Are Heads and Tails Always Heads and Tails

[Jed]

That is the question....am I right in believing that adding the heads and tails to the mix before doing the spirit run will increase the alcohol content and can effect the overall taste of the finished product... But .. does the volume of hearts increase .. I tried redistilling all my heads and tails (approx. 18 litres) as an experiment using my ccvm for the first time … I ended up with a lot at 95% and kept going until it dropped to 65% but I didn't end up keeping any ….would that be normal. So now I am not sure whether it is worth storing and using again or just creating a lot of drain cleaner

[Yummyrum]

Heads and tails separated from a pot still will contain a huge amout of ethanol and a small amount of the fractions that make up what we desern as heads and tails .

A Reflux still is extremely good at separating the real heads and tails fractions from the ethanol .

The heads and tails that come from a reflux still in particular a tall packed still will have almost no ethanol in them and there is little point re-running them through again ..... they are so concentrated that they add nothing desirable to the next run and best to just dump them .

Heads and tails from a plated still such as say a 4 plated flute will still contain some extractable ethanol that can be removed in a tall packed reflux still .

Heads and tails from a pot still of flute still can and are re-run with the next run to add flavour and also the heart proportion does increase.

[kiwi Bruce]

That is the question....am I right in believing that adding the heads and tails to the mix before doing the spirit run will increase the alcohol content and can effect the overall taste of the finished product
Yes, but some can be set-aside until you have enough to run by itself...A still Master's Reserve, as it were. ... But .. does the volume of hearts increase Sometimes, that depends more on your cuts .. I tried redistilling all my heads and tails (approx. 18 litres) as an experiment using my ccvm for the first time … I ended up with a lot at 95% and kept going until it dropped to 65% but I didn't end up keeping any Why? ….would that be normal.No! So now I am not sure whether it is worth storing and using again or just creating a lot of drain cleaner The heads and tails are combined together into what are called " Feints" These are valuable and should be added back to the next spirit run of the same spirit...if your making Rum, Bourbon, Single Malt, UJSSM...any flavored spirit, will improve from batch to batch BECAUSE your adding the feints back into the next run

I suggest you read some more. All this info is here on HD, I know this sounds boring but we all had to do it...you'll need to dig...even mine for it...but it's here.

[bluefish_dist]

I found that unless the heads cut is big say 10 jars out of 30, there is no point in rerunning them. But if it’s a big cut, I may throw one or two jars back and get good results. Tails I do rerun, but on a vm, there are not a lot of tails as the still almost stops.

I have done an all tails run. It’s been in a few months and it’s not ready yet. I got probably 75% back out of the run.

[Jed]

Thanks for the comments.. I realise that I have a lot to learn and I will keep reading and experimenting. I am glad there are sites like this where people are willing to help and share their knowledge