continuous columns

Columns can be constructed from copper or stainless steel. Typically a bourbon beer column still is built out of copper. A neutral spirit column still may have some stainless steel column sections and some copper column sections depending on the customer request.

A doubler is commonly used when making bourbon or whiskey. It is essentially a pot still that continuously re-distills the low wines feed coming from the beer stripping column. Doublers are generally fabricated from copper.

Beer pre-heaters are used to pre-heat the continuous feed of beer into the beer stripping column. It is necessary to heat the beer to the optimal temperature before entering the column. The pre-heater is heated by the vapor exiting the column. This in turn provides reflux to the column. Energy savings are also realized by heating the beer using this method.

The low and high wines collections tanks are an integrated part of the continuous column. For a bourbon column still the low wines tank will feed the doubler.

The low wines condenser is used to condense the vapor exiting from the column and beer pre-heater. These condensers are usually fabricated out of copper and the exiting condensate is fed to the low wines tank and then to the doubler.

The high wines condenser condenses the vapor from the doubler. At this point the spirit has been refined to its final state and is ready for dilution and barreling. High wines condensers can be made from copper or stainless steel.

Most modern column stills are powered by clean steam directly injected into the bottom of the continuous column. Other methods of heating can cause fouling of the heating surfaces which may wreak havoc on a column still. We recommend using a clean steam boiler for all Revival column stills.