All feints run dilution media

[boschd]

It takes me about a year or more to collect enough feints to do an all feints run, so i want to get this right...

I'm Using a Pot still, combination rye and bourbon recipes, all heads and tails saved, My goal is to make additional whiskey (not neutral)

The question is, when diluting the feints down to 30%, should i use:
1) distilled water
2) backset
3) low abv wash (5%?) from similar recipe

[Swedish Pride]

wash would be my choice

[Demy]

I believe that a low - proof wash is ideal for seeking more flavor.

[still_stirrin]

...I'm Using a Pot still, combination rye and bourbon recipes, all heads and tails saved, My goal is to make additional whiskey (not neutral) ...

Well, good luck with that. Chances are you’ll have a fair amount of heads in the feints run, giving you a very narrow hearts collection. I guess you could run and rerun it until you’ve extracted a little bit cleaner center cut.

I always prefer to reflux my feints to compress the front and back ends, thereby giving me more hearts to keep. But the most noticeable portion is the heads where the solvents collect....that becomes the largest portion from a feints run.

I imagine using a potstill and hoping for some good “full flavored spirit” will be a challenge. So, don’t be surprised if it’s a “smeared mess”.
ss

[NZChris]

I save some wash from the last ferment and dilute with that, then for added esterification, bring the temperature up to where the riser is hot and it's nearly distilling and let it idle for at least an hour before letting any come over.

If you are going to be building up a feints collection for a long time, chuck a new or used stave in with it, then run it with the stave in the boiler.

[Bushman]

+1 on what Still_stirrin said!

[boschd]

Thanks stirrin-

I'm okay with a fairly narrow hearts cut, to me it's all sort of "extra" anyways

I can pack my column with Cooper mesh to get probably 2-3 HETPs, but it's not a true reflux setup. Do you think this would help with smearing? I guess i don't see a downside to using packing in this scenario?

Chris- I'm not familiar with the temperature rest you are talking about for esterification - but i would give it a shot and love to learn more about what this does to flavor- wonder if there is a thread on this topic already...