The direct-fire still
This traditional and almost disappeared still consists of a copper pot of medium or small capacity with a mouth for adding the marc and a capital at the top. This in turn is connected to a tube, called gooseneck, to make the vapours flow into a coil immersed in cold water and be condensed.
The copper pot used to contain the marc is placed in a masonry furnace at a suitable height so that the fire or naked flame can be lit under it.
This still is hard to manage because it is difficult to control the temperature of the fire and therefore it is easy to “toast” the marc with too much flame thus obtaining Grappa with unpleasant fragrances.
Now virtually abandoned in distillation, this still is only used by a couple of distilleries to make very limited quantities of Grappa.
The copper pot used to contain the marc is placed in a masonry furnace at a suitable height so that the fire or naked flame can be lit under it.
This still is hard to manage because it is difficult to control the temperature of the fire and therefore it is easy to “toast” the marc with too much flame thus obtaining Grappa with unpleasant fragrances.
Now virtually abandoned in distillation, this still is only used by a couple of distilleries to make very limited quantities of Grappa.
