Distillique Articles

Exploring the Dairy Distillery Revolution:  In the heart of eastern Ontario, Dairy Distillery, renowned for its innovative "Vodkow" spirit distilled from milk permeate, is spearheading a groundbreaking partnership. Collaborating with the Michigan Milk Producers Association, this Almonte-based distillery is set to revolutionize the landscape by converting milk permeate, a byproduct of dairy filtration, into an environmentally friendly ethanol fuel. The process begins by fermenting...

In the world of home distillation, precision is key. Whether you're measuring the density of your mash or monitoring the progress of fermentation, having the right tools can make all the difference.

Traditionally discarded as unusable byproduct, botanical waste holds untapped potential as a flavourful culinary ingredient. Read more to learn how to make Gin spice

Welcome to the exciting world of home distillation! In our first instalment of the Beginner Home Distiller series, we'll delve into the fundamental process of fermentation. Understanding fermentation is key to producing the perfect wash for your future spirits.  What is Fermentation? Fermentation is a natural biological process where yeast, a single-cell organism, converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This magical transformation is...

The alcohol industry is changing, and at the helm of this transformation are the Millennials. With their future purchasing power, Millennials aren't just consumers; they're trendsetters shaping the global and local liquor scene.

In 1672 an assistant cook aboard the Dutch ship ‘de Pijl’ anchored at Table Bay discovered the potential of local grapes and transformed 1164 Liters of Cape wine into 126 Liters of “brandewijn”, referred to as “burned wine” which later became known as “brandy”. 

Bending copper tube and pipe is easy - Even if you have to do really tight coils.

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman If ever you distil your mash and find that you get a blue-ish colour (and perhaps even a copper/metallic taste) don't drink it! It is not fit for human consumption.  When distilling "faulty" mashes the distillate will start off with a bluish colour and slowly the blue-ishness will turn less blue as you continue...

  Digital pH meters and pH test strips are both commonly used to measure the pH level of a solution, but they differ in their accuracy, precision, and ease of use. Here are some benefits of using a digital pH meter compared to pH test strips:   Criteria pH Paper test strips pH digital meter Accuracy Less Accurate: pH test strips only give an...

Embarking on the journey of starting a craft distillery is an exciting yet challenging venture that demands a great deal of preparation and planning. The process involves a series of crucial steps that must be followed to turn your dream into a reality. To help you get started, we have outlined the essential steps that will guide you through the process of opening a...

Electrical control boxes for stills becomes much more than just boxes and switches. The moment you're considering to distil craft spirits, have a look at the type of electrical control boxes you would require.

KULTUUR STOKERS GILDE  MAMPOERFEES 2 JULIE 2022, MET  MAMPOER-KAMPIOENSKAPPE OP DONDERDAG 30 JUNIE 2022.   Inleiding: Ons nooi alle Kultuurstokers en Artikel 116 Stokers in Suid Afrika om deel te neem aan die Nasionale Mampoerkampioenskappe te Willem Prinsloo Landboumuseum, (Ditsong) Rayton Pretoria, vanaf 28 Junie tot 2 Julie 2022. Die doel van die Mampoerfees is om die kwaliteit van die drank wat deur bogenoemde gestook...

  Essential oils Essential oils are aromatic oils originating from various parts of the plant, such as the flowers, roots, leaves and stems. They have been known not only for their aromatic contribution to various cosmetic products, but also for their medicinal properties. How do I extract these oils? There are numerous methods used for the extraction of essential oils such as Hydro distillation...

If you are a producer in the food and beverage industry, you are well aware of the importance of working in a clean and sanitary environment to prevent the spoilage of your product. The spoilage of food and beverages is mainly due to contamination through harmful and unwanted micro-organisms.   Cleaning and sanitising are terms describing two very different processes. Cleaning is the process...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman Note: This plan was written based on requirements for a Micro-Liquor Manufacturing License in South Africa specifically. Due to the limited knowledge of many officials (outside the Western Cape Province) involved in the granting of micro manufacturing licenses, we tried to keep the wording as simple as possible. Distilling terms such as "stillage" has deliberately been...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman “Craft Spirits” “Craft Distilleries” “Handcrafted” The list goes on.  Over the last couple of years the massive boom in the spirit industry in this sector of the market has led too much and continuous debate over the subject of what exactly constitutes Craft.  In the United States especially, there have been multiple law suits against producers...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman In the Global Beverage Market, the Craft Spirit Industry is probably one of the fastest growing segments in the world, both in terms of the number of producers and the number of products available (and of course in terms of sales). Have you ever considered the possibility that YOU might have something to contribute? If you...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman So Malted Barley is the conventional source of Enzymes for the Starch Conversion Process, but many of Distillique's clients choose to use Artificial Enzyme Sources - concentrated Alpha Amylase and Gluco Amylase Liquids - rather than Malted Barley. There are many reasons for this choice, but firstly, South African Malted Barley can be of inconsistent quality,...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman For some time now the whole South African Liquor License Industry has been chaotic. If it’s not a question of waiting for inspectors (up to 7 months), then you have to deal with inspectors that don’t know what they are doing, or people blatantly holding you for ransom for bribes, or inspectors that have no transport...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman Most of us have not been taught aroma descriptors, or aroma names, while we were kids, but all of us have been taught colors, and we easily agree on what is green, red or blue. The same is not (yet) true for aromas. A heavy argument may arise with one person calling a specific aroma "leafy",...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman Bacterial and mold Infections are unfortunate but not uncommon occurrences in fermentations, specifically grain, potato and other starch related fermentations. You can quite quickly spot a Bacterial Infection in your fermentation by the color change – the fermentation first going grey, then darker grey and finally black or a beautiful silky white “web” will form on...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman More and more we receive inquiries regarding Closed Cooling Systems. This refers to a closed loop for the water used during cooling to minimize water use. The reasons for these requests and wish to minimize water use are varied, but can be for economic reasons (to save money), for ecological reasons (environmental awareness) or practical reasons...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman The most common type of inquiry we receive at Distillique refers to Fermentations. Either failed fermentations, insufficient yield, questions regarding nutrients, temperatures, etc. What is and is not important when approaching your fermentation? First off – we must remember that yeast is yeast and fermentation is fermentation, regardless of what raw material we are working with....

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman The continuous monitoring of fermentations is a common technique used in Beer Brewing and Wine Making to achieve specific results in terms of flavor, aroma, alcohol content, etc. In fermentations for distilling purposes however, we monitor the fermentations merely to ascertain the progress of the fermentation, to calculate the remaining sugar and to calculate possible yield...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman IMPORTANT – This Article refers to methods and information covered in two other Articles: 10 Steps to a Successful Fermentation, and Monitoring Fermentations. It is advised that you read these two articles first to fully understand the information below.  It happens, from time to time, that you have a failed fermentation. Sometimes we pick this up...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman In an ideal world, our products will speak for themselves, value would be determined by quality and taste alone, and customers would pay accordingly. In an ideal world … But the world is not ideal, or fair, and we are faced with this little thing called Marketing and Hype that plays a role in determining the...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman Sugar is the most important chemical component in the production of alcohol and alcoholic products. No sugar, no fermentation, no alcohol. There are however certain situations where excessive sugar can be a detriment to our fermentation and products, as described in our Article about Successful Fermentations. We therefore need to know how much sugar we have,...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman One of the dangers involved with the consumption of alcohol is Alcohol Poisoning. Not really new information. But what many people do not know is that there is actually 2 types of alcohol poisoning. The first of these is the “garden variety” alcohol poisoning – excessive consumption of alcohol, although this should more accurately be described...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman VODKA Preparation: To begin with, vodka should be frozen. Specifically, it should be stored in the freezer overnight, or at least for a few hours. This will bring the liquor to its proper consistency and flavor. It is how Russians drink vodka, and, well, they started this whole thing. Drinking. Vodka has become so popular because many...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman Oak barrels are more than just expensive liquid-tight containers that give oak flavor to spirits and wines. They soak-up and breathe, flex, filter oxygen out of the air, aid wine and spirit maturation and allows spirits to develop unique character. They flavor and color our spirits and allow the most volatile (and mostly unwanted) components of...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman The French call it Eau de Vie, the Germans call it Schnapps, The Irish call it Poteen and in South Africa we call it Mampoer. For this article we will call all of them "Unaged Fruit Brandies". These are all the same thing: fermented fruit, that becomes fruit wine and is distilled to "unaged fruit brandy"...

First published on Distillique's website 2015 GM Bosman When Lost Creek Distillery first started up their brand new 250lt and 500lt jacketed stills from Distillique and for a "stress test" they filled the boilers with water to test for water and vapor leaks. However, they just not could get their boilers to boil - not even after a few hours of trying to boil...

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman In an earlier article we discussed the use of jacketed boilers and the inherent problems of transferring heat from the jacket to the mash. This jacketed type (also called Bain Marie) boilers have a jacket around it that is partially filled with water and heating elements in this water jacket to create steam to heat...

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman A super trick to improve the quality of your distillations. When the mash has fermented completely (use a Hydrometer to check), wait until it is crystal clear. Then draw out the mash with a siphon, leaving all yeast and impurities in the fermentation vessel. This is called racking and might be performed more than...

First published in 2015 after a visit to China by GM Bosman Baijiu (pronounced “Buy Jee-oh”) is the traditional distilled spirit in China. Although almost unknown in Western culture, Baijiu is the world’s most sold spirit (by volume) and accounts for about a third of the world’s liquor consumed per year. We have not found any Baijiu for sale in South Africa, so our...

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman The principle of distillation is simple. It is a means of separating alcohol from an alcohol containing liquid, on the basis that the different components have different boiling points. Alcohol boils at 78.3º C at sea level while water boils at 100ºC .When an alcohol-water solution is heated to a temperature somewhere between the boiling...

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman Since then, the principles stayed the same but the current price of diesel/petrol is in the region of R20/litre. Perhaps we should update the article with recent figures. In 2015 we received a question from one of our customers who wanted to start distilling bio-ethanol on his farm to run his farm vehicles. Is...

In the distilling industry, there are many myths which have persisted over many years. This is especially true amongst Home Distillers or Cultural Distillers. One of these myths (that lead to many an argument during some of our training sessions) is the belief that you should boil your mash at a certain temperature to “boil off” the alcohol before the water starts boiling.

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman Many of our clients contact us with questions relating to the different readings obtained when using a refractometer and when using a floating hydrometer in the same liquid. These readings can be quite far apart and we should be aware of that and the reasons behind it. The general “truth” that more dense liquids have...

Originally posted on 11 October 2016  SACDI is a Representative Organization for Craft Distillers in South Africa, established to promote, grow, protect and monitor the Craft Distilling Industry. Up to now, SACDI has operated in relative obscurity, but the recent growth in the Craft Spirit Market (and number of Craft Spirit Producers) has pushed the organization to the fore. Tremendous growth in craft Vodkas,...

First published on Distillique's website in 2015 by GM Bosman Note: This plan was written based on requirements for a Micro-Liquor Manufacturing License in South Africa specifically. Due to the limited knowledge of many officials (outside the Western Cape Province) involved in the granting of micro manufacturing licenses, we tried to keep the wording as simple as possible. Distilling terms such as "stillage" has...

Originally posted 13 March 2019 by Hendre Barnard - Training manager Distillique. This Article is a repeat of a reply we made on Facebook regarding a post by a well-known South African "Ginfluencer", discussing the sharp increase in non-gin products posing as gins, a lack of clarity in processes and product definitions, and certain shortfalls in labeling requirements and label clarity. We have reposted it here as we think,...

If you would like to import distillation equipment yourself, please make sure you do your homework well! Is it Cheaper to Import a Still myself? A client recently claimed that: "I can import it myself at much less than what you're selling it!". Off-course this was a big concern for us and we did some investigation. The claim presented seemed to be factually correct ...or...

  During COVID-19 Lockdown, several basic Home Distilling (and Brewing) supplies – equipment and consumables - have been difficult to get hold of. Yeast, Nutrients, Enzymes and even Bubbler, SG Hydrometers and Alcoholmeters.          One of the most problematic however, was Malted Barley. Not just because stocks and supplies had run out, but because the plants producing it was shut down....

    During COVID-19 Lockdown, several basic Home Distilling (and Brewing) supplies – equipment and consumables - have been difficult to get hold of. Yeast, Nutrients, Enzymes and even Bubbler, SG Hydrometers and Alcoholmeters.      One of the most problematic however, was Malted Barley. Not just because stocks and supplies had run out, but because the plants producing it was shut down. Even...

During COVID-19 Lockdown, several basic Home Distilling (and Brewing) supplies – equipment and consumables - have been difficult to get hold of. Yeast, Nutrients, Enzymes and even Bubbler, SG Hydrometers and Alcoholmeters.   One of the most problematic however, was Malted Barley. Not just because stocks and supplies had run out, but because the plants producing it was shut down. Even under Level 3...

    During COVID-19 Lockdown, several basic Home Distilling (and Brewing) supplies – equipment and consumables - have been difficult to get hold of. Yeast, Nutrients, Enzymes and even Bubbler, SG Hydrometers and Alcoholmeters.     One of the most problematic however, was Malted Barley. Not just because stocks and supplies had run out, but because the plants producing it was shut down. Even...

DISCLAIMER: Distillique does not believe in providing and selling recipes, as this goes against the Craft of producing your own products. The recipes we share have been sourced from clients and other sources, and as such, Distillique takes no responsibility and makes no guarantees regarding the quality, accuracy, or safety of these recipes. Recipes are used at own risk, and are for the purpose...

Recently, with the massive increase in Home Distilling here in South Africa, a lot of people have been posting about using smoking chips and other woods on their distillate to wood it.     Many people are very happy with the results, and others are not.     One of those unhappy individuals mailed us this morning with a question, and we thought others...

PLEASE NOTE: This article is written in the context of South African Law. Clients from other countries must please review their local legislation.     Many times, inspiration for an article comes from questions posed by our Clients. Over the past two days we received three inquiries that were closely related, hence this article.     The most recent inquiry, received via Email this...