A packed bed's geometric surface area is not a sufficient measure of effective vapor–liquid contact.
This is a general mechanism, not a quantitative prediction for a particular whiskey still.
Wetting and liquid distribution determine how available packing participates in transfer; a larger nominal area cannot by itself establish better performance.
Full-volume support: chapters2–4, PDF50–196, especially distribution comparisons PDF146–150 and internals PDF181–183. Geometry alone cannot predict effective contact. Published model errors and vendor context remain explicit; no sensory ranking follows.
Idea
A packed bed's geometric surface area is not a sufficient measure of effective vapor–liquid contact.
Reasoning
Wetting and liquid distribution determine how available packing participates in transfer; a larger nominal area cannot by itself establish better performance.
Boundary
This is a general mechanism, not a quantitative prediction for a particular whiskey still.
Provenance and connections
Original synthesis from the linked focused Literature Note.