pot distillation after column distillation

[daveflintstone]

Van Gogh says they column distill their vodka, then pot distill to "smooth it out".

What is the actual affect of pot distilling neutral after it is produced in a column still? There must be a reason, or why would they do it?

What proof do you think they would be diluting to before pot distilling?

[Denver Distiller]

I'd take everything the big corporations put out with a giant grain of salt.

Like Miller's new ad "it's triple hopped". What does that mean? A big fat nothing.

[cowdery]

Virtually all American whiskey distilleries do a first pass through a column still followed by a second pass through a pot still, known as a doubler. The second pass raises the proof slightly and "polishes" the spirit, according to distillers, by removing a few more of the undesirable congeners that for some reason don't come off in the column. To save money, whiskey distillers have experimented with omitting this second step but they didn't like the results and now everybody doubles. Is it the same for vodka? I don't really know. I assume you can pull spirit off a column still at the requisite 95% ABV+, so I'm not sure what the second distillation accomplishes. It doesn't really tell you much when a brand brags that it is distilled three or four times if you don't know what they're actually doing on each pass, what kind of equipment they're using, etc., but it's the same logic by which some micro-distillers re-distill 3rd party GNS. There is, of course, the "consumers are dumb" aspect of it, in that people seem to believe the more distillations, the better for "purity."

[Ralph at Tuthilltown]

The third distillation does have effect on the spirit. On the second distillation there remains some of the character of the substrate (corn or cider for instance); but the third pass through 21 plates does the trick and the final product is noticeably smoother and less "apple-like". Beyond the third distillation though we find no further difference. I agree that most of the "thirty-seven times distilled" hype is just that, Hype. After the third distillation the main determining factor in the flavor of a vodka is the water it's being reduced with, then further on when it's proofed for drinking.

[Rensselaer08]

from the most reliable place on the internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Vodka

"The Royal Dirkzwager Distillery maintains its 125 year legacy by handcrafting Van Gogh Vodka in small batches using a variety of grains, which is a combination consisting mainly of wheat, corn and barley. The vodka is distilled twice in column stills and then a third time in a traditional pot still to produce a vodka of the highest refinement. The copper pot still takes “the bite” out of the alcohol, leaving a smooth finish."

[daveflintstone]

Thanks, I know how to read wikipedia and Van Gogh's website. The "take the bite out...leave a smooth finish" phrase is exactly why I was inquiring as to the actual effect of pot distilling after column distilling. It is a meaningless phrase.

[cowdery]

Some people will do just about anything to get the words "pot still" into their advertising.

[Tom's Foolery]

Like you said Chuck, in some of the whiskey distilleries, old (batch) pot stills have been converted to doublers, so the pot still is part of their continuous distillation process. Clearly this use of a pot still is different than what most micros are doing. People get confused with the terms "column", "continuous", "pot" and "batch."

[nuffield]

from the most reliable place on the internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Vodka

"The Royal Dirkzwager Distillery maintains its 125 year legacy by handcrafting Van Gogh Vodka in small batches using a variety of grains, which is a combination consisting mainly of wheat, corn and barley. The vodka is distilled twice in column stills and then a third time in a traditional pot still to produce a vodka of the highest refinement. The copper pot still takes “the bite” out of the alcohol, leaving a smooth finish."

It is possible however I doubt it very much due to costs involved. If they don't have sufficient copper contact time in the column, the potstill will smooth it, providing it is a copper potstill.