The Compleat Distiller
Book can be purchased at www.amphora-society.com.The Compleat Distiller
I had the pleasure of reviewing this book, now in its 2nd edition, and can honestly say that it is put together very well.
People with varied levels of familiarity with the production of alcoholic beverages will benefit from the detailed information presented in this book, starting with whole chapters devoted to fermentation, the science behind batch and continuous distillation, equipment design and operating procedures.
The book also includes chapters on the use of botanicals and essences, setting up and operating a distillery workshop and ends with a very scientific look at the “magic” of distillation from a physical and molecular level.
If this wasn’t enough, the appendices are full of useful charts and facts, such as weights and measures, carbohydrates for fermentation, sugar hydrometer table, activated carbon usage, vapor management, air-cooled condensation and lastly an appendix devoted to scaling up production.
The book is well written and easy to follow, even for novice distillers or for people whose first language is not English.
The illustrations do a very good job supporting the narrative and it is clear that the authors (Mike Nixon and Mike McCaw) not only know the subject intimately, but they also enjoy writing about it.
I recommend this book to anyone with a serious level of interest in distillation, as it condenses a lot of useful information into a very practical and easy to read manual.