Factors Affecting Head / Heart (Ethanol) quantities

[paxrostro]

I'm looking for more info on factors that affect the ratio of heads vs hearts.

For example, I've read that using pectinase in fruit brandy produces more methanol (and thus I'm assuming, the heads volume will increase.)

Are there other factors that affect the production of the non-desirable higher alcohols (acetone, methanol, ether) and the production of the good stuff (ethanol, other hearts compounds)?

Or, is it mostly just sugar conversion across the board that affects these quantities?

Some research has been done on ethanol production being improved by increasing nitrogen in the mash, but the reports don't say anything whether this produced a higher ratio of hearts vs heads, etc.

[humbledore]

Give this thread a read, it's a good start.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=42602

[DAD300]

Your ferment is the biggest factor...clean nutrients, viable yeast matched to proper ph, proper SG and temperature that keep the yeast in their comfort zone.

Happy yeast make beautiful alcohol. Angry, stressed yeast make urine. Pretty simple! The longer people distill, the more they find the importance of the ferment.

[Odin]

Amen brother!

[paxrostro]

Thanks for the responses - very helpful because my second try (with different yeast and much more attention to other fermenting details) seemed to make so much more hearts (and less heads) than the first.

[Danespirit]

Running your still right , would be the other factor in this equation.
You can make a damned good ferment, but if you fu¤%# it, when run through the still ...it won't help you.
Generally fruit ferments, are prone to give more heads than others.

[Paulinka]

"using pectinase in fruit brandy produces more methanol"

Ok, as strange as it sounds: stop fearing methanol. It is a minority player of the game and a valuable one, holding some of the most precious fruit scents and aromas. Even if your fruit ferment has lots of unripe fruits and/or seed-ovaries and if the resulting mashes' alcohol content has as high as 5% methanol, if it distills through at the distillation phase will still be in minuscule amount at 5% of thetotal alcohol.
Methanol would make you sick if you would drink it drop-by-drop, alone, it converts to formic acid and formaldehyde which cause optic nerve and kidney damage, and can be lethal if a few shots drank from it.

But you drink that 5% amount of methanol with 95% ethylalcohol. And that booze will save your sight, because methanol cannot harm you when taken with sufficient amount of ethylalcohol. Now, this year seems to be a very methanoly-year for me as my Williams pear trees are so loaded with fruits like never before, so I'm looking forward to tame the beast properly with careful mashing and slow distillation.