I had to do some major surgery after a dumb mistake using leaded solder for part of the tower build and after a vinegar cleaning run, it was time for a sacrificial. I hit up the local grocery store for a couple of big jugs of cheap Carlo Rossi Chablis (great 4L bottles, btw) and dumped it in the boiler with an entire dozen of new pint Mason jars sitting nearby. The lids were numbered 1-11 with the first labeled F for foreshots. I had a pretty good idea that by taking off 100ml at a time, I'd have a pretty good record to smell, taste and feel my way through the run while keeping a log of the dropping proof via parrot-mounted alcometer and increasing temperatures via thermometer near the top of the tower. By the time the jars all had 100ml each in them and the remaining tails from ~40p-20p in a final quart jar I had a full batch of examples to examine. The 20 gallon still was run slowly but with a steady small stream to imitate my idea of how the coming run of UJSSM might work.
Starting with jar F, a very strong odor of corny acetone was noted and the sample was pretty cloudy with an oily feel to it. No tasting here, that's for sure. Jar #1 was a bit more civilized but still with a slight bite and a slightly oily feel. Def heads. As I made my way through the reminder of the jars noting the smears between jars and jotting notes, the cuts were pretty obvious using smell, taste and feel just like everyone sez. The hearts were wonderful. An icy feel to them like winter spring water and just as clear. I had a hard time making myself spit them out. The post-smear tails were just, plain nasty smelling. My buddy thought they smelled like wet particle board and I had to agree.
Fast forward to yesterday and a finished UJSSM wash of 9 gallons going into the boiler. Same routine except with 500ml samples in quart jars feeling, smelling and tasting the output as it went. 300ml of foreshots out the bottom of the parrot then closed it up. Jar 1 all heads at 115 proof. Godawful strong and pretty nasty. Jar 2 smeared heads into hearts at around 400ml and Jar 3 was nirvana. At the end of it all, Jars 2,3 and four (1500ml) was blended together with 200ml of from the first of 700ml of tails. The whole thing was carefully watered to 86 proof with spring water for a total of almost 2.5 liters of consumable sunshine. The rest of the jars minus the fores went into one of the 4l wine jugs as feints for a future spirit run.
So, there ya have a very different (to me) brand of New Years Day. 2-1/2 gallons of UJSSM backset went into the fermenter along with replacement corn and another 14# of sugar and is merrily bubbling along for the next generation of UJSSM. We'll see what I like better...sweet or sour. It's a win either way!
tp