Mash House (5), view from east north east showing control panel, and in background, grist and malt screws to hoppers. Digital image of C 3864

Description Mash House (5), view from east north east showing control panel, and in background, grist and malt screws to hoppers. Digital image of C 3864

Date 26/4/1993

Catalogue Number SC 732214

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 3864

Scope and Content Mash house from east-north-east, Balmenach Distillery, Highland Balmenach Distillery was formally established in 1824, when legend has it James Macgregor was visited by an exciseman who advised him to 'take out a license on yon peat shed' in which he had been illicitly distilling whisky. Like most distilleries it has been renovated and has changed hands several times in the course of its history, before being 'mothballed' in 1993. It was acquired by Inver House Distillers in 1997, and is now once more in use. This shows the mash house which was renovated in 1968. The room contains control panels to adjust the flow of malt and water in the mash tuns. Grist (ground malt) and malted barley arrives at the hoppers in the background via screws within metal tubes. Malted barley is ground and combined with warm water to begin the fermentation process. The malt is drawn out of the worts (malt sugars), which are then cooled and yeast added to ferment the mixture further. This liquid, called wash, is then distilled from 'low wines' (once-distilled spirit) to unmatured whisky in pear-shaped copper vessels before maturation in wooden casks. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/732214

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap