Whisky Making Process
Production of single malt whisky
The best whisky in the world today and in earlier times was produced in the country of Scotland. All single malt scotch go through the same process of production. Let us take a look in to how it is produced. It is quite fascinating.
Water
This ingredient is used at every stage in the production of whisky. Firstly it is mixed with barley to produce germination, it creates a mash with ground barley grist, and it is used during maturation to dilute and even before bottling water is added to the whisky.
Almost all distilleries use different sources of water during its various stages.
Malting
Production of Single Malt Whisky requires only barley, yeast and water. The barley grains are soaked in water for a period of two to three days and then allowed to germinate. This process is stopped on the third or fifth day when all of the starch has been converted to sugar. It is then heated in order to dry. Sometimes peat smoke is also introduced.
Mashing
In this stage the malt is milled into flour and is than added to water and sugar is extracted. Each batch of grist is mashed three times in order to extract all the fermented sugars.
Fermentation
Yeast is added to the wort. The process of fermentation takes place in which carbondioxide and alcohol are produced as by product. It now has a 5-7% of alcohol content and is known as wash.
Distillation
The wash is distilled. The wash is heated and the vapor is collected. It condensed into a liquid under low temperature. It is distilled again. It now possesses an alcohol content of 60-70%.
Maturation
The spirit is then placed in casks and allowed to mature for at least 3 years. The alcohol content is lost with every year spent in the oak casks.
Bottling
A bottle can only contain whisky distilled by malted barley at a single distillery.