Impact of Bourbon Continuous Column Operations on Ethyl Carbamate Levels

European and Canadian regulators enforce strict limits on the ethyl carbamate content of alcoholic beverages. North American distillers’ malt have high glycosidic nitrile levels which amplify the ethyl carbamate level of whiskey. Guidelines are required to produce low ethyl carbamate whiskey from North American distillers’ malts. This work challenges several strategies for reducing ethyl carbamate levels in bourbon and American whiskey products. New make spirit was produced using a bourbon mash bill on a continuous beer still with doubler. The low wines alcohol content and beer feed tray were systematically varied while the caustic cleaning schedules were monitored to generate 113 unique high wines distillate samples. Ethyl carbamate levels in each sample were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Ethyl carbamate levels are reduced by feeding beer into a lower tray on the distillation column. Ethyl carbamate levels are reduced in distillates collected shortly after caustic cleaning over those collected longer after a caustic cleaning. There was no significant effect (p > 0.05) on ethyl carbamate levels as the low wines alcohol content was changed.