Spirit of the Downs in Bolney held the grand opening of its distillery this week.
Photo gallery and article at: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/business/i-tried-some-fabulous-sussex-brandy-and-vodka-at-the-grand-opening-of-spirit-of-the-downs-new-distillery-in-photos-4791119
Photo gallery and article at: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/business/i-tried-some-fabulous-sussex-brandy-and-vodka-at-the-grand-opening-of-spirit-of-the-downs-new-distillery-in-photos-4791119
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NewsTranscript
00:00So this is our stilt, it's called Gaia, and this is a fruit stilt which is used to make brandy.
00:08It has a lot of copper in its make, which basically means that we can create very flavoursome brandies.
00:17As we go up, we've got a column, and as we go up the column, as the liquid is being boiled,
00:25the ferments that we've made for the previous year, the alcohol will travel up to the top of the column,
00:32and then it will hit a deflag, which basically pulls the liquid down again,
00:38and only lets through the pure alcohol, through into the condenser, which is over this side.
00:45We don't make gin, that's a gin basket, but if we did, we would put botanicals in there.
00:52As it comes down, we have the condenser, which is connected to this water tank.
00:57Now we don't waste water, we basically take the water to cool the liquid, and then it gets recycled.
01:05So one of these IBCs will last a whole run of around five to six hours.
01:12At the other side, you'll see the hydrometer, and here we have our alcohol that's being created.
01:22At the moment, we're splitting it off, we've got the heads that are coming out,
01:27and shortly we'll be into the hearts, which is the section that we can use to make vodka, brandy, and oligosaccharides.