Foreshots

[NC_redcock]

I'm sure this question has been answered somewhere but the term foreshot brings up many, many results in the search. When I ran this last batch, I removed a half pint or so of foreshots that I thought smelled too sweet nut also had that chemical smell to them. When running the same batch through a second time, I smell the sweetness of heads in that first jar but was unsure of the presence of the chemical smell, its definitely not as strong, should I again toss the first of the run, or not. The careless distiller may have a headache, but the overly cautious distiller goes thirsty...

[Jimbo]

Its good practice to pitch fores on all runs. I do on both strippers and spirit runs. The aldehydes and acetone dont all come out 100% first just because they are lower boiling point products.

How big was your run, of what, what %ABV and which yeast? All those things contirbute to the amount of the fores. Using your nose and taste as you did is absoutely the right way to discern and cut tho.

[NC_redcock]

This was the last batch I made before acquiring my hydrometer so I'm not sure of the ABV, That's for the advice, I'll pitch a little off the top of this one as well.

[Prairiepiss]

The early heads are nasty anyway. So no reason to keep them. Tossing a foreshots cut on all runs you not going to loose anything.

[humbledore]

To me the foreshots smell of acetone, finger nail polish remover, and the heads transition to a green apple type smell. When that smell starts to go away I start tasting because it's not done yet. It's not hearts until the sting in the taste is gone, that lingering burn or sting on the tongue.

[BoisBlancBoy]

A question regarding forshots. I thought I read somewhere but haven't been able to find it again. Would a good rule of the thumb be to cut 1/2pint or 200ml of forshots per each 5 gallons of fluid in your still?

[bearriver]

@boisbkanboy

Yes, every time. I do 250 on a 15.5. Dont even have to smell it, it just looks gross.

[aj2456]

pot still on a clean ferment min i hear is 150ml- but as mentioned lets face it the early heads aint too hot so extra could be ditched without tears

[Hound Dog]

Heck, I ditch the first 500 ml on my 15 gallon charge. Like Piss said, you're just tossing out some extra heads too. I usually pull the next 1 to 2 quarts off as heads anyway.

[CuWhistle]

I've never seen "foreshots" look any different to heads or hearts? It should be crystal clear colourless liquid. If it looks "gross" then your doing something very strange!!!!

[rad14701]

I collect in small jars yet I'm pretty sure my first jar is a mix of Foreshots and Heads... Generally speaking, there should only be ~10ml or 1/3oz of Foreshots per gallon... Taking more is always a safer bet, however... I just checked back through a random sampling of runs for this year and on average I toss ~5% as Foreshots, which also contains early Heads... This figure is for reflux and hybrid modes, however, and not indicative of true pot stilling...

I have to agree with CuWhistle in that my Foreshots are always crystal clear... In fact most of my Tails are also clear, but some do cloud up a bit if I'm running hard...

[OlympicMtDoo]

I collect in small jars yet I'm pretty sure my first jar is a mix of Foreshots and Heads... Generally speaking, there should only be ~10ml or 1/3oz of Foreshots per gallon... Taking more is always a safer bet, however... I just checked back through a random sampling of runs for this year and on average I toss ~5% as Foreshots, which also contains early Heads... This figure is for reflux and hybrid modes, however, and not indicative of true pot stilling...

I have to agree with CuWhistle in that my Foreshots are always crystal clear... In fact most of my Tails are also clear, but some do cloud up a bit if I'm running hard...

+1 I don't worry much about how much foreshot I take but I do make sure it is enough and I toss nothing, all foreshots go into my cleaning solvent jar and they all get used sooner or later and yes they are always crystal clear. All heads get run again so they just contribute to the next foreshot if I miss a little. If I run out of cleaning solvent it's been too long in between runs and I best get cracken.

[rad14701]

+1 I don't worry much about how much foreshot I take but I do make sure it is enough and I toss nothing, all foreshots go into my cleaning solvent jar and they all get used sooner or later and yes they are always crystal clear. All heads get run again so they just contribute to the next foreshot if I miss a little. If I run out of cleaning solvent it's been too long in between runs and I best get cracken.

Yes, I save my Foreshots for use as solvent, fire starting, nuking ground bees, etc, as well... Not exactly tossing... More a matter of removing them from the distillation process...

[bearriver]

On that note Im taking the product I have which is all 95%, and using it for pipe cleaner. The body is crystal clear, but smells funky when watered down and is undrinkable by my standards.

Dump, clean, read, retry. Thanks rad and cuwhistle..... Im not going to consider putting anything "strange" near my lips.