Poll on distilling feints (heads and tails) with pot still

[dodgebrown]

Edit: I added one more option and it reset the poll
Leave and learn, sorry.

I am new, but I did a lot of reading
This thread in particular offers a lot of opinions http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=18823

What do you do with your feints?

Let's settle the terminology. My impression is that most people mean heads and tails, when talking about feints, while some mean tails only. For sake of clarity, I will use "tails" and "heads" implicitly.

So to make it 100% clear, we're talking about running a pot still, discard the foreshots, then there's heads fraction, then hearts and the tails in the end.
BTW, I am dumbfounded by the fact that on this site, the foreshots are usually measured by volume without any regard to the ABV and little regard to still charge volume. I personally ditch about 5% of total alcohol in the still.
Again, that was for clarification purposes on terminology.

If I didn't think about other viable options for the poll, let me know I will try to add it.

[still_stirrin]

Sometimes I blend feints with a rerun, as in a spirit run of a rum where the 1st & 2nd potstill runs carry a lot of flavor. I'll do a 3rd distillation and blend in a little of the feints from a previous spirit run. It is more of an exception than a rule, however.
ss

[jedneck]

pot still. i throw earlyheads away and use late heads +taails

[Hound Dog]

I do the "all feint" run with mine. I mix them all together, hit them with a little bicarb, run them through a packed column with a bubble ball under them to make neutral.

[steelmb]

I didn't vote because my option is not there but am interested what the rest are doing.

EDIT: Check my signature for what I do.

[wtfdskin]

Im a little different. I run a double thumper pot still aka old Caribbean rum style. Single run, tails in one thumper heads in the other. Have a stripped uj waiting that I may try the same thing on a spirit run.

[MitchyBourbon]

My option ain't there.

Anything that don't make the cut gets tossed. I got no use for it.

[Truckinbutch]

I had an accumulation of feints gathered over a couple of years , 7+ gallons . Ran that through the pot still/thumper for a spirit run . Dumped 1 quart of fores/early heads and then collected in half pint jars down to 20% . 54 half pint jars . Aired 30 +/- hrs covered and then capped .
>A week later at S3 16 Truckorama the group did cuts and blending . The end result was 2 half gallons on two oak sticks ; 1 toasted , 1 toasted and charred ; and 1 quart with 1 toasted oak stick . They went to the cellar for ageing . They will be aired periodicly and samples will be presented at S3 17 for evaluation .
>The group consensus was that the product was interesting enough to merit ageing and sampling in future years .
>You will have to stick with us for definitive answers .

[MichiganCornhusker]

Anything that don't make the cut gets tossed. I got no use for it.

Lol, militant!

Gotta admit, I sorta feel the same way. I have been saving heads and tails in a jug, but not with any real intention of doing much with them.
And like Jedneck, I toss a very heavy "fores" jar, I don't need early heads for nuttin.
I have done all feints runs before and I haven't really liked what I pulled off, at least not as a neat drinkin whiskey.

The other problem I have is that I'm reluctant to combine my various batches together, even as feints.
I don't need to find out what it would taste like if I blend rum, whiskey, sweet potatoes, prison hooch, froot loops, cherries, walnuts, rice, yams.... you get the idea.

So I do toss the strange, one off recipes. I have kept the whiskey feints, but no rum feints as I put almost all my rum in the bottle.

What I'll probably do it try to run them through my 2 plate flute to clean them up, boost the abv, and use for a gin experiment or PD's

[MichiganCornhusker]

A week later at S3 16 Truckorama the group did cuts and blending.

As far as I'm concerned, that will be the best all feints run of all time!

[GrassHopper]

My option not there either. I typically do strip runs on a pot still, collect late heads, hearts, tails down to 20%. Take it all and run a spirit run at around 35% low wines. Then make my cuts for oaking from that.

But one of the best of anything I made of yet was an all tails run of UJSSM.

[MitchyBourbon]

Anything that don't make the cut gets tossed. I got no use for it.

Lol, militant!

Gotta admit, I sorta feel the same way. I have been saving heads and tails in a jug, but not with any real intention of doing much with them.

I am able to make enough in one shot to last six months, so it don't make.sense for me to keep and run feints. Das ist alles.

[MichiganCornhusker]

But one of the best of anything I made of yet was an all tails run of UJSSM.

A couple years ago, way back when ShineOnCrazyDiamond was a fresh distillin' rookie, he brought a jar of his UJ feints run to Jed's for us to sample.
I thought it was his best stuff at the time, lots of great flavor.

[GrassHopper]

But one of the best of anything I made of yet was an all tails run of UJSSM.

A couple years ago, way back when ShineOnCrazyDiamond was a fresh distillin' rookie, he brought a jar of his UJ feints run to Jed's for us to sample.
I thought it was his best stuff at the time, lots of great flavor.

Who would have thunk! I was fairly new (still am) back then and just kept on throwing those nasty tails in a carbuoy not really knowing what to do with them.....glad I kept them.

[rad14701]

BTW, I am dumbfounded by the fact that on this site, the foreshots are usually measured by volume without any regard to the ABV and little regard to still charge volume. I personally ditch about 5% of total alcohol in the still.

There is no such thing as making cuts by volume, temperature, or %ABV - period...!!! Smell, taste, and feel are the only ways to make accurate cuts... Now, that being said, once you've run a specific recipe through a specific still multiple times you might be able to use those other methods to get close, but they are not nearly as accurate as smell, taste, and feel... You're not a commercial distillery that has to answer to the bean counters in the accounting department so you can, and should, strive to make better cuts than the commercial distilleries do...

[bitter]

pot still. i throw earlyheads away and use late heads +taails

This is what I do. Just like Jedneck

[wtfdskin]

I am new, but I did a lot of reading
This thread in particular offers a lot of opinions http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=18823

What do you do with your feints?

Let's settle the terminology. My impression is that most people mean heads and tails, when talking about feints, while some mean tails only. For sake of clarity, I will use "tails" and "heads" implicitly.

So to make it 100% clear, we're talking about running a pot still, discard the foreshots, then there's heads fraction, then hearts and the tails in the end.
BTW, I am dumbfounded by the fact that on this site, the foreshots are usually measured by volume without any regard to the ABV and little regard to still charge volume. I personally ditch about 5% of total alcohol in the still.
Again, that was for clarification purposes on terminology.

If I didn't think about other viable options for the poll, let me know I will try to add it.

FORESHOTS

[wtfdskin]

BTW, I am dumbfounded by the fact that on this site, the foreshots are usually measured by volume without any regard to the ABV and little regard to still charge volume. I personally ditch about 5% of total alcohol in the still.

There is no such thing as making cuts by volume, temperature, or %ABV - period...!!! Smell, taste, and feel are the only ways to make accurate cuts... Now, that being said, once you've run a specific recipe through a specific still multiple times you might be able to use those other methods to get close, but they are not nearly as accurate as smell, taste, and feel... You're not a commercial distillery that has to answer to the bean counters in the accounting department so you can, and should, strive to make better cuts than the commercial distilleries do...

[MichiganCornhusker]

the foreshots are usually measured by volume without any regard to the ABV and little regard to still charge volume.

I've always read that you can figure about 50ml per gallon in a potstill can be tossed as fores.

[NZChris]

I generally save mine until I have enough to make up a full still charge of 1/3 fresh wash 2/3 feints, distil, then rapid age to use as drinking likker to keep me out of the aging cellar.

I have had feints stored for so long they were damned near drinkable by the time I got around to running them, so I've recently started putting my spent oak chips and dominoes in the feints jars to see if that makes for a better feints run..

[MichiganCornhusker]

I generally save mine until I have enough to make up a full still charge of 1/3 fresh wash 2/3 feints,...

That seems like a great idea.
I started out with a simple pot still, but now I have a keg and and thumper which I use for steam stripping.

In addition to feints in my carboy, I've been starting to steam strip the spent grains and lees from my whiskey ferments and adding those low wines to the jug.
Between adding my trub strip, and charging my thumper with fresh wash, or even "spent" grains from another run, I bet I could make something interesting after all.

[jb-texshine]

pot still. i throw earlyheads away and use late heads +taails

This is what I do. Just like Jedneck

Me also.but I just add them into the next run of the same thing. When I finally finish up my thumper they will be used to charge it.

[shadylane]

Guess I should have clicked on the "all the above and other"
But there wasn't that option
The best use of feints is to feed the packed CM column.

[Full_moon]

jedneck wrote:
pot still. i throw earlyheads away and use late heads +taails

This is what I do. Just like Jedneck
Cranky's spoon feeding *For New & Novice Distillers



Me too

[MyUncleMo]

Its been a while since my last runs of Hook Rum. I bottled 2 generations and have Gen #3 sitting as low wines in the garage... aging

In addition to the several gallons of low wines, I also have my heads and tails saved form all previous runs. Probably enough for a run in my 5 gal alembic potstill.

As the winter gets closer, my work schedule gets lighter. Last winter I was so busy with work that I left my low wines for another time. I hope to get to it this winter.

SO what do I do with my low wines?
Mix them with some rum beer and run them?
Mix them with fresh spring water and run them?
Add them to Gen #3 Hook Rum?

Its a nice challenge, and nothing I am ready to start this month

Cheers y'all!!!

[Truckinbutch]

What we have from S3 16 Truckorama is coloring well and smelling interesting . We'll have to judge that all feints UJ run at the next S3 gathering . As it stands ; I would have hated to have thrown away that gallon and a quarter of likker gleaned from the all feints run as waste . Even bad likker is better than no likker at all .

[FreeMountainHermit]

C'mon guys this is a darn good thread with some great personal insights. Step up to the plate and throw your vote into the hat !!!!!! It's anonymous.

I don't distill nearly as much as some folks here so for me to save up for an all feints run or to blend into the next run isn't very practical for me so everything but the hearts has been tossed.Not against what seems a lot or maybe even most of you are doing it's just what has transpired for me.Actually have a keg just for the expressed purpose of saving those heads and tails in the future. Might be tasty !!!!

Carry on.

FMH.

[NZChris]

Actually have a keg just for the expressed purpose of saving those heads and tails in the future. Might be tasty !!!!

Put the spent oak from your aging jars in it, try not to over oak. When you do finally get enough feints for a run, check the color and flavor and if it doesn't look or taste over oaked, put the oak in the boiler too. Don't add water unless you really have to, (my feints average around 40%). Run into jars then choose your blend the next day using taste alone, ignoring any preconceived ideas of what to expect. I've only done one run like this (UJSSM) and the result was a very pleasant surprise with the highest yield I've ever had from a feints run.

[aceswired]

So what does the spent oak in the boiler accomplish? Not a criticism, I really just don't know.

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

[Swedish Pride]

Depends.
If I'm running the same mash/wash after I reuse the faints, if a different mash/wash It goes to the faint jug.
So far I've not got around to running an all faints run, been used in cleaning runs after modifications.

I had a gallon of faints from brandy, Irish AG, Bourbon AG and CF, should be a fair bit of etho in there, as cuts were tight on CF to drink white.
May give NZ Chris's idea of throwing oak in there a go.