Silent Season - Cleaning the Mash Tun

Intensive cleaning of our Mashtun

Forsyths, or as it's called in Scotland, a "Mashtun", in German distilleries and breweries it's called a Läuterbottich (lauter tun). No matter what you call it, it turns water and malt grist into wort. This is then fermented into "wash" or "Distillers Beer". Later, it is double distilled into "New Make" in the 6,000-liter copper pot stills.

Silent Season at St. Kilian

You've probably heard the term before – but what exactly does the so-called "silent season" in a whisky distillery mean?

It's the time of year when the distillery rests to give production, the team, and the machines their well-deserved break. The "silent season" usually takes place in summer, so employees can go on their summer vacation and take a break from their shift work. Most importantly, during the production break, is the good old-fashioned "check-up" of all elements that are normally continuously involved in the distillation process.

During mashing, filling, fermenting, and distilling around the clock, wear and tear always occur, and here is the opportunity to clean and check everything. The weeks of rest are intensively used for maintenance, painting, cleaning, and repair, so this time is indispensable in the distillery's annual calendar. This ensures that St. Kilian runs smoothly throughout the rest of the year and that the high quality standard can be maintained over the years.

Thorough cleaning of the Lauter Tun

All the plates, as we affectionately call the screen bottom segments, are removed and then cleaned with high pressure.

"Higgledy-piggledy for the entire system. For a cleanliness fanatic like me, a very joyful time!"

Mario Rudolf, Master Distiller

Just like the Scots do in the Silent Season, we at St. Kilian also intensively clean all parts of the system, but most thoroughly our mash tun. The entire production team helps out, so that everyone can then go on their well-deserved summer break. We are already looking forward to getting started again soon and to usher in the new distillation phase in late summer.