^{{mospagebreak title=Making whisky}}

^{How do they make whisky and what are the ingredients. There are different kinds of whisky. Some are made out of corn others are made of barley.}

^{Scotch Malt Whisky.}

^{Scotch Malt is made from malted barley . There are a few distilleries that do all parts of the process. But that is not very common anymore. Most distilleries buy their malted barley from big companies. If it is as it is, the barley has to sprout and generate sugars. This is done on a malting floor . Before it can be spread out over the floor, it has to be soaked in water for about two days. This is done in a tank, called a steep . After the 2 days the barley gets spread out over the malting floor. There it will sprout and develop sugar. It gets turned a few times a day, by hand or a special machine. After a day or 5 the barley has developed enough sugar. Then the barley is transferred to the kiln . In the kiln the barley is heated and this stops the germination.}

^{Now the barley is dry and and it is easy to mill it into powder. This powder goes into a big tun. The mash tun . Hot water is added to the grist and eventually the sugars will dissolve into the water. After all the sugar is dissolved, the fluid will be drained from the tun and this is the first step to brewing. One of the nice things about making whisky is the clean way of producing it. There is no waste. The residue left in the tun (draff) is often used as animal food. The sugary water (wort) is transfered to the washback. After the washback is filled for about 2/3, yeast is added and the brewing process starts. During the fermentation the yeast converts the sugars into alcohol. After about 48 hours the alcohol is transfered to the wash still . The liquid is now a beer like wash. In the wash still the wash is heated. The wash contains a lot of water and other substances. Because alcohol vaporizes at a lower temperature then water, it is quite easy to separate it. The alcohol finds it way to the top of the still where it is cooled down through the condenser. Now we have a liquid called low wines containing about 22% alcohol. The low wines go the low wines and feints receiver. The proces of making the low wines goes on untill the last drop of alcohol is seperated.}

^{The low wines go now to the Spirit Still . For the untrained eye, all the stills are the same but there are differences. The wash stills are for instance bigger then the spirit stills, but this is not always the case. The low wines are now heated also, separating more alcohol. At the start of the process, you get the head, full of unwanted materials, this goes back to the feints receiver. After that the heart of the run. This is what the distiller is waiting for. The alcohol is now about 70% and the heart is directed to the spirit receiver. This seperation is done using a spirit safe . After a while, the alcohol % is dropping and the quality worse. This is called the tail and this flow will also go back to the feints receiver. Then the process starts all over again. The 70% alcohol is transfered from the spirit receiver in to the casks. Although no one really knows, but it is believed 3/4 of the taste of malt whisky is from the casks, used for maturing the whisky. Scotch whisky has to be matured for a minimum of 3 years before it is allowed to be named Scotch whisky. Scotch whisky is matured in used casks .}