Who knows how whisky is made

The raw materials used in the production of malt whisky are barley, water and yeast, and the process of making it can be divided into the following five steps:

Malting

The barley is soaked, malted and dried, and the starch is gradually converted into sugar. The whole process can be governed by the following factors: the amount of fermentable material (malt extract) in the barley, the activity of the amylase enzyme, and the rate of malt loss.

Mashing

The malted barley is processed and milled to make it more soluble and to release a sweet liquid called wort. The ingredients required in the milling process are water and malted barley. The quality of the water plays a very important role in this process and of course determines the final spirit produced.

Fermentation

Yeast is a single-celled microorganism, which means that it is a living organism whose individuals can only be seen through a microscope. It is a member of the plant kingdom, a type of fungus.

There are many different kinds of yeast, but the most common in distilling and brewing is a brewer's yeast called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. To give an idea of this tiny microorganism, here's an image! Take 3 mature yeast cells head to tail and it's a thousandth of an inch long, and there are up to 7 billion cells in a pound of yeast.

Distillation

Distillation takes place in several pairs of copper pots with gooseneck elbows. One is usually larger than the other, but they vary in shape, height and size from distillery to distillery. The lifespan of a still depends on how it is used, usually in the neighborhood of 15 to 30 years.

The two main distillation operations are the conversion of liquid to vapor and then vapor to liquid, known as evaporation and condensation. Distillation actually acts as a separation through these operations. Liquids can be separated from solids, or from one liquid to another. There is always the same distillate and residue left behind.

Maturation

If it ended here, there would be no need to talk about the production of any whisky, and that's because the spirit can only be legally called Scotch whisky if it has been kept in oak barrels for at least three years. If the malt is to be sold as a single malt whisky, then it has to be mellowed for at least eight years, and preferably 10 to 12 years.