Two tsipouro distillations in one day!

I.

The learned version: empirical knowledge gathered from fathers & grandfathers mated to the modern theories

The official government seal that grants permission to the owner of the still to distill tsipouro for a few precious days every year!

Emptying the still from the remaining grapes of the previous distillation cycle, washing it with running water, rubbing the copper interior with …urtica to give it a proper shine. This method was practiced in the past and was-is very effective!

It is important to mention that before the first distillation of the year the interiors of the still, lyne arm and condenser were cleaned with soda to remove any possible marks of copper oxidation (the green stuff).

Pouring in the still a fresh batch of crushed grapes.

More than a hundred years old, circa 1900, and made from a recycled baptism basin …

Assembling the still – lyne-arm – condenser.

Heating up the still with fire which is fed with logs manually by George the “Master” distiller…

After about an hour, the first drops appear from the spout of the condenser.

Measuring the alcohol content of the tsipouro by means of an alcoholmetre and correlating it to the right temperature for increased accuracy and no intoxicating errors!

Εις Υγείαν!

In other words “To your health”.

II.

The traditional-empirical method with whatever it entails …

It is time for the distillate to be left to settle and mature… some adult patience is required at this stage.

Till next year, as we say here in Greece!