My apple spirit head analysis results

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Wino2Distill
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My apple spirit head analysis results

Post by Wino2Distill »

I've figured out that my still makes the best apple spirit (eau de vie) when it has the reflux column attached. I've tried doing strip/spirit a few times but was never happy with the results.
The problem with running cider through my reflux column is that most of the apple flavour comes out in the heads, which are potentially more concentrated in poisons. (Yes, I have gone through the methanol debates on HD)
This flavour concentration phenomenon was especially true on the last run that I did.
I ran about 25L of cider with about 3 liters of apple feints from a previous run. I threw out the first 120ml and collected another 120ml, which I set aside. I then collected the rest of the run in pint sized mason jars which were more or less full depending on my cuts. (My cuts are based on intuition/smell and not recipe.)
When done, I blended the hearts and poured the tails in my apple feints carboy. I would usually discard the second head cut (the 2nd 120ml) into the feints as well, but it appeared to contain all of the apple aroma that I'm after so I was really tempted to include it in with the hearts.
Fearing I would add poison to my spirit, I sent it to a lab for analysis.
Here are the results:

Ethanol: 79.8%
Methanol: 288 mg/l
Ethyl Acetate: 722 mg/l
Propan-1-ol: 122 mg/l
2-methylpropan-1-ol: 1131 mg/l
Butan-1-ol: 83 mg/l
Butan-2-ol: 5.7 mg/l
Isopentanol: 3910 mg/l
Acetaldehyde: 56 mg/l

I need to research the other compounds more, but it appears that I should not fear methanol so much if I stick with this same process. When corrected to 40% ethanol, the methanol concentration on this cut would be slightly higher than some red wines and way below the legal limit in my province which is 8000 mg/l.

What do you think?
Starting out with an Essential Pro Series II - 8 Gal Kettle

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