"Runnin' it ona log"

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I am perplexed by the a piece of early distillation technology called running it on the log. Am I correct in that steam was piped into a hollow log while mash was poured down from the top creating the first distillation which then went on to a pot still doubler? If so wouldn't this actually be the first continuous collum beer still? When was this technology first employed? Who was the genious that dreamed it up?

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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Linn,
You need to come to the Filson Club. We have a still in the museum with a wooden head and a wooden pipe leading to the worm. This type of still is the origin of "Runnin it on a log".
Mike Veach

[cowdery]

In the most primitive form of "runnin it on a log," the hollowed log is used like a pot still. Wood is scooped from one side of the log and a fermented mash is placed in the cavity. A fire is built under the log and a thick blanket is thrown on top. When the blanket becomes saturated with distillate, it is wrung out into a container (and, hopefully, filtered through cheese cloth or something) and the process is repeated. This method was used when no metal equipment of any kind was available. I have not seen the piece Mike describes, but it obviously is a later variation.

Ultimately, of course, the log would burn, but the water in the fermentate would postpone the inevitable long enough to make a batch or two. Obviously, there was a significant risk of the alcohol-soaked blanket catching on fire, and the resulting distillate probably didn't achieve "proof" (i.e., 50 percent alcohol) but it was something.

Rather than being a precursor of later metal equipment, "runnin it on a log" was more like what my father would call a "field expedient."

--Chuck Cowdery

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Ahh! New learning! Thank you sir. OK so who invented the continuous beer still and at what distillery was it first employed?

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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Linn,
The Continuous still is based on the Coffey still from Ireland. It is also called the Patent still and dates back to the 1840's. I don't know who had the first continuous still in America but I suspect that it was firm in Pennsylvania or Maryland with a lot of capital behind it.
Mike Veach

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More new learning! Thankyou Mike. I have every intention of comming to Louisville to visit you at the prestigious Filson Club and also catch a night class at the D'Maries Lecture Hall.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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Linn,
I would love to have you and Vickie come to D Marie's for a class. My only problem would be dragging you out of there at closing time. You would be in bourbon heaven with so many brands and so little time (and money).
Mike Veach