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Distillation - Pot v Column distillation
There are essentially two types of still, the pot still and the column still. Of the two, the pot still, also known as the alembic still, is the simplest...
Elisabeth Barmby
12th May 2020 at 12:42
Trying to get my head round continuous distillation. Is there an advantage to continuosly adding wash rather than just adding it all at once? For example, could you continuosly add wash to a pot still? Thanks in advance! Hope that makes sense haha :)
12th May 2020 at 13:17
Continuously adding wash to a column still allows the distillation to continue non-stop for weeks so very efficiently distilling very large volumes of wash. I don't know of a continuous wash pot still but in bourbon production they use continuous pot stills called doublers or thumpers for the second distillation. Tellingly, the first distillation is in a continuous column still.
7th April 2020 at 19:33
This is a great article - thank you for posting! I've heard a small craft distiller refer to their still as a combination pot & column still. Does that mean the wash boils in the pot and then is fed into the top of the columns and passes through the subsequent columns?
Also, if a distiller has fewer than 4 columns – say 2 for example – would that mean that they would need to do multiple distillations to make it pure?
Thanks again – still learning and have so many question :)
Also, if a distiller has fewer than 4 columns – say 2 for example – would that mean that they would need to do multiple distillations to make it pure?
Thanks again – still learning and have so many question :)
8th April 2020 at 10:27
What your referring to is a hybrid still where the vapour from the pot still is directed through a column for rectification before reaching the condenser. Hybrid stills can have a column sat directly on top of the pot or, one or more columns alongside the pot. It's not the number of columns but the number of plates in the column(s) that matter as each plate is a distillation.