Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Sugar, and all about sugar washes. Where the primary ingredient is sugar, and other things are just used as nutrients.

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MrBee
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Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by MrBee »

I am sorry if this has beem covered already.

I run a pot still qith thumper.

I am not totally new to making cuts.
Have been getting better with each "RUM" run I make and I owe that learning to reading what a lot of you have writen.

However today is the first time i'm doimg a spirit run of just a sugar wash to get a neutral spirit for maceration of fruit. I stripped as I usually do, 3 strip runs then cut to 40% for the spirit run . Now collecting in 100 - 200 ml amounts in each jar.

Do I make cuts as I do with my rum ? I've never even sniffed a neutral run so to save me some guess work , is there anything different I should be expecting ?
Since i'm used to rum cuts will the same rules apply for this neutral ?

When I read throught the novice cuts thread I did not see anything specific towards neutrals, just grains, rum , and fruits.

Sorry if I missed it.

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GrassHopper
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by GrassHopper »

You will still have fores, heads, hearts and tails. Yes, I would make your cuts as normal. Try and eliminate the harshness of the heads and the stinkyness of the tails and you should have a decent neutral.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by Saltbush Bill »

I think you will find it easier than Rum to make the cut on ....no rum/ molasses smells to interfere with the other tastes and smells.
ShineRunner
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by ShineRunner »

Not trying to derail the OP questions, but perhaps you could learn from this as well.. Seems like there is some different information out there. When making a neutral/vodka on a pot still, is it better to strip multiple times first and then spirit run, or to strip/spirit run, then run further strips or spirit runs?

I would think a strip and spirit run, followed by further runs to clean up only hearts.

SR
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rgreen2002
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by rgreen2002 »

Saltbush Bill wrote:I think you will find it easier than Rum to make the cut on ....no rum/ molasses smells to interfere with the other tastes and smells.
+1...rums and all grains are the toughest for me when it comes to good cuts.

SR - your question is phrased a little different but I think your answer is strip and spirits. You really only get one strip run as you get all the alcohol out of the wash/mash. If you are just refining a strip or are combining multiple strips then they would be spirit runs since there is no wash/mash involved. I think it is mostly a question of semantics..... and speed of course.

Now when I run a 20 gallon strip and then combine that entire strip with my next 20 gallon wash in the flute run....I don't know what the hell you call it then...LOL

Hope this helped. :mrgreen:
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by ShineRunner »

Yes, that kind of answers it. I guess I specifically referring to when to make cuts. On the first spirit run? Or do several fast "stripping" runs with diluting to 30% or so, then doing a slow spirit run with cuts? Sounds like that's what the OP did. I was thinking a regular strip, slow spirit, then dilute hearts and run fast would be the best way..

Make more sense?

SR
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skow69
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by skow69 »

Do a strip and spirit run with cuts, like usual. Then dilute the hearts to 40% and run them again. On the third run you should have no, or a very small, heads cut. Then shut down at the first sign of tails. With a reflux still that will make a very clean neutral. If you are talking about a pot still, that third run will clean it up a lot but no guarantees of neutrality.
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by ShineRunner »

Perfect. That's what I was thinking!

I'll be using a thumper on both the strip and spirit runs. Then probably an additional run on a small still.

Thanks

SR
MrBee
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by MrBee »

Thanks For all your the replies folks,

I did for this as I do for Rum,
Strip as fast as I can, dump 75-100ml fores, collect down to around 25% (stop sooner if it goes cloudy.).
Water everything down to 40% then run pretty slow collecting in 100 - 200 ml amounts.
I just did the spirit run yesterday and it is airing out.
Will start the smell, dilute/taste, and cut process tonight.

This run stayed above 156 / 78% for a very long time then when it started to drop it dropped pretty fast.
Acted very similar to my Rum runs. Thats what I wasn't sure what to expect.

Thanks and I'll try to post up as I finish making the cuts.
I did seem to collect a lot more distillate as a percent of amount of wash in the boiler than I was expecting.
Could be that I just used more jars than for my Rum runs,
I don't need as many for the rum since I am more use to those cuts I collect in larger amounts when I know I'm in the Middle.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by Saltbush Bill »

MrBee wrote:Strip as fast as I can, dump 75-100ml fores,
I you want to cut for fores on the Strip run you'd be better off going real easy at the start, use your nose and taste buds instead of a set quantity to find the end of fores. Then hit the power and strip whats left.
MrBee
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by MrBee »

Thanks Saltbush,

I'll give that a try. Never thought it would make much of a difference starting fast or slow on the stripping run since I take a pretty good heads cut off the spirit run.
But I'll give it a try.

What is the purpose of starting slow on a stripping run ?

I didn't mention but I do not save any heads from a spirit run. Everything I cut before hearts gets junked.
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dieselduo
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by dieselduo »

the purpose of a slow start is that the more volatile fores will come across first without dragging across good product
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Yet Another "Making cuts" question

Post by Saltbush Bill »

@ dieselduo +1 :thumbup:
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