A visit to Teeling distillery

The last stop of the Irish study tour for me was Teeling distillery. Most people went on to Whiplash brewery afterward but I had to meet my cousin's husband so on this occasion you won't get to see me acting like a maniac. 

Teeling Distillery was built in 2015.

They have a wet mill and do single infusion mashes in a lauter tun at 66°C twice a day. Malt and pot still whiskey is made, the pot still being 50% raw barley with added alpha amylase and beta glucanase enymes.

Three tonnes of grain make 150hl of wash at 62°S. Crystal, crystal rye and chocolate malts have been used in the mashes as well as purple wheat. The washes go to wooden washbacks made from Oregon pine for 12 hours before moving to stainless steel vessels. 

A mix of distiller's yeast and white wine yeast is used for fermentation, along with lactobacillus and wild yeast.

Final gravity is below zero and ABV over 8% after four days fermentation, which starts at 18°C and free rises to 35. 

A single brew fills the wash still which takes 8.5 to 9 hours to make the low wines at 30% ABV. Two wash runs fill the low wines still and one low wine run goes to the spirit still which comes out at 82% ABV. The stills are heated by external plate heat exchanges and the lyne arms have a 5° slope.   

The new make spirit is cut to 66% ABV for barrel filling. In Ireland the barrels don't have to be made of oak. Losses are 5% in the first year (2% from filling), 3% each year after that and 2% on emptying. The whiskey is cut to 46% ABV for bottling and is not chill filtered. 

The tour ended with a tasting, led by a comrade from the study tour, I was soon back on the beer though.