My first run without a proof hydrometer

[Ridgeback816]

So just before I started my run my wife accidentally dropped my hydrometer so instead of measuring every jar with a corresponding temperature reading for my notes all I did was collect and make notes from smell and taste it will air out tomorrow and I will taste for cuts on Tuesday i can'twait to see the differencebetweenwhere i think the cut is today and where it ends. I am guessing that I have between 6 and 7 liters between 70 and 80 percent. My plan is to age it in a small barrel for 10 months

[still_stirrin]

Braille helps those who can’t “see” to read. It sounds like you’re learning how to use ALL your senses instead of relying on your “crutches”.
ss

[Ridgeback816]

Even if this turns out badly I will have learned a very expensive lesson on what not to do

[Saltbush Bill]

You shouldn't need a proof hydrometer to make cuts.
Rely more on your senses
A hydrometer has no sense of smell or taste.

[BrewinBrian44]

I rarely ever use my hydrometer to measure individual jars. I’ve never found it gave me any helpful data point to make cuts. Smell and taste are all you need. I only measure the final ABV after dumping all my keeper jars into one vessel. Interesting thing is I usually end up with a very similar combined ABV if I’m making the same recipe back to back, after cuts.

Use your hydrometer for proofing at the end. Also, you shouldn’t need a thermometer when pot stilling. More useless data.

[6 Row Joe]

Good for you! The only thing I use a refractometer for is to know how far down to run the tails before I pull the plug. They go in the feints jar. It doesn't matter what the proof is along the way. The smell and taste are what gets put in the jars.

[Yummyrum]

Congratulations Ridgeback . Now all you need to do is throw out the thermometer and you’ll be a real distiller

Seriously though , it can be daunting running with out crutches but it’ll be better for you in the long run

[NZChris]

Congratulations on a job well done. Doing a cut without modern crutches is a good skill to have.

[Uncle Jesse]

I've never used a hydrometer to make cuts. Taste, smell, intuition. You'll do fine.

[Twisted Brick]

One day, when you consciously cut all of your batches without the ‘benefit’ of a hydrometer, you should thank your wife for doing you a giant favor.

[Ridgeback816]

How do you all do cuts when tasting if you don't know your starting proof? I do normally smell and taste everything cut down to 30 percent without the hydrometer I know where I would make my cuts but they seem rather wide on the smell alone I haven't watered anything down yet to taste

[zed255]

If it smells and tastes good, it is almost certainly good.

I find I use various instruments during the run to judge how far along I am, but not to determine my chosen cut points. If I were doing multiple back-to-back runs of the exact same thing I can use the milestones I determined on the first run or two and apply to the rest, otherwise each run is unique and requires your senses to truly determine a cut point. Even then I still use my small jars as I approach, and pass, a cut point to 'catch' it. The rest is captured into a larger vessels since heads are heads, hearts are hearts and tails are tails and don't benefit from granular collection. That could also be a more experienced me talking as I used to collect all in jars and directly evaluated everything. Now I use my personal judgment to pick out the volume that needs such evaluation and just collect the rest together, in their respective vessels.