Fusel oil/tails/pot still question

[cellsaver]

Hello all,

I have a 6 gallon pot still w/ thumper. I've done about 10 runs with Bird Watcher's and a couple corn meal+sugar. Tryin' to get better with cuts.

I have a bunch of pint jars and I just keep swapping out when they're half full and let them sit for 24 hours minimum.

It's real easy to see the fusel oils floating on top the next day. Usually with Bird Watcher's there will be a jar with maybe 1% surface area fusel oils but totally clear, the next maybe 10%, then 50% and cloudy.

Question 1: Does the presence of any fusel oils at all equate to tails or do would most folks include the first and second examples above in with hearts, assuming no bad smell?

Question 2: With my corn meal/sugar run, towards the end I got lots of fusel oils and nasty cloudy stuff for 3 jars, then a couple clear as a bell with just a small amount of fusels that were pretty tasty. Is this common with grains?

Thanks in advance.
C

[Tater]

If you havent already . read this - http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=11640

[RedwoodHillBilly]

As to Q2, yes this normal. Many of us these "sweet water" tails to dilute the final product to barrel strength. It can add a lot of flavor. YMMV, as I do all grain bourbons.

[NZChris]

I've never tried Birdwatchers with a pot and thumper, but from your description it doesn't sound like that setup does a good job of it. I suggest you do multiple runs, then rerun them, diluting them to 40% if necessary and putting water or Birdwatchers heads in the thumper for a spirit run. Then, using Kiwistiller's guide to help you select your final blend, you should be able to make a substantial quantity of product of far superior quality to what you have been getting.

Oils can be removed by dropping paper towel onto the surface.

[zapata]

If I see anything floating I 100% do not use. I see a slick on top when stripping deep, and that is fine. But if I see it on the spirit run it is always in the nasty tails (but before the "sweet water").

[Antler24]

I've seen a small amount of fusel oils floating in my jars after a slow single run. If it smells/tastes good it gets included anyway.

[goinbroke2]

Fuselage oils will give you a heartburn type pain and when I was young (long before internet let alone HD) I kept having this pain and the only thing that would stop it was salted crackers. Go to a party with a miracle whip jar full of likker and a pack of crackers.
Years go by and I’m reading HD and have a “holy poop” moment, turns out there’s this thing called cuts!

Likker is so much better today than the crap I made at 14. Lol.

DONT drink fuselage oil!