Cuts by colour

[Ayay]

Here is a graphic illustration of a typical reflux run collected into 20 containers. The top row shows blended colours in each container, and the bottom row shows the the same run with colours separated into layers in each container. The last (21st) container is what's left inside the boiler with <1.0% ethanol.

(Click the pic for a sharper image, then click the back button to get back to here...if you click the 'X' you will start all over again).

Main points are:
- Foreshots contain a small quantity of meths and acetones but take a lot of heads along with them to be sure.
- There's a lot of ethanol in the heads and tails.
- The hearts contain very little heads and tails.
- Re-running the heads and tails should produce a similar picture; only the hearts cut may be a bottle or two less.

The problem is they are all colourless and you have to 'see' by taste and smell

Edit..here is another pic for the pot stillers

There will be some over-run of heads and tails into the hearts. There are skills in getting good heads and tails into the hearts. This is beyond my scope.

When stripping a wash you may find the following in order...

Main points are
- the water content will rise constantly while the ABV drops constantly.
- the heads and tails will overlap but this is of no concern.
- the aim is to get the average ABV up to at least 40% and then do a proper run.

[HookLine]

That is pretty good. Gives a nice clear idea of what is happening. Can you do a higher resolution version, maybe twice the size?

[Ayay]

Thanks Hook, edited to nearly double size but only clicking the pic will get it!

[myerfire]

Ayay, great post. A picture is worth a thousand...... Thanks.
myerfire

[Usge]

Great picture. I'd just say...for my potstill runs, the blue/heads would carry on into about jar 9 or so...although very, very faint. There would only be about 3 or so jars right in the middle that didn't have color of heads or tails. And tails color would start fading in just after that. More like a bell curve that linear like that. But, it's an interesting way to look at it.

[HookLine]

Usge.

What you say is strictly true. But these diagrams are not a precisely quantified set of data that hold exactly true for every single run. Details will vary with the type and size of the still charge, still type, how it is run, etc. They are a generic visual guide to the basic sequence/process, and as such they are very useful, especially for novices.

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EDIT: And thanks for making them bigger, Ayay.

[kiwistiller]

They are a generic visual guide to the basic sequence/process, and as such they are very useful, especially for novices.

Speaking of which, Ayay, do you mind if I link to this from the novice guide to cuts? I think its a great illustration.

[rad14701]

Good visual from a theoretical perspective...

[GrayGull]

Absolutely brilliant, so helpful ... Would be extremely interesting if the .abv was shown under each container.

[olddog]

That depends on the amount of alcohol in the wash. A stripping run will be a lower ABV than a Spirit run, the ABV from a wash for a stripping run can be anything from 6- 12 ABV or sometimes more. A spirit run is normally about 40 ABV so the outcomes of each of these runs will produce a different final ABV

[kiwistiller]

That depends on the amount of alcohol in the wash.

And the still. I think perhaps this is more of a conceptual aid than a precise pic of whats going on...

[Ayay]

Yes the illustration is an ideal basic theoretical reflux run without stripping. There are many variations... pot stillers will sub-divide the tails into 'bad' and 'good' tails, and reflux stillers will compress the heads and tails to get more hearts. I'm not sure what's left in the boiler after running the tails out at 20%...may be less than 0.1% Alc is left in the boiler?

kiwistiller - you're most welcome, this is free to the world via HD!

The illustration came about because of the debate on whether the heads and tails can be re-distilled over and over and I was trying to see what happens. I think it can be done because some heads are lost in every foreshots cut provided foreshots are cut out with every re-run, and some tails are lost in the dunder with each re-run.