Choose the right pot still size for your whisky distillation

Choose the right pot still size for your whisky distillation

By Celeste分类: BlogsTags: Pot still, still size, wash still

The heart of whisky-making lies in the still. More than just tools, these iconic copper vessels are essential tools in shaping the character, flavor, and quality of your spirit. The capacity of your stills determines how much wash you can process at once, how many runs you’ll need to complete, and ultimately, how efficiently you can distill your spirit. Choosing the right size is not only about fitting your current production goals but also about planning for future growth.

Understand the Distillation Stages

The initial distillation, known as the stripping, which focuses on extracting and concentrating alcohol from the wash. During this process, all alcohols – the good, the bad, and the inferior – are collected. Alcohol evaporates at different temperatures, and the stripping run aims to capture the entire range.

Typically, the wash has an alcohol content ranging between 7% to 13% ABV:

7%-8% ABV for malted barley wash
8%-10% ABV for bourbon mash
10%-13% ABV for washes with high sugar content

For example, a 3000L wash at 10% ABV contains 300L of alcohol. After the stripping run, the total volume is reduced to about one-third, with the alcohol content rising to around 25% ABV. This condensed product, called low wines, totals about 1000L for a 3000L wash.

Select the Right Still Sizes

A key question for pot still size selection is: Do you prefer batch distillation or continuous processing? Will you distill the entire 3000L wash in a single run, or divide it into smaller batches? Processing the whole wash in one go requires larger stills, while dividing it into batches allows for smaller equipment but potentially increases processing time. Low wines will undergo a second distillation to refine ethanol alcohol and separate desirable flavors from undesirable compounds.

To process 3000L of wash in a single run, you’ll need a stripping still with a capacity of at least 3000L. You can also split the wash into two or three batches which allows you to use smaller wash still. Since the low wines from a 3000L wash yield around 1000L, your spirit pot still should comfortably hold this volume for rectification.

Larger Still for Increased Efficiency: The combination of a large 6000L wash still and 2500L spirit still allows for handling the annual volume requirements more efficiently.

In large-scale distilleries, it is often more cost-effective to process as much wash and low wines as possible at once rather than using multiple smaller stills, as it minimizes labor, maintenance, and downtime. Larger stills also provide superior vapor dynamics, resulting in better separation of distillates—ensuring precise cuts of heads, hearts, and tails to produce high-quality spirits.

For small-scale distilleries, however, larger or continuous distillation setups come with challenges. They require a significantly higher investment in equipment and increased demands on site area, making them less practical for operations with limited space or budgets.

For our example of a 3000L wash, two configurations can be considered:

3500L wash still and 1500L spirit still to process the entire wash in one run.

2000L wash still and 1000L spirit still require two runs for wash and low wines

Choosing the right still sizes is essential for balancing efficiency, cost, and production goals in whisky-making. The key is to align your still capacity with your operational needs and future plans.