher level - by the addition of pure

demineralised water. It is now ready for bottling as it does not require any period of

maturation.

The last method is a cheaper method of producing gin. Essential oils are either extracted from

botanicals by distillation or pressed out. These are added to the appropriate water. The product

of this 'cold compounding' may be called 'gin' under EC rules but not 'distilled' or 'London' gin.

This process used to be used to ensure that the quality of the alcohol was satisfactory before

the distillation process took place. Advances in the production of neutral spirit have made this

process unnecessary.

http://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginProduction.asp

2. The Production of Vodka

Vodka can be made from many different kinds of agricultural materials. In the EU it is usually

produced from grain or molasses. In Eastern Europe it is also produced from potatoes, or rice.

Neutral spirit of at least 96% alcohol by volume (ABV), having been checked that it is of the

appropriate quality is either redistilled to produce a pure and flavourless spirit or filtered

through activated charcoal which removes any residual impurities and odours. The definition of

activated charcoal is that which has been treated either by steam or chemicals to make it more

absorbent.
http://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginProduction.asphttp://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginProduction.asphttp://www.ginvodka.org/history/ginProduction.asp


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In many cases, the spirit is redistilled once or twice then blended with pure demineralised

water, reducing its ABV to about 55% before being filtered through the charcoal. Filtration is

done by either pumping the vodka through several consecutive columns of charcoal or, in the

case of cheaper vodkas simply seeping it into tanks containing charcoal.

Very pure water is now added to the spirit to give the legal EU minimum ABV strength of atleast 37.5%; it is not unusual to have vodkas of up to 50% ABV. This pure spirit drink does not

legally require anything adding to it although some producers include additives to improve the

characteristics whilst others introduce flavouring by either adding natural essences or by

steeping fruits or herbs in the vodka for several days. No maturation period is required for

vodka.

http://www.ginvodka.org/history/vodkaProduction.asp

Production of Brandy

Background

The name brandy comes from the Dutch word brandewijn, meaning "burnt wine." The name is

apt as most brandies are made by applying heat, originally from open flames, to wine. The heat

drives out and concentrates the alcohol naturally present in the wine. Because alcohol has a

lower boiling point (172F, 78C) than water (212'F, 100C), it can be boiled off while the water

portion of the wine remains in the still. Heating a liquid to separate components with different

boiling points is called heat distillation. While brandies are usually made from wine or other

fermented fruit juices, it can be distilled from any liquid that contains sugar. All that is required

is that the liquid be allowed to ferment and that the resulting mildly-alcoholic product not be

heated past the boiling point of water. The low-boiling point liquids distilled from wine include

almost all of the alcohol, a small amount of water, and many of the wine's organic chemicals. It

is these chemicals that give brandy its taste and aroma.

Almost every people have their own national brandy, many of which are not made from wine:

grappa in Italy is made from grape skins, slivivitz in Poland is made from plums, shochu in Japan

is made from rice, and bourbon in the United States is made from corn. Beer brandy is better

known as Scotch whiskey. It is universally acknowledged that the finest brandies are the French

cognacs that are distilled from wine.

Brandies are easy to manufacture. A fermented liquid is boiled at a temperature between the

boiling point of ethyl alcohol and the boiling point of water. The resulting vapors are collected

and cooled. The cooled vapors contain most of the alcohol from the original liquid along with

some of its water. To drive out more of the water, always saving the alcohol, the distillation

process can be repeated several times depending on the alcohol content desired. This process

is used to produce both fine and mass-produced brandy, though the final products are

dramatically different.
http://www.ginvodka.org/history/vodkaProduction.asphttp://www.ginvodka.org/history/vodkaProduction.asphttp://www.ginvodka.org/history/vodkaProduction.asp


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History

It is unknown when people discovered that food could be converted to alcohol through

fermentation. It appears that the discovery of fermentation occurred simultaneously with the

rise of the first civilizations, which may not be a coincidence. At about the same time that

people in Europe discovered that apple and grape juiceoth containing fructoseould fermentinto hard cider and wine, people in the Middle East discovered that grainshich contain

maltoseould naturally ferment into beer, and people in Asia discovered that horse

milkontaining lactoseould naturally ferment into airag. The first distilled liquor may in fact have

been horse milk brandy, with the alcohol separated from fermented horses' milk by freezing

out the water during the harsh Mongolian winter.

It is also not known when it was discovered that the alcohol in fermented liquids could be

concentrated by heat distillation. Distilled spirits were made in India as long ago as 800 B.C. The

Arabic scientist Jabir ibn Hayyan, known as Geber in the West, described distillation in detail in

the eighth century. Regardless of its origin, alcohol was immensely important in the ancientworld. In Latin, brandy is known as aqua vitae, which translates as "water of life." The French

still refer to brandy as eau de vie meaning exactly the same thing. The word whiskey comes

from the Gaelic phrase uisge beatha also meaning water of life. People in the Middle Ages

attributed magical, medicinal properties to distilled spirits, recommending it as a cure for

almost every health problem.

Raw Materials

The raw materials used in brandy production are liquids that contain any form of sugar. French

brandies are made from the wine of the St. illion, Colombard (or Folle Blanche) grapes.

However, anything that will ferment can be distilled and turned into a brandy. Grapes, apples,blackberries, sugar cane, honey, milk, rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, and rye are all commonly

fermented and distilled. In a time of shortage, desperate people will substitute anything to have

access to alcohol. During World War II, people in London made wine out of cabbage leaves and

carrot peels, which they subsequently distilled to produce what must have been a truly vile

form of brandy.

Heat, used to warm the stills, is the other main raw material required for brandy production. In

France, the stills are usually heated with natural gas. During the Middle Ages it would have

required about 20 ft4

of wood (0.6 m4) to produce 25 gal (100 l) of brandy.

The Manufacturing Process

The fine brandy maker's objective is to capture the alcohol and agreeable aromas of the

underlying fruit, and leave all of the off-tastes and bitter chemicals behind in the waste water.

Making fine brandy is an art that balances the requirement to remove the undesirable flavors

with the necessity of preserving the character of the underlying fruit. Mass-produced brandies

can be made out of anything as the intent of the people is to remove all of the flavors, both


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good or bad, and produce nothing but alcoholaste is added later. Fine brandies are required to

retain the concentrated flavor of the underlying fruit.

The Eighteenth Amendment made it a crime to make, sell, transport, import, or export liquor. It

is the only amendment to be repealed by another (the Twenty-first). The Prohibition era (1920-

1933) had been a long time in coming. From the mid-nineteenth century through the beginningof World War I, a growing movement demanded a prohibition on alcohol. When members of

Congress finally bowed to pressure from prohibition supporters and passed a constitutional

amendment, many did so under the belief that it would not be endorsed by the states. In fact, a

clause was added to make it more likely not be sanctioned: if three-quarters of the states did

not ratify the amendment before seven years had expired, it would be deemed inoperative.

The amendment was passed by Congress in December 1917 and ratified by three-quarters of

the states by January 1919. The popularity of the amendment disappeared soon after it was put

into effect. The Volstead Act of 1919 banned beer and wine, something few people had

anticipated, and in the minds of many Prohibition became a mistake. Crime rose as gangsters

took advantage of the ban on alcohol by making huge profits in bootlegging and smuggling.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned for president in 1932, he called for the repeal of

Prohibition. His opponent, President Herbert Hoover, called it "an experiment noble in motive."

Roosevelt won the election and his Democratic party won control of the government. Within

months the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed.

.

Fine brandy

1. The first step in making fine brandies is to allow the fruit juice (typically grape) toferment. This usually means placing the juice, or must as it is known in the distilling

trade, in a large vat at 68-77F (20-25C) and leaving it for five days. During this period,

natural yeast present in the distillery environment will ferment the sugar present in the

must into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The white wine grapes used for most fine brandy

usually ferment to an alcohol content of around 10%.

2. Fine brandies are always made in small batches using pot stills. A pot still is simply alarge pot, usually made out of copper, with a bulbous top.

3. The pot still is heated to the point where the fermented liquid reaches the boiling pointof alcohol. The alcohol vapors, which contain a large amount of water vapor, rise in the

still into the bulbous top.

4. The vapors are funneled from the pot still through a bent pipe to a condenser where thevapors are chilled, condensing the vapors back to a liquid with a much higher alcohol

content. The purpose of the bulbous top and bent pipe is to allow undesirable

compounds to condense and fall back into the still. Thus, these elements do not end up

in the final product.

5. Most fine brandy makers double distill their brandy, meaning they concentrate thealcohol twice. It takes about 9 gal (34 1) of wine to make I gal (3.8 1) of brandy. After the


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first distillation, which takes about eight hours, 3,500 gal (13,249 1) of wine have been

converted to about 1,200 gal (4,542 1) of concentrated liquid (not yet brandy) with an

alcohol content of 26-32%. The French limit the second distillation (la bonne chauffe) to

batches of 660 gal (2,498 1). The product of the second distillation has an alcohol

content of around 72%. The higher the alcohol content the more neutral (tasteless) the

brandy will be. The lower the alcohol content, the more of the underlying flavors willremain in the brandy, but there is a much greater chance that off flavors will also make

their way into the final product.

6. The brandy is not yet ready to drink after the second distillation. It must first be placedin oak casks and allowed to age, an important step in the production process. Most

brandy consumed today, even fine brandy, is less than six years old. However, some fine

brandies are more than 50 years old. As the brandy ages, it absorbs flavors from the oak

while its own structure softens, becoming less astringent. Through evaporation, brandy

will lose about 1% of its alcohol per year for the first 50 years or so it is "on oak."

7. Fine brandy can be ready for bottling after two years, some after six years, and somenot for decades. Some French cognacs are alleged to be from the time of Napoleon.

However, these claims are unlikely to be true. A ploy used by the cognac makers is to

continually remove 90% of the cognac from an old barrel and then refill it with younger

brandy. It does not take many repetitions of this tactic to dilute any trace of the

Napoleonic-age brandy.

8. Fine brandies are usually blended from many different barrels over a number ofvintages. Some cognacs can contain brandy from up to a 100 different barrels. Because

most brandies have not spent 50 years in the barrel, which would naturally reduce their

alcohol contents to the traditional 40%, the blends are diluted with distilled water until

they reach the proper alcohol content. Sugar, to simulate age in young brandies, is

added along with a little caramel to obtain a uniform color consistency across the entire

production run. The resulting product can cost anywhere from $25 to $500 or evenmore for very rare brandy.

Mass-produced brandy

1. Mass-produced brandy, other than having the same alcohol content, has very little incommon with fine brandy. Both start with wine, though the mass-produced brandies

are likely to be made from table grape varieties like the Thompson Seedless rather than

from fine wine grapes. Instead of the painstaking double distillation in small batches,

mass-produced brandies are made via fractional distillation in column stills. Column stills

are sometimes called continuous stills as raw material is continuously poured into thetop while the final product and wastes continuously come out of the side and bottom.

2. A column still is about 30-ft (9-m) high and contains a series of horizontal, hollow bafflesthat are interconnected. Hot wine is poured into the top of the column while steam is

run through the hollow baffles; the steam and wine do not mix directly. The alcohol and

other low boiling point liquids in the wine evaporate. The vapors rise while the non-

alcoholic liquids fall. As the still is cooler at the top, the rising vapors eventually get to a


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part of the still where they will condense, each type of vapor at a temperature just

above its own boiling point.

3. Once they have recondensed, the liquids begin to move downward in the still. As theyfall, they boil again. This process of boiling and condensing, rising and falling, happens

over and over again in the column. The various components of the wine fraction and

collect in the column where the temperature is just below the boiling point of thatcomponent. This allows the ethyl alcohol condensate to be bled out of the column at

the height where it collects. The resulting product is a pure spirit, colorless, odorless,

and tasteless, with an alcohol content of about 96.5%. At 96.5% alcohol, it can be used

to fuel automobiles. It can be diluted and called vodka or diluted and flavored with

juniper berries and called gin.

4. Mass-produced brandies are also aged in oak casks and pick up some flavors from them.Like its fine counterpart, the brandies are blended, diluted to around 40% alcohol, and

bottled.

Quality Control

The quality control process for fine brandies involves trained tasters with years of experience

sampling brandy. A large cognac house might have 10,000 barrels of brandy in its cellars, each

of which must be tasted annually. Hence, most of the brandy "tasting" involves only smelling, as

tasting several hundred barrels of brandy in a day would result in alcohol poisoning. The tasters

usually "taste" each of the barrels at least once a year to assess how it is aging and to evaluate

it for its blending qualities. Brandies that pick up off-flavors during distillation are discarded.

As mass-produced brandies are manufactured to be odorless and tasteless, the only real quality

control required is to check their alcohol content. Because alcohol is less dense than water, the

alcohol content of brandy can be checked with a hydrometer. A hydrometer is a glass float witha rod sticking out the top of it. The rod is calibrated so that a line on the rod will be exactly at

the liquid surface if the hydrometer is floating in water. As alcohol is less dense than water, the

hydrometer will sink deeper in alcohol than it will in water. By calibrating the rod scale with

different blends of known alcohol content, it can be used to determine the percentage of

alcohol in a water/alcohol mixture.

Byproducts/Waste

The waste products from brandy production include the solids from the wine production and

the liquids left over from the still. The solids from brandy production can be used for animalfeed or be composted. The liquid wastes are usually allowed to evaporate in shallow ponds.

This allows the residual alcohol in the waste to go into the atmosphere, but the United States

Environmental Protection Agency does not consider this to be a major pollutant source.


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The Future

For the foreseeable future, the vast bulk of all the brandies will be produced in column stills.

However, there is an increasing interest in luxury goods throughout the world. Not just fine

brandies, but Calvados (fine apple brandy) and slivovitz (fine plum brandy) are getting

increasing amounts of attention from collectors and ordinary citizens.

http://www.enotes.com/brandy-reference/brandy

"Brandy" is derived from brandywijn, a word of Dutch origin for burnt". Created in a still to

leave the water and remove the alcoholic vapour which condenses back into liquid form as it

cools. In other languages too, it is the burning that is the essential feature.
http://www.enotes.com/brandy-reference/brandyhttp://www.enotes.com/brandy-reference/brandyhttp://www.enotes.com/brandy-reference/brandy


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Cider Making

This page is organised into several sections. The principle stages of the fermentation are

described, followed by an overview of the cider making process, a discussion of thecharacteristics of the apple juice, the microbiology of the process, the changes in the

composition of the cider during fermentation, and finally a description of how to make your

own cider. Don't be put off by the technical detail, you don't need to know any of it to make

your own high quality cider - just skip direct to the home cider making section, but if you are

interested, I hope that this document satisfies your curiosity. There's a further reading section

at the end if you want to know more. I'd be more than glad to have your feedback, questions

(although I don't promise to be able to answer them all!) and so on. This document is as

accurate as I can make it, but you're on your own - I don't accept any liability for the contents!

the editor

Principles of Fermentation

Cider is made from apple juice which has undergone two different kinds of fermentation. The

first fermentation is carried out by yeasts which have either been added deliberately or which

are naturally present on the apple skins. This fermentation converts sugars to ethanol and the

higher alcohols (fusel alcohols). The second fermentation, the malo-lactic fermentation

converts L(-)-malic acid to L(+)-lactic acid and carbon dioxide. This fermentation is carried out

by lactic acid bacteria which are present in the apple juice and also in the area in which the

fermentation is carried out. The malo-lactic fermentation can occur concurrently with the yeast

fermentation but more often it is delayed until the fully fermented cider reaches 15 C, normally

in the late spring or early summer of the year following that in which the cider was made.

The Cider Making Process

Traditional cider making starts with the picking of the apples. These are left to mature for a

week and then tipped into a "scratcher" which crushes the apples. In more modern plants the

apples are reduced to a pulp in a grater type mill made of stainless steel. The apple pulp is

known as the pomace or pommy

Next the pulp must be crushed to extract the juice. This is done in a cider press. Several types of

press are used. The traditional type is a rack and cloth press (sometimes known as a packpress). In this type of press a sheet of sisal or hessian is placed across the bottom of a square

frame above a trough. A layer of pomace, 4-5 inches deep, is poured onto the hessian. The

hessian is folded over the pomace, completely enclosing it. Another sheet of hessian is placed

on top of the first and the process repeated until the layers fill the frame. The cider press is

then racked down onto the layers and the juice runs into the trough. The pomace is pressed

until it is solid and no more juice runs out. The press is then racked up, the layers of pomace are

broken up by hand, and the whole lot is re-pressed. In modern plants mechano- hydraulically
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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operated plate presses are used. The pressed pomace is either dried in hot air to 12% moisture

and used for manufacture of pectin, or it is directly sold on for cattle feed.

The freshly pressed juice may be fermented straight away. In some commercial operations it is

concentrated and stored for later conversion to cider, in which case it is extensively treated to

pasturise it and to remove pectin. The fresh juice may be fermented in one of two differentways. Traditionally the juice is run into a wooden pipe (a barrel which can contain 120 gallons)

or smaller wooden barrels, and the bung of the barrel is removed. No yeast is added, traditional

cider making relies on wild yeasts. The fermentation starts in 1-2 days and continues for several

weeks, during which time the barrel is topped up with more cider. When fermentation is over,

the bung is replaced and the cider matured for 5-6 months.

Alternatively the juice is treated with sulphur dioxide to inhibit natural wild yeasts, and is then

fermented with added pure yeast cultures. This method is used in high output commercial

operations. After the initial fermentation subsides, the cider is left for the yeast to settle, and it

is either racked and/or centrifuged and placed into storage tanks. Storage may last 12-18

months, and the cider is blended with new and old ciders to moderate any excessive changes

thus maintaining a consistent flavour profile year on year. These cider blends are nearly always

cleared by centrifugation or kieselguhr filtration. This type of cider is sterilised by sterile

filtration or flash pasteurization and is artificially carbonated in the bottle by counter-pressure

bottle fillers. Sulphur dioxide is added at this stage to maintain the stability of the cider. The

resulting product may be considered analagous to keg beer.

Traditional cider is often served completely flat and may be cloudy. It may also be served a

naturally-conditioned cask cider, analagous to real ale. In France, cider is produced by the

Charmat process (oten used to produce sparkling wines) and is highly carbonated and more like

an apple wine than traditional English cider.

Characteristics of Apple Juice

Compared to wort, apple juice has a much lower pH, a much lower soluble nitrogen content,

and a virtual absence of any sugars other than mono- and di-saccharides. The composition of

the juice varies with the apple variety used. The average composition of cider apple juice in

terms of its sugar content is 74% fructose, 15% sucrose, and 11% glucose. There are almost no

other sugars present so that there is very little residual gravity left in fully-fermented ciders.

The major acid present is L(-)-malic acid but shikimic, quinic, chlorogenic andp

-coumarylquinic

acids are commonly present. The juice also contains soluble pectin (polymers of galacturonic

acid esterified with methanol). Tannins are present, mainly epi-catechin, dimeric and trimeric

pro-anthocyanidin and phenolic acids. These phenolics are the fraction which undergoes

oxidation in damaged fruit.

The soluble nitrogen content is low and is largely made up of asparagine, aspartic and glutamic

acids. Apple juice usually contains one eighth of the soluble nitrogen content of wort. The lower


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nitrogen content is further exaggerated by the much lower pitching rates used in cider making

when compared to beer making, usually 5-15 times lower. This means that the apple juice must

support a higher degree of yeast growth and thus the fermentation is much protracted. Some

commercial operations now add ammonium sulphate to the cider to give rapid and consistent

fermentations.

The Microbiology of Apple Juice

Ripe apples have less than 500 yeast-like organisms per g of sound fruit. The main organisms

areAureobasidium pullulans, Rhodotorula spp., Torulopsis, Candida, Metschnikowia, and

Kloeckera apiculata. Saccharomyces species and other sporulating yeasts are rarely found. Acid-

tolerant bacteria such asAcetomonas spp. are usually present. Lactic-acid bacteria are rare. The

amounts of micro-organisms rise if the fruit is allowed to fall naturally or particularly if the skin

is damaged. Yeast counts rise due to the indigenous flora of the factory in which the apples are

processed. The traditional rack and cloth press is also a major source of contamination.

Apple juice cannot be sterilised by heating since the pectin esterase enzymes in the juice are

destroyed by heat, thus the resulting cider will not clear. Addition of sulphur dioxide is the most

common way of controlling unwanted organisms. The amount of sulphur dioxide needed

depends on the pH of the juice. Between pH 3.0 to 3.3, 75 ppm is needed, between pH 3.3 and

3.5 100 ppm is necessary and 150 ppm between 3.5 and 3.8. In the UK the maximum legal limit

for sulphur dioxide is 200 ppm and this may well be lowered by subsequent legislation. Always

check with your local authorities! The sulphur dioxide can be added in the form of Campden

tablets. The juice is left overnight to allow the different forms of dissolved sulphur dioxide to

equilibrate. Aerobic yeasts, and lactic and acetic acid bacteria are generally destroyed. The

activity of other yeasts is usually inhibited. If there were substantial amounts of rotten fruits

used to make the juice, compounds present in these fruits such as 2,5-D-threo-hexodiulose and2,5-diketogluconic acid will strongly inhibit the action of the sulphur dioxide. As well as

preventing infections, the sulphur dioxide also has an anti-oxidant function producing a cleaner

flavour. This is not necessarily an advantage, the use of sulphur dioxide has led to sweeter

ciders with a loss of the apple character in the flavour.

The malo-lactic fermentation is carried out by non-slime forming strains ofLeuconostoc

mesenteroides, Lactobacillus collinoides and very rarely Pediococcus cerevisiae. These bacteria

are readily inhibited by the levels of sulphur dioxide used in cider making yet ciders readily

undergo malo-lactic fermentation in the spring/summer after they were made. The explanation

for this is not certain, possibly lab strains of these organisms are more sensitive to sulphurdioxide than are wild strains, possibly the sulphur dioxide merely inhibits the bacteria and they

subsequently recover, or possibly there are other organisms at work.


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Changes in Apple Juice Composition During Fermentation and Maturation

The majority of this section refers to ciders fermented with naturally occurring yeasts. It is

assumed, but not known, that similar process occur when fermentation with pure cultures is

used.

At the end of the yeast fermentation, yeast release nitrogenous compounds into the cider.

These include amino acids and peptides. Pantothenic acid and riboflavin are also released along

with some phosphorus compounds. The release of nutrients is important since it is necessary

for the malo-lactic fermentation to occur.

During the yeast fermentation there is an increase in acidity due to the formation of L(- )-malic

acid by the yeast. Gluconic, lactic and succinic acids are also formed. Mono- di- and tri-

galacturonides are present from the enzymic degredation of pectin, and keto acids are also

formed. Higher or fusel alcohols are formed; unlike beer where they are unwanted compounds,

in cider they form important components of the flavour profile. The levels formed depend on

apple variety, juice treatment, yeast strain, fermentation conditions, and storage conditions. In

general, low pH and low nitrogen levels tend to produce ciders with higher fusel alcohol levels.

Use of sulphur dioxide, and centrifugation of the apple juice before fermentation both result in

the lowering of fusel alcohol levels. The factor most affecting fusel alcohol levels is the strain of

yeast. Aeration is also a factor, aeration reduces fusel production markedly.

The maturation phase of cider production includes the malo-lactic fermentation. In this stage,

malic acid is converted to lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The exact type of acid produced

depends on pH. At pH 3.6 more lactic than succinic acid is produced, whilst at pH 4.8 only

succinic acid is produced. The nearer the pH is to 3.0, the more delayed is the onset of the

malo-lactic fermentation. As well as the conversion of malic to lactic acid, this fermentation alsosees the production of quinic and shikimic acids both of which are essential for a good flavour

balance.

Home Cider Making

First pick your apples. They should be fully ripe, windfalls are excellent. Do not use heavily

bruised or damaged apples. After picking, keep in a cool place for 1-2 weeks to soften the skins.

Do not wash or sterilise the apples if you wish the cider to be fermented with wild yeasts. You

can perform this step if you want to ferment with a specific yeast strain, however treatment

with sulphur dioxide (see below) will get rid of wild yeasts. If you have apples which have smallamounts of damage you can cut these parts out, but it is not essential and many traditional

cider makers avoid this step.

Having matured the apples, you will need to press them. A domestic fruit juicer will achieve this

but I know from bitter experience that this is a laborious time-consuming process, and the

return in terms of juice per pound of apples is poor. Much better to buy yourself a wine makers

fruit press, the sturdier the construction the better. Alternatively you can build your ownpress.
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Once the juice is separated from the pulp you must check the pH. If the correct balance of apple

varieties is used, this step may be omitted. Few of us are fortunate enough to obtain the

correct types so some compensation must be made to ensure that there is sufficient sharpness

but that it is not overdone. pH should be in the range 3.9 to 4.0. To lower the pH add malic acid

(the principal acid in cider). To raise the pH add precipitated chalk. 1 tsp of pectolase per gallon

of juice may be added at this stage to ensure that the cider clears. Traditional ciders shun thisstep and some can look like cloudy apple soup. Never fear, they still taste great.

If a correct balance of cider apples has not been available it may be that you need to

compensate for a lack of sweet apples. Only experience with the particular varieties available to

you will tell. Measure the O.G. (this may be difficult if the juice was not sufficiently well

separated from the pulp). The target O.G. should be around 1055. If not, add sugar to bring it to

this level. A good guide to how much to add is 2 1/2 ounces of sugar will raise the gravity of 1

gallon of juice by approximately 5 degrees. You can either dissolve the sugar in a small quantity

of juice and add to the bulk of the juice, or if very fine (caster) sugar is used, stir it directly into

the bulk of the juice. DO not heat the juice or you will get a cooked apple flavour which will ruin

your cider.

Place the apple juice in a fermenting vessel. Traditionally this is a wooden barrel. If these are

not available, any suitable wine fermenter would be fine. Put under an airlock and leave to

ferment. Cider is traditionally fermented at whatever is the outside ambient temperature,

however, if you are fermenting with a pure yeast culture it may be better to ferment at the

temperature specified with the culture. There are wild yeasts present on apple skins (so long as

they are from an unsprayed orchard) which will ferment the cider naturally. If you wish to

ferment with a specific yeast, add 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon of juice and leave to

stand, covered, for 48 hours. This will see off the wild yeast. Then pitch with a yeast of your

choice. For a traditional style English cider, use an ale-type yeast. For a Normandy style cideruse a wine yeast. Kitzinger, Hock, and Champagne yeasts all give good results. The finished

product is paler than English cider and tastes closer to apple wine than does English cider.

Check the gravity regularly. There is a tendency to go on fermenting after the desired gravity

has been obtained. To prevent this, you can add a crushed campden tablet to the cider when

the desired gravity is reached.

Once the desired gravity is obtained, the cider is ready to mature. Store the cider in glass

carboys or other similar container, under airlock. Cider is usually left in outbuildings to mature.

The fluctuations in temperature are not detrimental. In the late spring or early summer

following the making of the cider, it will undergo a malo-lactic fermentation. This will occur

when the temperature reaches approximately 15 C. This has the effect of mellowing the cider,

it will lose much of its sharpness. You can add malic acid or acid blend at this point if the cider is

not sharp enough for your taste. Traditional English cider is flat, no attempt is made at a

secondary fermentation. English cider may also be served slightly carbonated analogous to real

ale. The target carbonation in this case is 1 volume of carbon dioxide per volume of cider

(partial pressure of carbon dioxide of 1 atmosphere). If the cider is to be served slightly


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carbonated, bottle in beer bottles with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar per pint of cider (dissolve the

sugar in water and add to the cider before bottling). Normandy cider is refermented in

Champagne-style bottle in a manner similar to Champagne making and is highly carbonated.

Consult a good wine making guide for details on how to do this.

And finally - enjoy your cider!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scrumpy/cider/cider.htm

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Cider.html

CIDER PRODUCTION

There are rules and regulations to be adhered to regarding cider making. It is advisable to check

with HM Customs on the quantity that can be made without incurring Excise Duty and about

registration procedures. Cider is normally made from 25-30% cider apples, the rest can be cull

fruit, i.e. outgrade eaters and cookers, but the fruit needs to be sound. Cider making involves

two processes: scratting and pressing. Firstly the apples are scratted, which means minced

up. They are then pressed to extract the juice. At this stage of the process, cider and apple juice
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are exactly the same. If the required end product was apple juice, it would now be pasteurised,

whereas cider is allowed to ferment. Fermentation usually takes place in used spirit barrels and

continues until fermenting stops. This produces traditional still cider. The wild yeast on the fruit

will ferment naturally, nothing has to be added.


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The Whisky Production Process

Malting

First, top-quality barley is steeped in water and then allowed to germinate. During germination,

the grain slowly changes into malt where the starch in the grain is made ready to be converted

into sugars in the mash tun. Drying in a kiln stops the germination process. At the kilning stage,the desired level of peating for each individual distillery is carried out.

Mashing

The malted grain is crushed and mixed with hot water into the mash tun. The sugar is run off in

liquid form, called wort.

Fermentation

The wort is cooled and then pumped into fermentation vessels called washbacks where yeast is

added and the fermentation process starts. The yeast converts the sugar into alcohol. After 2

3 days fermentation is complete, leaving a liquid called wash which contains 8-9% alcohol by

volume.

Distillation

The wash is distilled twice. The first wash distillation produces a liquid with a low level of

alcohol known as low wines, which is then re-distilled in the spirit still. During this second

distillation only the pure centre cut, which is about 65% alcohol by volume, is collected in the

spirit receiver.

Pot Stills

Curiously, the shape of the pot still significantly affects the character of each malt whisky.

Spirit Safe

The entire product from the distillation is passed through the spirit safe to allow the stillman to

check the strength and quality of the spirit.

Maturation

The newly distilled, colourless spirit is filled in oak casks, while maturing the Whisky becomes

smoother and more flavoursome and draws its golden colour from the cask. By law the whisky

must be matured for a minimum of three years, but most single malts lie in the wood for 8

years or more.

http://www.greatscotland.co.uk/members/bells_blair_athol_distillery/the_whisky_production

_process.asp
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The Manufacturing

Process

Preparing the grain

1 Truckloads of grain are shipped directly from farms to the whiskey manufacturer to bestored in silos until needed. The grain is inspected and cleaned to remove all dust and

other foreign particles.

2 All grains except barley are first ground into meal in a gristmill. The meal is then mixedwith water and cooked to break down the cellulose walls that contain starch granules.

This can be done in a closed pressure cooker at temperatures of up to 311F (155C) ormore slowly in an open cooker at 212F (100C).

3 Instead of being cooked, barley is malted. The first step in malting barley consists ofsoaking it in water until it is thoroughly saturated. It is then spread out and sprinkled

with water for about three weeks, at which time it begins to sprout.


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During this germination the enzyme amylase is produced, which converts the starch in

the barley into sugars. The sprouting is halted by drying the barley and heating it with

hot air from a kiln. For Scotch whiskey, the fuel used in the kiln includes peat, a soft,

carbon-rich substance formed when plant matter decomposes in water. The peat gives

Scotch whiskey a characteristic smoky taste. The malted barley is then ground like other

grains.

Mashing

4 Mashing consists of mixing cooked grain with malted barley and warm water. Theamylase in the malted barley converts the starch in the other grains into sugars. After

several hours the mixture is converted into a turbid, sugar-rich liquid known as mash. (In

making Scotch malt whiskey the mixture consists only of malted barley and water. After

mashing the mixture is filtered to produce a sugar-rich liquid known as wort.)

Fermenting

5 The mash or wort is transferred to a fermentation vessel, usually closed in Scotlandand open in the United States. These vessels may be made of wood or stainless steel.

Yeast is added to begin fermentation, in which the single-celled yeast organisms convert

the sugars in the mash or wort to alcohol. The yeast may be added in the form of new,

never-used yeast cells (the sweet mash process) or in the form of a portion of a previous

batch of fermentation (the sour mash process.) The sour mash method is more often

used because it is effective at room temperature and its low pH (high acidity) promotes

yeast growth and inhibits the growth of bacteria. The sweet mash method is more

difficult to control, and it must be used at temperatures above 80F (27C) to speed up

the fermentation and to avoid bacterial contamination. After three or four days, the endproduct of fermentation is a liquid containing about 10% alcohol known as distiller's

beer in the United States or wash in Scotland.

Distilling

6 Scottish whiskey makers often distill their wash in traditional copper pot stills. Thewash is heated so that most of the alcohol (which boils at 172F [78C]) is transformed

into vapor but most of the water (which boils at 212F [100C]) is not. This vapor is

transferred back into liquid alcohol in a water-cooled condenser and collected. Most

modern distilleries use a continuous still. This consists of a tall cylindrical column filledwith a series of perforated plates. Steam enters the still from the bottom, and distiller's

beer enters from the top. The beer is distilled as it slowly drips through the plates, and

the alcohol is condensed back into a liquid. With either method, the product of the

initial distillationknown as low wineis distilled a second time to produce a product

known as high wine or new whiskey, which contains about 70% alcohol.

7 The temperature of distillation and other factors determine the proportions of water,alcohol, and other substances (called congeners) in the final product. If it contains more


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than 95% alcohol it will have no flavor because it has no congeners. This product is

known as grain neutral spirit and is often used to add alcohol without adding taste

during blending. If the final product has too many congeners of the wrong kind it will

taste bad. Distillers remove bad-tasting congeners (usually aldehydes, acids, esters, and

higher alcohols) in various ways. Some congeners boil at a lower temperature than

alcohol and can be boiled off. Some are lighter than alcohol and will float on top, wherethey can be poured off.

8 Tennessee whiskey is unique in that the high wine is filtered through charcoal before itis aged. The charcoal is produced by burnning wood from sugar maples. This filtration

removes unwanted congeners and results in a particularly smooth whiskey. Premium

Tennessee whiskey may be filtered through charcoal again after it is aged to produce an

even smoother product.

Aging

9 Water is added to the high wine to reduce its alcohol content to about 50% or 60% forAmerican whiskeys and about 65% or higher for Scotch whiskeys. Scotch whiskeys are

aged in cool, wet conditions, so they absorb water and become less alcoholic. American

whiskeys are aged in warmer, drier conditions so they lose water and become more

alcoholic. Whiskey is aged in wooden barrels, usually made from charred white oak.

White oak is used because it is one of the few woods that can hold a liquid without

leaking but which also allows the water in the whiskey to move back and forth within

the pores of the wood, which helps to add flavor. In the United States these barrels are

usually new and are only used once. In most other countries it is common to reuse old

barrels. New barrels add more flavor than used barrels, resulting in differences in the

taste of American and foreign whiskeys.

The aging process is a complex one, still not fully understood, but at least three factors

are involved. First, the original mixture of water, alcohol, and congeners react with each

other over time. Second, these ingredients react with oxygen in the outside air in

oxidation reactions. Third, the water absorbs substances from the wood as it moves

within it. (Charring the wood makes these substances more soluble in water.) All these

factors change the flavor of the whiskey. Whiskey generally takes at least three or four

years to mature, and many whiskeys are aged for ten or fifteen years.

Blending

10 Straight whiskeys and single malt Scotch whiskeys are not blended; that is, they areproduced from single batches and are ready to be bottled straight from the barrel. All

other whiskeys are blended. Different batches of whiskey are mixed together to

produce a better flavor. Often neutral grain spirit is added to lighten the flavor, caramel

is added to standardize the color, and a small amount of sherry or port wine is added to

help the flavors blend. Blended Scotch whiskey usually consists of several batches of

strongly flavored malt whiskeys mixed with less strongly flavored grain whiskeys. A few


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blends contain only malt whiskeys. Blending is often considered the most difficult and

critical process in producing premium Scotch whiskeys. A premium blended Scotch

whiskey may contain more than 60 individual malt whiskeys which must be blended in

the proper proportions.

Bottling

11 Glass is always used to store mature whiskey because it does not react with it tochange the flavor. Modern distilleries use automated machinery to produce as many as

400 bottles of whiskey per minute. The glass bottles move down a conveyor belt as they

are cleaned, filled, capped, sealed, labeled, and placed in cardboard boxes. The whiskey

is ready to be shipped to liquor stores, bars, and restaurants.

Read more:How whiskey is made - making, history, used, parts, product, industry, Raw

Materials, The Manufacturing Process of whiskey, Quality Control, Byproducts/Wastehttp://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Whiskey.html#ixzz1vbhHCuKq

The process of whisky-making

Despite the variety of distinguished flavours, colors and tastes the basic steps of whisky making

follow pretty much the same steps everywhere.

The differences mainly result from the used raw materials - although it always is a cereal which

is used for whisky - and some technical particularities.Whisky production can be divided into 3 main types: Blended whiskies, single malt whiskies and

grain whiskies. Scotland in general and Argyll in particular are famous for their Single Malts

that's why we will here take the process of creating a Single Malt Whisky as an example.

Fundamentally the procedure can be broken down into 5 major steps:

1. Malting

2. Milling

3. Brewing4. Distillation

5. Maturation

Malting describes the process when starches in the grains are converted into soluble sugars. To

achive that, the grains must start to germinate. The barley will be soaked in water for about 2-3

days, then evenly spread on the malting floor and turned regularly to maintain a steady
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temperature. Approximately 5-7 days later, when the green shots have appeared, the sprouts

will be transferred to the kiln, where a higher temperature stops the process of malting.

Traditionally, peat is used as fuel for the furnaces, which is also the reason for the smokey taste

and smell of some whiskies, particularly from the island of Islay. Finally, all remains of theshoots will be removed from the grains in the so-called dressing machine, and the malt is

ground in the mill

Milling. Nowadays, only few distilleries malt their own barley (for example Balvenie and

Bowmore), industrial malting companies now supply most distilleries.

The milled malt is mixed with hot water and fed into the mash tun to initiate the first step of

the Brewing process - the mashing. This mixture (the grist) is stirred for several hours, causing

the sugars from the grains to dissolve. The liquid (now called wort) is extracted through the

perforated floor of the mashing tun, and led back into the tun, this time heated to a higher

temperature.

This cycle is repeated 3 times, each time with a higher temperature. But only the wort of the

first and second cycle is used, the wort from the last cycle is mixed with the first wort of the

next batch.

The wort is now cooled down and passed into large wooden or steel vessels, the wash backs.

Here the yeast is added, and part two of the Brewing process begins: thefermentation. The

sugars in the wort are being converted into alcohol. Once the alcohol content increases to a

certain strength, the yeast bacteria are killed and the process ceases. The result of the

fermentation is a beer-like liquid of around 5-10% vol, called the wash.

The wash is now forwarded to large copper pot stills, where the Distilling takes place. Scottish

Single Malts are usually distilled twice, once in the wash stilland once in the spirit still, but

other whiskies can be distilled more often.

The stills are heated - either directly via coal or gas fires, or indirectly via steam coils inside the

still - to separate the water from the alcohol. This is possible because alcohol needs a lower

temperature to vaporise ( between 60 and 70 degrees) than water (100 degrees). The vapours

ascent to the narrow bend top of the still pot, where they eventually cool down and

condensate. This liquid is now called the low wine and is forwarded to the second still, where

this process is repeated.


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The second distilling process is closely monitored, and the very strongforeshots and the weaker

feints of the run are removed, only the so-called hearth is kept for further treatment. The

foreshots and feints are mixed with the next new run - perfect recycling.

Before filling the remaining liquid into wooden casks for Maturation its strength is reduced to63.5% by adding demineralised water. Sometimes these casks - usually made from oak - were

pre-used, for example for spanish sherry or american bourbon whisky, and play an important

role in giving the whisky the flavour and color. The alcohol in the liquid is responsible for

releasing certain chemicals from the wood as well as spirits from from the sherry or bourbon.

The minimum maturation period for whisky is 3 years, but most Single Malts remain at least 10

years in the casks. Every year around 2% of the casks content is lost due to vapouration, this

loss is known as the "Angel Share". The location and the condition of the storage room has a

significant effect on the end result, temperature, humidity, proximity to sea water etc have a

big influence on the fine flavours of the whisky.

Last step before the final Bottling of the whisky is reducing its alcohol content down to about

40-42% vol.

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