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Misc beginner questions.


ridly

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Hello Everybody.

Just had a few quick questions.

1) I was recently reading about Cognac and Armagnac.

It said that Cognac is double distilled while the Armagnac is single. Im guessing the stripping run doesn't count as a distillation does it????

2) When a product like Titos vodka for example says 5 times distilled, does that mean on a column still that every time it passes a plate count as a distillation?

3) When removing foreshots, is it done on the stripping run or spirit run?

Thanks very much!

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1. A stripping run is distillation, plain and simple.

2. There is no standard use of the terminology. Some manufacturers use the number of plates, plates plus pot, theoretical states, or number of times it goes through the process. Arguable that tray count is somewhat irrelevant on it's own, since it's the interplay of stages plus the reflux ratio that governs the output purity (a 3 tray column can output the same abv as a 5 tray column with the only difference being reflux ratio). IMHO, this has transcended into marketing, as evidenced by $300.00 vodkas claiming hundreds of distillations makes a better product.

3. Either.

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1) No idea

2) When making gns I consider the column run the important distillation. We perform a stripping run prior (actually two separate strippings of 950 gallons of wash each; then these low wines are combined for our 25 plate column) but when folks ask, I say we perform one column run even though three actual distillation are performed.

3) We remove the foreshots during the spirit run, whether we're making whiskey or gns.

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  • 1 year later...

super old thread but figured I could throw in an answer:

1) cognac is distilled in a fairly simple pot still with a wash pre-heater.  It's double distillation is similar to that of whisk(e)y else where in the world...brief heads removal, collect hearts and redistill.  Armagnac is basically a modified analyzer column.  The wash is preheated in the spirit condenser, which flows into the upper trays ( a few below the partial condenser/dephleg), and drops down through the column where it comes in contact with a series of trays and steam before being stripped of alcohol and washing out the bottom of the column.  Cognac is batch distillation, armagnac is continuous, but with low rectification levels thus the higher congener (flavor) profiles

 

2) it's probably distilled 4x before it gets to Tito's and then they distill it the final time hahahahaha (reference the fifth generation lawsuits floating around...)

3) That depends on your spirit run, style of spirit, etc but in my opinion, you should pull heads on every run to some degree.  destroy the foreshots (early heads) and recycle the rest into your low wine run.  Fancy continuous stills vent the most volatile components or de-methylate them.

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  • 1 year later...

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