The alcohol distillation process is one of the most important steps when making certain kinds of alcohol. Without distillation we wouldn’t have many of the types of alcoholic beverages we know today including: • Brandy • Gin • Rum • Tequila • Vodka • Whisky What is distillation? Distillation is a method of separating liquids that a mixed together. How does distillation work? The process of distillation is simple. Different liquids reach a boiling point at different temperatures. Put simply, distillation uses differences in boiling points to separate liquids. Let’s see how alcohol distillation in particular works: Alcohol boils at : 173ºF Water boils at : 212ºF So, if you have a mixture of both water and alcohol using alcohol distillation you can raise the temperature of the mixture to the boiling point of alcohol. Which is 173ºF. What is distillation? Distillation is a method of separating liquids that a mixed together. How does distillation work? The process of distillation is simple. Different liquids reach a boiling point at different temperatures. Put simply, distillation uses differences in boiling points to separate liquids. Let’s see how alcohol distillation in particular works: Alcohol boils at : 173ºF Water boils at : 212ºF So, if you have a mixture of both water and alcohol using alcohol distillation you can raise the temperature of the mixture to the boiling point of alcohol. Which is 173ºF. By raising our mixture to the boiling point of alcohol ( 173ºF) the alcohol only will begin to boil turning it into vapor while leaving the water still in a liquid state. This is because the alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. Pot Still A pot still is the tool used during the alcohol distillation process. Our mixture of water and alcohol is heated to the boiling point of alcohol within the pot still. The vapors from the boiling alcohol are captured and then cooled to a point that it turns back into liquid form. As a result, the cooled substance has a much higher alcohol content than the original mixture. This process can be repeated over again to create a higher concentration of alcohol. Want More information on Alcohol Distillation? Check out BartendingSchool101.com for more information on alcohol distillation.