First Mash to Gin - TFFV

[Weyllend]

Hi all,
I posted on the welcome board about a week ago going into a TFFV, and here I am with the results
It took a week of fermenting, started at 1.070 and forgot to read it at the end, oops.

I have a small air still, and I had about 10L of wort. Went through the first distillation quite fast, all went well.

Spirit run was where I had more difficulties, first time making cuts! From my point of view ... I could have drank it all from the start, but the furthest it went, I started to understand the taste change.

Anywayz, I'll need a lot more experience to make better cuts, that's for sure

I ended up with 750 mL of gin (macerated after spirit run) at 45% that is very good on ice, and a 500 mL of 60% that I added some oak chips, will see!

Cheers!

[still_stirrin]

Hi all,
I posted on the welcome board about a week ago going into a TFFV, and here I am with the results
It took a week of fermenting, started at 1.070 and forgot to read it at the end, oops.

I have a small air still, and I had about 10L of wort. Went through the first distillation quite fast, all went well.

Spirit run was where I had more difficulties, first time making cuts! From my point of view ... I could have drank it all from the start, but the furthest it went, I started to understand the taste change.

Anywayz, I'll need a lot more experience to make better cuts, that's for sure

I ended up with 750 mL of gin (macerated after spirit run) at 45% that is very good on ice, and a 500 mL of 60% that I added some oak chips, will see!

Cheers!

Good 1st effort. Keep practicing and it will get much easier…or at least you’ll be familiar with “how” and “what to expect”. Experience is a great form of teaching.

One note on cuts:
When you sample your jars, start with the middle jar and work your way down first. The middle jar will be the cleanest and gice you a “benchmark” of good alcohol. Working down will teach you where and what tails taste like before your taste buds are spoiled by the heads. Always dilute the taster to 40-45%ABV if you pulled higher %ABV off the spout, which you probably will. I recommend measuring (and recording) the %ABV of every jar as you pull it from the spout. This will help you with the cuts tasting.

After working from the middle down, then work from the middle jar up (to the 1st) jar. This will teach you good ethanol from the solventy heads. Again, be sure to dilute your sample to 40-45%ABV to sample.

I also suggest making notes of what you taste and smell in your samples. Writing the sensations down will help you identify what belongs in your keep, and what doesn’t. Try to be descriptive of your sensations too, interms of tastes and smells you can associate, ie - “fruity”, “spicy”, “fingernail polish remover”, etc. instead of “funky”. I’ve heard tails described as “wet dog hair” or “wet cardboard”, both with are better descriptors than “smells like ass” … even if YOU know exactly what that smells like (to each … their own).

Making cuts using your senses will work much more reliably than using %ABV as a marker to cut, although you may note a correlation between %ABV and cut points.

Making good cuts will make the difference in your own “top shelf” spirit and the commercial “made for profit” liquor in your local package store. Learn it properly and you’ll be the most popular producer in your neighborhood.
ss

[Weyllend]

@SS Thanks for your inputs!

I got another batch of TFFV fermenting right now, I'll be distilling on mondays and applying what you wrote right then and there.
I will take better notes for sure, that will help with knowledge and reproduction. I really liked the idea of starting from the middle too, after tasting straight from the spigot, I quickly grew "tired" and I couldn't taste the hearts well (I think, that is pure feeling). Anywho, I need to take more cuts, and take my time when tasting.

Cheers SS, and thanks again!