Whisky hvordan laves den

Whisky, hvordan laves den egentlig ?
Først vil vi anbefale at du læser lidt om Whisky'ens historie og baggrund. og hvis du ikke kender til de mest brugte ord inden for whisky verden har vi lavet en lille guide over whisky ord

Det er ganske få Whiskies og producenter der stadig har sine egne marker, Glenfiddich/Aberlour kan f.eks. ikke selv producerer nok byg og køber derfor ekstra udefra. Når byggen så er høstet og tør skal den bringes til spirring igen. Dette gøres ved at den lægges i store vandbeholdere i ca. 48 timer. Herefter sies vandet fra og byggen lægges til at spirre.

Er der tale om floor-malting vendes og blandes byggen på et stort trægulv. En af de få destillerier der stadig benytter floor-malting er Abelour og Laphroaig (F.eks stoppede Ardbeg i 1974 med dette og det kan tydeligt smages - rygtet siger dog at de vil til at gøre det igen)

Byggen skal herefter tøres i 11 døgn og i denne periode vendes og rives den hver 3'die time. Byggen bliver varmere, spirrer og slår små rødder / skud og samtidig dannes der sukkerstoffer i kornet. Byggen er nu maltet og spirrings processen SKAL stoppes inden at selve byg kornet begynder at optage næring og gro.

Tørring :

Spirrings processen stoppes ved at opvarme, tørrer byggen over varme. Enhver der har set et whisky distilleri vil kunne genkende skorstenen også kaldet en pagoda (Det lidt kinesiske udseende tag) Her kan det også have betydning om der bruges kul, lyng eller andet materiale, da røgen afsætter sine tydlige spor i byggen og dette vil igen få stor indflydelse på whiskien.

I det mere moderne whisky destillerier benyttes der en særlig "ovn" som for nogle måske vil minde lidt om en tørrer tumbler. Vi vil blot lade billedet stå lidt her...

Mølle :

Næste skridt for nogle typer Whisky er at byggen herefter kommer igennem en mølle som skær byggen i mindre stykker ( bryder kernen ) dog ikke så meget at det bliver til mel, men byggen vil stadig have en fast kornet konsistens. Igen er det ikke mange whisky destillerier der har en mølle stående længere, men de får typisk foretaget dette ude i byen. Folk der ved hvordan man producerer øl vil kunne genkende proceduren og ved også at det ikke er ligegyldigt hvordan kornet males.

Mashing :

Den "kvaste" Byg bliver nu igen blandet med vand, men denne gang ikke for at byggen skal spirrer men for at koge byggen og udskilde sukker stoffet fra ... Hvis vi tidligere nævnte en tørretumbler ville vaskemaskine måske passe her.

Fermentation :

Byggen sies fra og tilbage er denne søde væske ... Har man hang til sød lyst øl så er noget af svaret her. Det har en MEGET sød smag men ingen alkohol, men duften er ikke til at tage fejl af ! Når man ankommer til et whisky distilleri vil denne "atypiske" duft mange gange møde en ude på gårdspladsen.

How to Handle Your Drink - The Allied Distillers Way
Natural history of whisky

How does whisky get from the distillery into your glass? Starting in the distillery, the boiling, mashing and distilling of raw materials is largely driven by bulk processing equipment and vessels, mixing and transforming the ingredients to put them on the right path to becoming the liquid in your glass. Yet there are essential activities such as turning valves, maintaining equipment and performing manual handling which can present risks to operators, and the implications of a poorly designed work environment are the same as in any process industry - muscle strains and difficulty performing tasks.

The whisky is then poured into barrels, which must be moved to and from the confined environment of the warehouse racks where they stay for several years, ageing with the help of the surrounding wood and air, as so eloquently described on the label of your whisky bottle. Manually handling these wooden whisky barrels (of various sizes, some weighing half a ton!) requires a great deal of "knack" and skill, and although a veteran barrel handler can make it look easy, a naive person attempting the same task will probably struggle to move the load. Finally the contents are decanted, perhaps blended, and then bottled on a semi-automated line involving dozens of different tasks, from loading the empty bottles, to placing labels and caps, to handling full cases of the product onto pallets.
Ergonomics considerations

As you will now realise, some strenuous work has gone into your whisky, and failure to address the ergonomics and manual handling considerations for many of these situations can lead to injuries over time. A good example in managing ergonomics risks has been set for the industry by Allied Distillers Limited (ADL), producers of popular brands such as Laphroig, Miltonduff, and Ballentines. ADL have been clients of System Concepts for several years, commisioning our consultancy and training services to address their unique manual handling and ergonomics concerns. In particular they have trained dozens of manual handling risk assessors through our customised training, focusing on areas where the risks are greatest, such as handling casks in the warehouse racks. They have recently extended the training programme to cover tasks on the bottling line which are more likely to be of a repetitive nature, so that good workstation and task design are of prime importance. Making full use of the checklists contained within our ergonomics training, the ADL assessors quickly assess a task and identify any potential risk factors, carrying out more detailed analysis if necessary. Most importantly, they are able to develop solutions which reduce the risk, from simple modifications to the bottling line to more substantial engineering changes such as manual handling devices.

ADL's Safety Engineer says: "We are happy with the checklist based approach because it is consistent, and helps the assessor to identify problems they may have otherwise overlooked."

System Concepts has a strong record of providing ergonomics support to the food and drink industry, with clients as diverse as The Brewers' and Licensed Retailers Society, The Scotch Whisky Association, Cadbury, Mars, Carlsberg-Tetley, and Victoria Wine. Please contact us if you would like to know more about applying ergonomics to your operations.