My First Run

[The flint stones]

Hi All,
Made my first run this weekend and everything went smooth, had 20 liter +/- made from UJSM . Here is how it went.
Took an hour to come to temperature and drip, discarded the first 200 ml. I then collected in ten jars of 300 ml each jar. First jar was 130 proof final jar was 50 proof. They seemed to drop an average of 10 per jar after the first 3 jars. First 3 jars smelled sweet and the last one smelled different but not sure if it smelled of wet dog? Maybe I stopped early before true tails? Product was crystal clear and collected at a fast drip to very small stream. I have no idea what the temperatures were throughout the run I just kept the fast drip/stream at an even pace. How does this sound? I couldn't resist drinking quite a bit of jars #4 and 5 the proof of those were in the 90 proof range and it tasted fabulous to me but I may let the excitement alter my true judgement of the taste. I put the middle of the run in a quart jar for sipping and put the rest in a feints jar.
thanks for any input yall can provide.
Fred

[Bogey]

Congrats on your first run! I know you have been waiting for your new still for a while and were eager to get it. Did you do your cleaning run with it? Didn't see a post on it so just askin. I'll let the more experienced comment on the rest but congrats again.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Congrats on your first run, sounds like all went well. If you went down to 50 proof I'm sure you were into tails, it just takes a little practice over time to make good cuts.

[condo33]

Congratulations! If you liked the taste of your first generation, wait till you're down the line at 5 or 6 gens. I believe mine inproved in taste a bunch in each successive gen ,, which may have been both the enrichment you get with each gen and my better ability to make the cuts. It's a great recipe to start out with, as well as one I think I'll continue to come back to.

[The flint stones]

Thanks everyone and thanks to this awesome site, I felt I had a good knowledge of what to do and what to expect after much reading. Didn't do a cleaning run initially but I guess I have now.

[The flint stones]

One question, If I control the take off rate to a fast drip tossing the 1st 200 ml is plenty right?

[OlympicMtDoo]

yes that's plenty, more than enough.

[svenson60]

If the run you're describing was your cleaning run, I'd toss it and then do another sacrifice-run, toss that too and then start for keeps. You don't want to drink any of your product from cleaning runs as it will possibly contain flux, etc.

[Rafe Hollister]

"I couldn't resist drinking quite a bit of jars #4 and 5 the proof of those were in the 90 proof range and it tasted fabulous to me but I may let the excitement alter my true judgement of the taste."


If you were anything like me, I'm sure your excitement influenced the flavor... at least a little, but that's just fine. You made it from scratch. It's yours! Why wouldn't you enjoy the hell out of it?