Column Still @museum.de

F: This impressive, towering apparatus is called a column still. Until 2006, it stood in the village of Aalen-Rodamsdörfle in the district of Ostalbkreis. A column still operates non-stop, with grain mash being pumped in at the top. The mash then drips downs through the individual rectifying trays.

Meanwhile, steam is introduced at the bottom to strip the alcohol out of the mash. Because it operates continuously, the column's output is high. The spent mash was used as livestock feed, with different, quite uncomplimentary names depending on the source material: slop, stillage, or slub. That residue still contained fats, proteins and minerals, but no carbohydrates – all those having been converted into alcohol.