Alcohol Distillation and the Sense of Smell

Alcohol distillation is a complex process, yet can be broken down into some basic steps. The main goal is to separate water and alcohol (ethanol) from less desirable congeners like fatty acids, aldehydes and esters – some of which may be pleasant tasting while others not so much. A skilled distiller must know when to divert flow of his/her still so as to capture as much desirable ethanol as possible while minimising unwanted contaminants as much as possible.

First step of this process involves isolating the ethanol vapor from water vapor during distillation. Ethanol has an exceptionally high boiling point compared to other substances and thus makes for easy separation during distillation; other compounds, like fatty acids and esters with lower boiling points should be discarded; in addition, harmful chemical compounds like acetaldehyde which contributes to hangovers or can even prove fatal are released during this process that need to be separated out before drinking begins.

Once ethanol vapor has been collected it can be cooled down and concentrated into a more liquid state, known as “wash”. Once concentrated it can then be diluted back down to an alcohol content between 30-45% depending on the style of spirit being made; and finally dilute back to between 30-45% depending on desired spirit type. Reflux ratio controls how much of this diluted wash returns back into the column while how much distilled wash product collected as product — key factors both for product purity and energy savings during distillation processes.