What Is a Copper Alembic Still & How Does It Work?
The copper alembic still is the oldest and most elegant tool in distilling. The word "alembic" comes from the Arabic al-anbiq, and the design — a copper pot, a domed head, and a condenser — has barely changed in a thousand years, because it simply works.
The parts of an alembic still
- The boiler (pot): the copper vessel that holds your wash or botanicals over the heat.
- The head: the dome on top — a traditional onion head for full-flavored spirit, or a broader mushroom top that gives a touch more reflux and a cleaner pour.
- The swan neck / lyne arm: carries the vapor toward the condenser.
- The condenser or worm: a coiled copper tube ("worm") sitting in cool water that turns the vapor back into liquid.
How does a copper alembic still work?
You gently heat the wash in the boiler. Alcohol and the aromatic compounds boil off below the temperature of water, rise as vapor, travel through the head and down the condenser, and drip out as finished spirit, essential oil, or hydrosol. The whole craft is in patience and in making clean "cuts" between the heads, hearts and tails of the run.
Why build it in copper?
Copper isn't decoration. As vapor rises, copper chemically binds the sulfur compounds thrown off during fermentation — the same compounds that make a poorly made spirit taste of rotten egg and struck match. Stainless steel can't do this. That single fact is why nearly every fine whiskey and brandy on earth touches copper somewhere on its journey. Every still we carry is heavy, food-safe, lead-free copper with tin-silver soldered seams.
What can you make in an alembic still?
Far more than moonshine. A copper alembic will produce whiskey, bourbon, rum, brandy, gin and vodka, and it is equally at home distilling lavender and rose essential oils, botanical hydrosols, rosewater and clean distilled water. It is the most versatile vessel in the craft.