An Introduction to Scotch

[My Freemasonry]

Originally posted on The Mason's Lady:
At least around here, there tends to be one popular drink among Masons- single malt scotch. In fact, not only does our local Scottish Rite put on a scotch tasting every so often (with one next week!), but during major events like Grand Lodge, everyone brings out their…

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[jvarnell]

I think single malt scotch is of but I think here in the US we should have good old US whisky like GW made. The makers of scotch use our used white oak barrels to age it. The char inside a barrel is a char coal filter that takes out some of the flavers (asatone, methanol...). Then the scotch guy reuse the barrels and add stuff filtered in the US to scotch.

 

[dfreybur]

If we're going good old fashioned US whiskey are we going all the way back to before Kentucky was settled to mean rye whiskey? Songs that mention it "Rye whiskey, rye whiskey I sing with a sigh. Rye whiskey, rye whiskey I'll drink 'till I die". And Mandy - "She serves them whiskey and rye".

 

[Brother JC]

The makers of scotch use our used white oak barrels to age it.

Bourbon requires a new, freshly charred barrel every time, so we have a lot of them laying around. They get shipped out for use in scotch and several wines.
As Doug pointed out, colonial whisky is barley and rye based. Corn liquor (and subsequently bourbon) came later, as maize became the go-to crop for many settlers.

 

[marty15chris]

No scotch that I know of use US whiskey in their blend. They may use grain alcohol but it's all from Scotland. Unless you buy single malt which has no grain alcohol in it.


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[Brother JC]

I don't think anyone said they use the whisky, just the barrels.

 

[jvarnell]

Yep they use the barrels and that is where the bad tastes are captured....in the wood of the barrel. The char inside of a barrel is there to filter out methanol and acetone which are made as the liquid is heated. Methanol and acetone boil at lower tempatures so they come off the distlation befor the ethanol whisky is made of and some makes it into the liquid that is put into the barrels for the char to collect. That is why in the US barrels are only used once. Also Jack Dainals filters there whisky through a very big charcoal filter so they will not have to through away so much of the head.

 

[BryanMaloney]

If the reason barrels are only used once is because they become filled up with methanol and acetone, that means that Scotch is loaded up with methanol and acetone, since Scotch is now most usually aged in used bourbon barrels.

 

[Brother JC]

If the methanol and acetone boil off before distillation, then they don't need to be filtered out... also, Jack Daniel's isn't bourbon, so they can re-use the barrels all they want. Bourbon is the only style that requires single-use barrels.
If you want a truly unique taste in scotch, find one that has been finished in port barrels. Truly excellent.

 

[jvarnell]

If the reason barrels are only used once is because they become filled up with methanol and acetone, that means that Scotch is loaded up with methanol and acetone, since Scotch is now most usually aged in used bourbon barrels.

It is not really loaded up the wood just has more of it.

 

[jvarnell]

If the methanol and acetone boil off before distillation, then they don't need to be filtered out... also, Jack Daniel's isn't bourbon, so they can re-use the barrels all they want. Bourbon is the only style that requires single-use barrels.
If you want a truly unique taste in scotch, find one that has been finished in port barrels. Truly excellent.

no ethenol boils at about 173, aceaton 132, Methonal at 148. So when you start a still the mash heats up from room temp to 173 it boils off some acetone and methenol that goes into the same condencer as the ethenol does you get those chimicals into what you catch that is why you through away the head which is about the first 10 to 20 percent. If you could flash the mash to about 173 quicker you can get more good stuff vs poision.

I just think like the whisky guys in the US, why use a used filter to make new product. It is only used by about 3 percent each time used.

 

[jvarnell]

The port barrel has less acetone in it becaus wine is 80 percent of the port and the brandy is about 20 percent. Brandy is just distilled wine.

 

[dfreybur]

Yep they use the barrels and that is where the bad tastes are captured....in the wood of the barrel. The char inside of a barrel is there to filter out methanol and acetone which are made as the liquid is heated. Methanol and acetone boil at lower tempatures so they come off the distlation befor the ethanol whisky is made of and some makes it into the liquid that is put into the barrels for the char to collect. That is why in the US barrels are only used once. Also Jack Dainals filters there whisky through a very big charcoal filter so they will not have to through away so much of the head.

If you have a chance take a tour of a distillery some time. It's fascinating chemistry. Doing distillation the primary method to remove the acetone and methanol is the "headings" and "tailings". The first and last results of the boil are discarded. Somewhere in the region of 5-10% on each end. I've seen on TV that Jack Daniels uses alcohol as igniter to make charcoal for their filters. Of course this burned alcohol is actually the headings and tailings that are not included in the final product.

Organics dissolve in each other so the boil happens across a range of temperatures. The headings contain organics with lower boiling point than ethanol so they contain acetone and methanol. As the heat increases the lighter organics boil out of the solution to become headers. Most of the boil comes out as ethanol very close to the boiling point of pure ethanol. Then the heavier organics come out as the tailings. The middle part of the boil is the mostly purified alcohol that goes into the barrels or that is filtered more and sold as vodka.

The char in the wood is to absorb trace organics that tend to taste bad. Think of the "fusel oil" that can be tasted in cheap vodka. The uncharred portion of the wood in the barrel is to leak trace organics that tend to taste good into the whiskey. The barrel works in both directions like that plus it is slightly porous so some volatiles evaporate out of the barrel during aging.

 

[jvarnell]

If you have a chance take a tour of a distillery some time. It's fascinating chemistry. Doing distillation the primary method to remove the acetone and methanol is the "headings" and "tailings". The first and last results of the boil are discarded. Somewhere in the region of 5-10% on each end. I've seen on TV that Jack Daniels uses alcohol as igniter to make charcoal for their filters. Of course this burned alcohol is actually the headings and tailings that are not included in the final product.

Organics dissolve in each other so the boil happens across a range of temperatures. The headings contain organics with lower boiling point than ethanol so they contain acetone and methanol. As the heat increases the lighter organics boil out of the solution to become headers. Most of the boil comes out as ethanol very close to the boiling point of pure ethanol. Then the heavier organics come out as the tailings. The middle part of the boil is the mostly purified alcohol that goes into the barrels or that is filtered more and sold as vodka.

The char in the wood is to absorb trace organics that tend to taste bad. Think of the "fusel oil" that can be tasted in cheap vodka. The uncharred portion of the wood in the barrel is to leak trace organics that tend to taste good into the whiskey. The barrel works in both directions like that plus it is slightly porous so some volatiles evaporate out of the barrel during aging.

Tours are good but won't take the place of actual experance. The hot taste is the methonal and acetone and I remove more of the head than 5%. The tail is because it in mostly water. low specfic gravity readings. The wood resions do give it taste but the char on the barrel traps the bad chimicals. This is exactly why old school is best for taste using the barrel to flaver and filter. Some new makers of whisky use stainless barrels with a steeping bag of wood chips and fill the barrel through a charcoal filter. I can taste the differances but you can do it faster that way.

My point was that a barrel used for US whisky has some leftover aceaton and methonal.