Home Distiller

Fellas, any ideas on what happened here:
I've been working on a UJSM with a bourbon grain bill. I've been doing 5 gal batches and running stripping runs until I had 6 gal. Before doing the spirit run, I mixed in a couple tablespoons of non-iodized salt (I heard this would hold back more of the water and seperate the alcohol better). I fired up the still with an 18" pot head. I eased it up to 173 and took off not quite a pint of foreshots. The still then settled in at 174 and was running off 86%. It seemed that it stayed there forever. By the time it got down to 80% to where I was going to cut to hearts, I had 7 qts. of heads. I then collected from 80% to 55% and only got a little over a gallon. Went to tails and got about a pint and a half down to 30%.

This seems like a hell of a lot of heads and not much hearts. Any ideas?

you making your cuts with the thermometer only ?

new_moonshiner wrote:you making your cuts with the thermometer only ?

No, I'm using an alcoholmeter in a parrot beak. I'm just always watching the temp, though.

Using a thermo or parrot to make cuts is not the way to do it. I know you threw out a lot of hearts by doing it that way. And probably drug a lot of tails into them as well. Smell and taste is the only way to get good cuts. If your senses are as messed up as mine, collect in small lots (I use 1/2 pint jars) until you are sure you want to start collecting hearts. Switch back to smaller lots when you think your getting close to the tails. Cover them with paper towels or coffee filters and let them air out for a day or two. Now you can sort through and find the good ones and add them back into the hearts.

I have to agree with Hawke there's no replacement for the sense of taste and smell ..as he said do let them air out..It Will make a difference ....


I like that signature Hawke.. right on target there bud .. lol

Thanks, guys. I know what order my quarts of "heads" came off at, so that should help me a little bit. I've got the lids off and they are airing as we speak. I'll still probably have a quart or so that got contaminated with heads, but I guess I'll either just rerun that as feints the next time I do a spirit run or I'll toss it in the vodka run.

I use a hydrometer as a guide , can tell when things are changing but not a replacement for hands on "cutting"

When making whiskey I look at the parrot beak for a ballpark and taste to decide when to make them. Small jars are the way to go for a novice. I always find myself distilling into the wee hours of the night and wait till morning to decide what is a keeper and what goes in the feints jug. I cover jars with coffee filters overnight.

I collect in half pint (300ml) lots and leave covered for a day or so just as Hawke does. It makes it much easier and I get better results, but I always wonder what the big boys on production runs do. I can just visualize thousands of half pint lots waiting to be blended by Jack or Jim or whoever.

A pint of foreshots seems like a lot to me especially from UJSM, but I haven't made any for some time so maybe my memory is failing me..........again.

blanik

I thank they are very repetitive. the same thing over and over so they know how much and where to take it. and most likely tide in with a "chemist"

Yaisr dunder, you're probably correct there. We have a very large wine processing and bottling plant nearby and the wines come in tankers, pumped into huge vats and samples taken. Then the chemist and wine maker get together and add whatever is needed to make a wine that sells to the public. Commercial wine making is no longer an art unless one goes to a very small winery and then you get 'real' wine.

A bit like what we do I guess.

blanik

When I make cuts, I use a shot glass. One shot from the jar, one shot of distilled water. I look for smell, taste and any clouding. Once my first cuts are made, I take a shot from each keeper and put this in a container, then do the 1:1 test again. If I detect too much heads/tails in this one, I drop the first or last jar from the mix. Has been working good for me so far.

Hey Hawke, glad I found this little nugget. I get the first part but am lost here -

If I detect too much heads/tails in this one, I drop the first or last jar from the mix.

How do you know which jar to drop if you've mixed 1 shot from each into the test jar? I get the point, but lost in the mechanics of it.

Cheers

I'm kinda wondering how in the hell your getting 11-12 qts off a 6 gallon run. I seen it was a collection of strip runs. But that just seems awful high to me. Specially if your still getting 50% after 7qts.

Anyways I agree collect in pint jars 200-300ml lots. You can tell as your heads fade away into your hearts much clearly that way. Also when your hearts fade into the tails.

gs_moonshine wrote:I'm kinda wondering how in the hell your getting 11-12 qts off a 6 gallon run. I seen it was a collection of strip runs. But that just seems awful high to me. Specially if your still getting 50% after 7qts.

Anyways I agree collect in pint jars 200-300ml lots. You can tell as your heads fade away into your hearts much clearly that way. Also when your hearts fade into the tails.

Maybe he meant "1.1 to 1.2 qts." Or maybe "11-12 qts off a 60 gallon run."

I do single jar test first. Then, the ones I select as keepers, get tested with the shot mix. If I detect heads/tails in the mix, I drop that lowest/highest numbered jar.