ABSTRACT
The sprouted barley is next dried at a temperature sufficient to kill the sprout without injuring the enzyme and is then ground. A
mash
is prepared by incubating a mixture of ground cereal, water, and malt. Mash for brewing beer is filtered, and the liquid, or
wort
, is then treated with yeast. For making
whisky
, yeast is added directly to the malted mash. After fermentation, the liquid portion, or distiller’s beer, is run through a simple still. The distillate, or raw whisky, is mostly water and alcohol, plus traces of other volatile products of the fermentation. If a more efficient fractionating still is used, only water and alcohol are recovered. This product,
neutral spirits
, contains 90 to 95% of alcohol by volume. Information regarding some common alcoholic beverages is given in Table 68.1.
