On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1435

still, an elongated chamber developed by
French and British distillers during the
Industrial Revolution. In a column still, the
starting wine or beer is fed into the column
from the top, and the column is heated from
the bottom with steam. The bottom of the
columnisthereforethehottestregion,thetop
the coolest. Methanol and other low-boiling
substances remain vaporized throughout all
but the very top of the column, while fusel
oils and other aromatics with high boiling
points will condense on collection plates at
hotter positions toward the bottom of the
column,andalcoholwillcondense—andcan
be collected — at an intermediate point. The
advantageofthecolumnstillisthatitcanbe
operated continuously and without the
necessity of close monitoring; the
disadvantage is that it offers less opportunity
thanthepotstillforthedistillertocontrolthe
composition of the distillate. When two or
more columns are run together in series,


they’re capable of producing a neutral
distillatethatis90–95%alcohol.

Pot distillation. As wine or beer is gradually
heated,thecompositionofitsvaporschanges,
with very volatile substances evaporating
first, less volatile substances later. The

distiller diverts early and late vapors with
their undesirable volatiles, and collects the
“main run,” rich in alcohol and desirable
aromas.