Sensors on Glenfiddich stills prevent frothy spills

William Grant & Sons Distillers, producer of the Glenfiddich single malt brand, has installed the latest instrumentation from Siemens at its Dufftown Distillery in the Highlands of Scotland.

It has automated its wash still operation – the pear-shaped fermentation vessels used to convert ‘wort’ into the weak spirit mixture known as wash.

In order to do this, it was necessary to be able to reliably detect the level of the foam generated within the stills, which, if it gets too high, risks adversely affecting the distillation process and causing spills.

The answer to this long-standing problem lay with modern technology, in the form of the Siemens Pointek CLS200. Pointek capacitance instruments are said to be ideal for situations such as this, where the material being measured has a low dielectric value.

Sensors were installed on the neck of each wash still. Now, when foam reaches the tip of the instrument probe, it is detected, and the still’s burners are automatically turned off. The devices restart the burners when the froth level drops clear of the sensors.

Contact Siemens for more information.