Mill Room: view of 'Vickers' Boby malt mill from south west

Description Mill Room: view of 'Vickers' Boby malt mill from south west

Date 8/11/1993

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number C 15887

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 735912

Scope and Content 'Vickers' Boby malt mill in the mill room from south-west, Dalwhinnie Distillery, Highland Dalwhinnie Distillery (originally known as Strathspey Distillery) was founded c.1898 by James Buchanan. Ownership passed to various private individuals before the site was taken over by the Distillers' Company Ltd in 1926, and the Scottish Malt Distillers in 1930. It closed after a severe fire in 1934, and re-opened in 1939. This shows a 'Vickers' Boby malt mill, a machine used to grind malted barley after it had been soaked, allowed to germinate, dried over a peat fire in a malt kiln, and dressed to remove impurities and rootlets. The ground malt, or 'grist' would then be mixed with water in a vessel known as a mash tun creating a fermentable solution called 'wort'. After repeated washings to draw out the malt in the solution, the residue (or 'draff') is drawn off to be sold as cattle feed. The cooled wort is then mixed with yeast, and fermented to produce a liquid called 'wash' which is then distilled into spirit. Once matured for at least three years in wooden casks, it can officially be labelled as Scotch whisky. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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