In Spain, to distill alcohols under the harvesters' regime, we must first request the distillation permit and pay the corresponding fee at the Public Treasury (Tax Agency - customs or special tax department). Prerequisite is to have a registered pot (alembic) and its location.
After the fermentation of the grape and its subsequent pressing, the grape skins are loaded with alcohol; After being well shredded, it is introduced into an alembic to which a grid is placed at the bottom, so that this material does not touch directly with the heat source, which would cause it to burn, being very difficult to take off.
The condenser must be filled with water to the brim, and then leave a small permanent jet to cool the water that will be heated by the effect of the hot steam that runs through the coil.
After adding two and a half buckets of water and loading the pot, we have to seal the joints of the cap and the condenser coil, we use a paste made with flour and water. Then you are ready to light the fire. We will use charcoal (oak) firewood, as it is the most suitable for this task.
The pot takes between one and two hours to start distilling. The time it takes to extract all the alcohol depends on how wet the bagasse is and how much alcohol it contains.
Depending on the degree of alcohol that we want to obtain, we can let it distill for more or less time, for this we measure the degree with a density breathalyzer. A common grade for white brandy is between 40º and 50º.
The alcohol obtained is filtered to remove impurities and bottled. A seal is placed on each liter to certify that it is a legal alcohol.
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11 сен 2024
