Wash (Distiller's Beer)
The wash, also called distiller's beer, is the fermented liquid that goes into the still. It is the product of fermenting the mash, usually around 8 to 12 percent alcohol, before distillation concentrates it.
In short: The wash, also called distiller's beer, is the fermented liquid that goes into the still. It is the product of fermenting the mash, usually around 8 to 12 percent alcohol, before distillation concentrates it.
The wash is what the still distills. Its starting alcohol content, set by fermentation, determines how much spirit a run will yield. Recording the wash volume and gravity is the bridge between fermentation and distillation in a grain-to-bottle record.
What is distiller's beer?
Wash, or distiller's beer, is the fermented mash before distillation, typically 8 to 12% ABV for bourbon. It is beer in the technical sense, unhopped and unfiltered, destined for the still rather than the glass.
How is wash measured?
By volume and beer proof (or gravity) at the fermenter drop. Those numbers, against the grain in the cook, give fermentation efficiency and predict the proof gallons the stripping run should deliver.
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