2. Brewing
The brewing is split into two stages. The first stage is mashing. Hot water is added to the milled malt, grist, and
the mixture is fed into the mash tun. Revolving paddles stir the mix for several hours. The sugars present due to
malting, dissolve, and the solution called wort is drawn off through the perforated floor of the tun. This is usually
done three times, increasing the temperature of the water each time. Only the wort from the first two waters is used -
the last water is used as the first water for the next batch of grist. The residue, the draff, is collected and used
as cattle feed.
The second stage is the fermentation. After cooling, the wort is passed into large vessels called wash
backs. These are traditionally wooden (Douglas Fir, Oregon Pine or Larch) but some distilleries now use stainless steel.
Yeast is added and fermentation begins, converting the sugars present into alcohol. This ceases after two days to leave a
low strength, 5-10% vol. alcoholic liquid, similar to beer, called wash.
pictured below adding yeast to start fermentation |
Whisky Guide | 
