PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF WHISKEY: Distilled Beverages All potable alcoholic liquors obtained by the process of distillation,(such as whiskey, brandy, rum and gin) but excludes fermented and malt liquors, such as wine and beer. All alcoholic drinks are fermented, but distilled beverages go through additional processing to purify the product. Distilled beverages are basically the same in the begining. Plant material with sugars gets fermented by yeast. Then the distillation begins. Whiskey is generally defined as a group of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from fermented grain mash. The grain mash is subjected to aging in wooden tubs known as casks usually made of oak barrels before bottling. Whiskey is normally made by distillation of a fermented aqueous infusion of malted barley and other cereals like rye, wheat and maize. Whiskey is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation and aging in wooden barrels. Whiskey is classified as a spirit made from cereal starch, the manufacture of which involves hydrolytic breakdown of the starch into fermentable sugars, followed by fermentation, distillation and maturation. The whiskey fermentation is carried out with a known strain of S.cerevisiae. This yeast is available in dry and wet form from commercial producers of yeast. HISTORY OF WHISKEY: The term whiskey is derived from the Gaelic word for Water and is called uisge- beatha in Scotland that means “water of life”. The exact origin of whiskey is not known, but the method of whiskey production was known to the people of Scotland, Irish, Coruish and Welsh since 800 BC. The Arabic chemists developed the method of distillation and made the first real distilled beverage known as alembic. The distillation was practiced by achemists in Europe and this art of distillation became known to many 13 and 14 centuries. The first written record of whiskey comes from 1405 BC in Ireland , where it was distilled by the monks. Raw Materials: Barley Yeast Water Peat Cask MALTING Steeping Germination Kilning Cooking and Cooling Milling Mashing Fermentation Distillation Continuous column system Batch or pot still system Maturation Blending Bottling Various types of whiskey : Depending on the variation in grain, production conditions and locations, a number of types or brands of whiskies exists in the alcoholic beverage market. Smoky scotch whiskey Malt whiskey Grain whiskey Irish whiskey Rye whiskey Corn whiskey Bourbon whiskey Canadian whiskey Light whiskey Blended whiskey

3. Distilled Beverages
• All potable alcoholic liquors obtained by the process of distillation,(such as whiskey,
brandy, rum and gin) but excludes fermented and malt liquors, such as wine and beer.
• All alcoholic drinks are fermented, but distilled beverages go through additional
processing to purify the product.
• Distilled beverages are basically the same in the begining. Plant material with sugars
gets fermented by yeast. Then the distillation begins.

4. • Distillation takes advantage of the fact that different substances boil at
different temperatures. Thus, the constituent components of a liquid solution
can be extracted seperately. Distilled spirits are the alcohol containing fluids
(ethanol) obtained via distillation of fermented juices from plants. These
juices includes wines, distillates of which are termed brandies.

5. Distilled Beverage % alcohol Sources
Whisky 40-50 % Barley
Rum 45-55% Sugarcane
Brandy 40-50% Grapes
Gin 35-40% Maize
• The most commonly used plants sugarcane, potatoes, sugar beets, corn , rye,
rice and barley , various other fruits such as grapes, peaches, and apples are
also used. Flavours may be added to provide distinctive character.

6. Whiskey is generally defined as a group of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from
fermented grain mash. The grain mash is subjected to aging in wooden tubs known as
casks usually made of oak barrels before bottling.
Whiskey is normally made by distillation of a fermented aqueous infusion of malted barley
and other cereals like rye, wheat and maize. Whiskey is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide
with many classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation and aging in wooden
barrels.
Whiskey is classified as a spirit made from cereal starch, the manufacture of which involves
hydrolytic breakdown of the starch into fermentable sugars, followed by fermentation,
distillation and maturation.

7. • The whiskey fermentation is carried
out with a known strain of
S.cerevisiae. This yeast is available in
dry and wet form from commercial
producers of yeast.
Chemistry of whiskey

8. HISTORY OF WHISKEY
• The term whiskey is derived from the Gaelic word for Water and
is called uisge- beatha in Scotland that means “water of life”.
• The exact origin of whiskey is not known, but the method of
whiskey production was known to the people of Scotland, Irish,
Coruish and Welsh since 800 BC.
• The Arabic chemists developed the method of distillation and
made the first real distilled beverage known as alembic. The
distillation was practiced by achemists in Europe and this art of
distillation became known to many 13 and 14 centuries.
• The first written record of whiskey comes from 1405 BC in
Ireland , where it was distilled by the monks.

9. • Barley
• Yeast
• Water
• Peat
• Cask

10. Barley
• The barley is at the base of all the
process. The quality of the barley has a
great influence on the quality of the end
product. The barley being used for
production of whiskey is carefully
selected.
• Modified barley gives better harvests
with a better sugar content.
• Sugar content in barley affect the final
product.
• Barley with low nitrogen,high sugar
and 16% moisture content.

11. Water
• Water is another most of the impotrtant
ingredients in the making process of
whiskey.
• The quality of the whiskey depends on the
quality and purity of the water. Water in
Scottland is famous for its great purity.
• The difference in taste between the whiskey
coming from various distilleries partly due
the quality of water used.
• Should be clear and pure source e.g. spring
without a mixture of any fertilizers and
chemicals.

12. Yeast
• Yeast will start the fermentation process.
• The role of yeast is capital .
• The choice of the yeast is part of
manufacturing secret of the distilleries.
Different kinds of yeasts are used by brewers and
distillers, but they all belong to a species called
“Saccharomyces cerevisiae”.

13. Peat
• Peat is basically decomposed organic
plant matter that has been compressed
in the ground for thousands of years,
essentially young coal.
• Peat is put into a massive kiln and
burned underneath the malted barley,
stopping the germination processd
sending wafts of smoke into the grain.

14. Cask
• Small wooden barrel to store liquid
used in distillery.
• Contributes in giving color during the
period of maturation.

15. Steps involved in manufacturing
Whiskey
Malt whiskey Grain whiskey
Barley Wheat, rye, corn
Malting
Kilning
Cooking
Cooling
• Mashing
• Fermentation
• Distillation
• Maturation
• Blending
• Bottling

16. MALTING
(for malt whiskey)
• The malting process aims at the transformation of
insoluble starch and proteins of barley grains into
a substrate capable of dissolution and extraction
by hot water.
• Barley is the primary cereal used in malt
production, barley contains high levels of β-
glucans and phenolic compounds.
• Malting is responsible for an increase of some
hydrolytic enzymes, a degradation of the cell
wall, proteins, and starch, and also for a reduction
in the structural strength of the grain tissue.

17. Steeping
• During steeping, water is absorbed by the raw barley grains and germination begins, resulting
in an increase of the moisture content from approximately 12% up to 42% to 46%, along with
higher concentrations of reducing sugars and amino acids.
• These compounds are important precursors of thermally generated flavors during heat
treatment and contribute to the development of some thermally preformed volatile compounds
and their precursors.
• A typical steeping process consists of an initial water stage for 6 to 16 h (under water period)
with a consequent rise of the moisture content to 33% to 37%.
• Air is then removed through the grain bed in order to remove moisture films in grains and
carbon dioxide produced during respiration. Grains are allowed to rest for 12 to 24 h (air rest
period) and embryos are exposed to oxygen.
• Afterwards, grains are immersed in water for more 10 to 20 h and reach the required moisture
content .

18. Germination
• The germination stage leads to the production of green malt, which is characterized
by high moisture content and high enzyme activity. Enzymes are activated through
germination and inactivated in the last stage of thermal processing.
• The steeped grains are kept 4 to 6 days under humid and ventilated conditions in a
controlled temperature between 14 and 20 °C by a flow of air through the bed.
This can lead to some loss of moisture that is compensated by spraying water onto
the green malt during the first days of germination.
• The germination process is controlled by regulating the growth of rootlets. The
formation of α- and β-amylase,and degradation of proteins and β-glucans are also
essential to control and regulate the germination process.

19. Kilning
• The final step is a heat treatment of grains, also called Kilning or roasting. The thermal
processing steps have the greatest impact upon color and flavour of malt, depending on the time
course, temperature, and moisure content.
• The steps aim at the reduction of the moisture content of green malt and to a condition that
ensures stability during transportation and storage.
• During the first phase of kilning, malt is exposed to air at 25 °C and moisture is removed from
the grain, from approximately 44% to 12%. This phase is referred to as the “whithering”or
“free-drying” phase.
• During the second phase of drying, malt is dried from 12% to 4%, and it is a much slower
process, commonly referred to as the “falling rate” phase.
• At the end of the drying process the temperature is increased (“curing” stage). This is followed
by a cooling period to ensure an optimum temperature for discharge and storage.

21. Cooking and Cooling
(for grain whiskey)
• In the production of grain whiskey, an initial cooking stage at 1200C for 1.5 hour is
required in order to gelatinize the starch of cereals other than barley. The resulting
mash is cooled to 60-650C before the addition of 10-15% of freshly malted barley,
which provides the amylase activity for hydrolysis of the gelatinized starch.

22. Milling
• After the starch has been converted into sugar, it needs to be
extracted from the barley. This is done by passing the malt through
a milling machine which coarsely grinds it into a type of rough
flour called “grist”, using a series of giant rollers. Grist (65% husk,
25% middle and 10% flour).
• The first roller bursts the grain open and the subsequent ones grind
the grist into a suitable consistency.
• This grist is not as fine as flour and still contains all the elements of
the husk. It is judged on three components: the husk, the grit and
the flour.
• The grist must be of the right consistency for mashing, so as to
allow all the sugars to be absorbed by hot water while at the same
time not allowing the water to simply run through.

23. Contd...
• After milling our grist is stored in a small hopper which has enough capacity for a
single production run.
• When the hopper is full, a sensor signals for the grist to be moved to the next part of
the process.

24. Mashing
• Mix hot water (0-800 C ) with grist in a large vessel
called “Mash Tun” to extract sugars.
• The malted barley is grounded and mixed with
cereals and finally subjected to controlled heating
with overall temperature 40-850 C for several days.
• During heating alpha- amylase is converted into
beta- amylase.
• After mashing it is filtered to obtain “wort”( hot,
sweet water).
• It is optimized for total sugar content (TSS) = 20 -
30%.

25. Fermentation
• Transfer cooled wort to “Wash-Backs”. Distiller’s yeast is added to
turn wort into weak alcohol, called “wash”.
• The yeast may be added in the form of new, never-used yeast cells (
the sweet mash process) or in the form of a portion of a previous
batch of fermentation (the sour mash process).
• The sour mash method is effective at room temperature and its low
pH promotes yeast growth and inhibits the growth of bacteria.
• The sweet mash method is more difficult to control , and it must be
used at temperatures above 270C to speed up the fermentation and to
avoid bacterial contamination.

26. Contd...
• In our wash there are glucose molecules. The yeast now spits them and each
molecule gives 2 ethanol molecules, 2 carbon dioxide molecules and heat.
• Primary fermentation come to an end when there is no more sugar for the yeast to
transform and the alcoholic concentration of the wash rises to high.
• At this state, when the alcohol hinders the yeast from being active , several bacteria
will start to work, especially lactic acid bacteria.
• They were inhabitants of the malt before it was mashed, so different from the yeast
they don’t have to be added seperately.

27. Contd...
• The chemical reactions these bacteria push will end up
with new end compounds . These are acids, aldehydes,
esters and long-chain alcohols.
• They make up a small amount, but they have influence
the aroma and the body of the wash. As most of them
are not lost during the following distillations it would
be a big mistake to pay no attention to them.
• The length of fermentation varies from distillery to
distillery. After 48-96 hours it will be finished and the
mash will end up with an alcohol concentration of
about 6-10%.

28. Distillation
• The seperation of components of a solution on the basis of their
volalities is known as distillation. Distillation thus seperates, selects,
and concentrates the ethanol and congeners from the fermented green
mash.
• Two types of distillation sysytems are used for the production of
whiskey .
• The first type of distillation system involves batch still for the
production of highly flavoured spirit. The second type of distillation
system uses continuous column distillation still and is mainly used to
produce light flavoured spirits.
• The ethanol is evaporated at 78-80 degree C and the vapour is
collected to become “low wines”.
• This is repeated at a second (low wines) still to produce 70-79%
spirit.
• Distillation is carried out to obtain 95% ethanol.

29. Continuous column system
• It is used for the production of grain
neutral spirits (light flavoured spirits)
that are used as a base for blending.
The continuous column distillation
system is used for producing Grain
whiskey.

30. Batch or pot still system
• Batch or pot still system is normally a double distillation
and is used to produce a highly flavoured spirit. In a
batch system, a large Kettle with a capacity of 50,000
gallons is used with vapour pipe fitted to it that leads to a
concentrating column having as many as 55 bubble cap
plates. The large capacity of Kettle is important to
maintain product uniformity. This process is also known
as time-cycle distillation and involves the rermoval of
heads, product and residual distillate.

31. Maturation
• The whiskey obtained directly from the distillation step is
colorless and has a harsh taste, and therefore a long
period of maturation is essential to develop the final
flavour, which is a major determinant of whiskey quality.
The diluted raw spirit is stored in air-permeable oak
barrels (casks) in temperature-controlled government
bonded warehouses for upto 12-15 years, sometimes
even longer: a minimum maturation period of 3 years is
mandatory for Scotch and Canadian whiskies.
• During ageing, the congners,esters,sugars and alcohols
react together to form special type of aroma.
• The type of wood used and what was stored in the barrel
previously give additional flavour to the whiskey.

32. Blending
• In blending, appropriate proportion of different
whiskey of previous batch is mixed with the aged
whiskey.
• At the same time, the appropriate proportion of
sherry port(wine) and other things are also mixed to
develop flavors.
• Finally, caramel mix is added in appropriate amount
to develop a suitable colour.
• The final product is bottled and sold.
• The most frequent composition of blended whiskey
is 60-70% grain whiskey and 30-40% malt whiskey.

33. Bottling
• The matured spirit is further diluted
with water to 40-43% by volume of
ethanol before being bottled. Therefore,
in terms quantity, the major component
of whiskey is actually water (approx.
60% by volume).
• Once bottled, the wiskey does not
undergo subsequent change because
oxygen no longer has access to
matured spirit. This represents the
termination of maturation,but on the
other hand there is no decline in
whiskey quality due to age.

34. Various types of whiskey
• Depending on the variation in grain, production conditions and locations, a number of
types or brands of whiskies exists in the alcoholic beverage market.
 Smoky scotch whiskey
 Malt whiskey
 Grain whiskey
 Irish whiskey
 Rye whiskey
 Corn whiskey
 Bourbon whiskey
 Canadian whiskey
 Light whiskey
 Blended whiskey

35. Smoky scotch whiskey
• Scotch whiskey is a full malt whiskey and specially kilned
malted barleys are used in its preperation. The mash of milled
grain and water is not cooked to gelatinize the starch as it is well
modified during malting.
• Mashing is conducted at temperature between 60-650 C, after
which the wort is seperated from the mash and subjected to
fermentation.
• It is followed by distillation and the distillate is aged at least
for three years.
• The majority of scotch whiskies are sold as a blend of malt and
grain whiskey. The blending recipies of these whiskies are the
trade secrets of the blender.

36. Malt whiskey
• It is made from barley malt, and after fermentation by yeast, it
is distilled using pot still. In the production of malt whiskies,
peated barley malt is the sole source of starch.
• During mashing, the enzymes present in malt convert starch
into sugar. As the fermentation is carried out in batches, the
flavour of each batch product mainly depends upon the factors
like type of yeast, temperature and location of fermentation.

37. Grain whiskey
• The grain whiskies are mainly poduced
in Scotland and USA. These are made
from malted and unmalted barley along
with other grains usually in continuous
distillation stills.
• The unique difference between
whiskies of USA and scotland is that
there is no microbial sacharification of
starch in the scotch whiskey.

38. Rye whiskey
• It is a type of whiskey that must be distilled from fermented
mash of rye grains. In this mash there are 51% of rye grains and
remaining ingredients are usually malted barley grains and
corn.
• The taste of modern rye whiskey mainly depends on the quality
and type of grains used.
• The major brands of rye whiskey are Canadian Club and Crown
Royal.

39. Corn whiskey
• It is an American whiskey which is made from corn. The main constituent
(upto 80%) of mash is corn.
• Usually, this whiskey is not aged,but to change the taste and blend it is
aged. The ageing period is small as compared to other types of whiskies.
• During ageing the whiskey, its color,flavour and harshness is decreased.
• Corn whiskey differs from Bourbon whiskey by the type of wood casks
used for its aging. Bourbon is aged in new and charred barrels, whereas
corn whiskey should not have any contact with such barrels.
• This whiskey is also popularly known as “Corn Liquor” or “Corn
Sqeezin’s”.

40. Bourbon whiskey
• It is the mostv common category of distilled beverage made from grains
in the family of American whiskey.
• Bourbon mash contains 51% corn. An air-dried corn with 14% moisture
and 72% starch is generally used for the production of the whiskey.
• Only grains having such characteristic produce a product of a desired
volatile flavour to the whiskey. The most commonly used other grain in
Bourbon production is rye that imparts unique spicy and ester flavour to
the beverage.
• Bourbon mash are fermented with yeast S.cerevisiae that are chosen for
their capacity to produce unique congeners(toxic chemicals produced
during fermentation) besides ethanol.
• These strains produce at least 6% (v/v) of ethanol in a medium containing
11%(w/v)starch. About 2%(v/v) yeast inoculum is used.

41. Canadian whiskey
• It is produced under the regulations of Canadian Laws and
must be aged for at least 3 years.
• It is made from mash of cereal grains and is produced solely in
Canada.
• The type of grain and distillation methods may vary,but the
processes used are basically the same as those in USA.
• The Canadian whiskey is generally sold as a blend of
approximately 90% neutral grain whiskey and 10% bourbon or
rye type whiskey.

42. Light whiskey
• The process for manufacturing light wiskey is basically the same as
for neutral spirits,but only difference is that light whiskey is distilled
betweeen 160-190 0 C and is stored in used uncharrered oak casks.
• The light wiskey is made to meet the drift in consumer preference
towards the light flavoured products.
• When light whiskey is blended with less than 20% straight
whiskey,the mixture is designated as blended light whiskey.

43. REFERENCES
• Food Biotechnology - Principles and Practices by V.K. Joshi
and R.S. Singh
• Prescott and Dunn’s Industrial Microbiology - Fourth Edition
• Fermented foods and beverages technology by Ravindar A