Liquor
Our Liquors are, Asmara Zibib, Asmara Gin, Asmara Cognac and Asmara Fernet
Distillation, Distillation is vaporization of a liquid and subsequent condensation and liquefaction of the vapours. Ethyl alcohol (Ethanol) is the main product of distillation. Ethyl Alcohol is generally referred to as Distilled spirit or Neutral spirit. It can be produced from four types of raw materials:-
- Saccharine material: sugar solution derived from sugar cane, molasses, fruits, sugar
- Beets, sorghum.
- Starchy material: cereal grain, potatoes etc. Cellulose material: wood pulp, corn cops and stalks sulphite waste liquor from paper industry.
- Hydrocarbon gases: ethylene, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen mixture.
At Asmara Brewery, Ethyl alcohol is produced from molasses. Two and half gallons of molasses with about 5% sugar content yield about one gallon of 95% Ethyl alcohol. Fermentation by saccharomyce cerevisiai (top yeast) is carried out at a concentration of 16% to 25% sugar.
The distillation process starts with the transfer of molasses from the temporary molasses storage tank to the preparatory tank. Here the molasses is mixed with water to mash. The molasses solution (mash) is pumped to an open fermentation tank and inoculated with either Distillery or Bakery yeast to ferment into Ethyl Alcohol and carbon dioxide. At a temperature of 28°C, fermentation takes from 3-4 days Yeast which are used for subsequent fermentation are propagated in the Mother tank. When fermentation is over, the fermented molasses (wine) is transferred to the temporary wine storage tank, so that feeding remains continuous.
From the storage tank, the wine passes through a pre-heater and enters the distillation column. The hot wine is then transferred to the distillation column where low volatile substance-water is separated from the higher volatile substance, especially the alcohol. The wine is then passed to the filtration column where the very high volatile substances are separated from the highly concentrated alcohol; and in the rectification column the pure alcohol is separated from all unwanted impurities, mainly water and fusel oils.
Liquor Production
Liquor products (i.e. Gin, Cognac, Zibib and Fernet) are produced by mixing the pure alcohol with different kinds of appropriate resins. They are bottled in the different sizes and shapes of bottles.