Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Aeneas Coffey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aeneas Coffey (1780-1852) was born in Calais, France where he spent his early years. His family returned to Dublin (both his parents were Irish), where he was educated at Trinity College. He entered the excise servce around 1799-1800. He married Susanna Logie in 1808 and they a son also named Aeneas, who may have been their only child.
He invented the Coffey still, a revoluntionary distilling apparatus. Early Coffey stills produced 60% over proof spirit. Modern versions can achieve 66-68% over proof, approximately 95.6% v/v pure alcohol. As alcohol forms an azeotrope with water at this concentration, it is impossible to achieve higher purity alcohol by distillation alone.