Alcaholic Beverages: by Vikash Prasad
Alcaholic Beverages: by Vikash Prasad
Alcaholic Beverages: by Vikash Prasad
By Vikash Prasad
Introduction
Beverage refers to any potable drink suitable for drinking. Beverage is classified as
alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage.
Fermentation
Fermentation is conversion of sugar into ethyl alcohol and Carbon dioxide with the
help of yeast.
One molecule of sugar is converted into two molecules of ethyl alcohol and two
molecule of carbon dioxide.
Yeast
1. Natural – Natural yeast is the yeast which is floating in the air, water, eventually
settling on fruits and grain husks. Example - Yeast on the grape skin in the form
of dust which is termed as blooms is wild yeast, scientifically termed as
Saccharomyces Apiculatus.
Distillation
History
• Around 1100 AD wine was first distilled to make spirit by Irish monks who travelled
around Europe.
• The results of distillation were considered to have magical powers and this led to
alcohol being called “water of life” or, “eau de vie” in French and “aqua vitae” in
Latin.
• Distillation is the process of converting a liquid into gas or vapor by heating it and
then condensing it back into liquid form.
• When spirits are distilled the original liquid has already been fermented and is an
alcoholic ‘wine’ or wash. After the ‘wine’ or wash has been converted into vapor
and then condensed back into a liquid it is called a distillate. Impurities are left
behind in the original container.
• The equipment used to distill spirits is called a STILL. A still has three essential
parts : the original container in which the wash or wine is heated to turn into vapor,
the condenser in which the vapor is cooled, and the receiver in which the distillate
or distillated spirit is collected.
• This system works because ethanol boils at 78.5⁰C and water at 100⁰ C. When
the alcoholic wash (“wine”) is heated to 78.5⁰C the alcohol boils off leaving other
constituents, mostly water behind.
• The first part of the distillate is the “heads” followed by the “heart” and lastly the
“tails”.
• The “heads” and the “tails” contained mostly impurities which also add to the
flavor.
• The distiller would decide the amount of impurities required and for what purpose.
• The original liquid from which drinkable spirit is distilled can be grape wine (as in
the case of Brandy), sugar wine (for Rum), fruit wine (for Cherry Brandy), or malted
or un-malted grain wine (for Whisky, Gin and Vodka).
Stills
Pot still
The pot still or the ‘alembic or alambic’ is the earliest and traditional form of still. These
were basically enclosed kettles, which narrowed towards the top to collect vapor
created by boiling. A downward pipe from the head carried the vapor through cold
water and caused it to condense and it could be collected in a receiving chamber.
In this method the fermented beverage is put inside the still and heated, it is said that
the ethyl alcohol evaporates at the temperature of 78.5 degree celcius.As the
temperature reaches 78.5 degree celcius the ethyl alcohol present in the fermented
beverage starts evaporating. These vapors move to the condenser and getting in the
form of liquid spirit.
The first distillate is called HEAD/Fore shot (feints/Tete) – Not used for drinking.
Copper was the best metal for making the still as it drew out the impurity from alcohol.
It produced distilled spirits in batches, one batch at a time. It is a laborious and time
consuming process. The stills have to be loaded up, boiled off, cleaned and recharged
for every run.
• It is costly to operate.
Patent still
The “analyzer” vaporizes the alcohol from the hot wash. The rising alcohol vapors
proceeded to the “rectifier" column where they cooled down on coming in contact with
the cold wash. This purifies, increases the strength and condenses the alcoholic
vapors.
This process produces lighter styles of the spirit (Light body spirits).
• It is cost effective.
• Aroma and other essential elements that are required in a drink may not be
achieved.
It need frequent cleaning and refilling It does not need cleaning after every
boil.
Spirit made by this method contains It removes all impurities to give a pure
more impurities spirit
The beverage which either contains less than 0.5 % ethyl alcohol or does not contains
any amount of ethyl alcohol is termed as non-alcoholic beverages.
b) Refreshing Beverages - It replenishes the fluid loss from the body. Example
water.
2. Alcoholic Beverages
The Beverages which contains 0.5% to 95% of ethyl alcohol is termed as Alcoholic
beverages.
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Short Notes
Still Wine - The wine that does not contains carbon dioxide.
Aromatized Wine – aromatized wine are the fortified wines which has been flavored
with herbs, spices, fruits or other flavor.
Aperitifs – Any alcoholic drinks taken before the meal to stimulate appetite.
Digestive – Any Beverage taken after the meals which helps in digestion.
Liqueurs – Liqueurs are flavored and sweetened spirits having high alcoholic content,
they are usually served in small quantity at the end of meals. It is also use in making
various cocktails.
Spirits – Spirit is the general term used for all distilled liquor.
In this method grains are soaked in water and allowed to germinate, after germination
the grains will be dried off in sun light/heating, during this process the insoluble sugar
is converted into soluble sugar.
Bibliography
singarvelvan, R. (2011). Food and Beverge Service. Delhi: Oxford University Press.