Grappa is the traditional distillation of grape pommace, essentially the left-overs from winemaking. Whether you're a grappa lover or just curious you should learn how it's made. Mike makes the most of his pressed wine skins and produces a delicious and spicy grappa. It's not for everyone but... Mikey likes it! And so do we.

The relatively simple mechanical process of distillation can produce some exceptional beverages, and in this tutorial Mike shows how grappa is made. Instead of just composting his Zin waste in his garden he first evaporates the remaining alcohol out of it to produce spirit, and then returns the pommace to the earth - smart. In this tutorial Mike explains the distillation process, the mechanics of the reflux still, the importance of having a counter-flow chiller and the safety considerations involved in making grappa.

This is home artesian grappa production on a very small scale. It takes a lot of pommace to make a little grappa, but for Uncle Mike it's worth the effort. Forget moonshine ... this is grappa!


Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Ingredients
3. Equipment
4. Set-up
5. Safety
6. The Heads
7. Distillation
8. Clan-up
9. Tasting