heads and tails

[Barnwater]

Hi every one,

Using a 4-gallon pot still, I followed “THE FIRST RUN” found in home distillers. Ran some water through, no leaks and it condensed the vapor back to water. That was cool. Second run, added some beer. That was awesome. The temperature went from 100 F. to 170 F. in half the time. So here’s my rookie question; does beer have heads and tails at this point or just more or less water?

[bronzdragon]

Yes beer will have heads and tails, as well as hearts. Watch out for that hop flavor though.

~r~

[Uncle Jesse]

beer is boiled, and it's boiled with hops. that's two strikes against the final flavor profile.

for beerschnapps, the hops are added very late in the mash, like aroma hops for a beer. they aren't left in there long enough to cause much bitterness.

[Barnwater]

I understand that tails are flavoring concerns, are heads on a beer and or wine wash fatal or just a bitterness concern?

[Uncle Jesse]

certainly not fatal. distillation only brings out what's already in the wash. but there are hangovers as well as nasty off flavors in those heads and tails if you aren't careful.

[CatharticusX]

Hey, all. Novice question here with regard to absinthe.

In terms of the "tails" of absinthe, would that be the water and herbs left over in the pot after the distillation, or is that the last 100ml or so of the actual distillate itself? (Where it starts to smell and taste different just before it starts to turn cloudy.)

In terms of that which is thrown in with the next batch, which is the "tail"?

Thanks!

cx

[bronzdragon]

The stuff that's left in the still after you're done with a run is usually called backset or stillage ... a couple other names for it out there too.

The tails are the portion of distalate that come directly after the hearts in a run. This is usually decided on by flavor by the person making the run. At a certain point the alcohol level starts to deviate from whatever the hearts were coming off at. And generally the distalate starts having a more pronounced flavor as it wears on. You make a decision when to stop collecting for your main run (because the tails have become too off-flavored).

You can still collect tails down to a certain point and add them back into your next batch though, so you won't be wasting anything.

It's basically about how much flavor you want in your particular product. As for Absinthe in particular, I am not knowledgeable on that. But I hope this is general information for you, that answers your question.

~r~

[CatharticusX]

The stuff that's left in the still after you're done with a run is usually called backset or stillage ... a couple other names for it out there too.

The tails are the portion of distalate that come directly after the hearts in a run. This is usually decided on by flavor by the person making the run. At a certain point the alcohol level starts to deviate from whatever the hearts were coming off at. ...
~r~

Okay, I know exactly what you mean then. At the end of the run when the temperature starts to rise toward 100c you can really notice a change in flavor. The stuff that comes off at the last 100ml or so is off-flavored that it's not usable, but it's still very aromatic. Using a double boiler you're lucky if you can collect a clear 100ml in an hour, so the inclination is to say "Aw, screw it" and just shut everything down. But I guess if it's mostly water and it's useable you could just change the collector, crank the heat and let it go until the appropriate amount if collected, and then save that.

Thanks for the reply!

-CX