First Run

[RickR]

Ok, so here it is. I did my first run with a sugar/cornmeal mash. I think things went pretty good. I just have a few concerns.
First, the product seems to be a little cloudy. The heads are particularly cloudy. Is this common? All the way thru the collection there appears to be a haze in the product.
Second, the product has a definate alcohol smell to it as it should (lol), however it is very harsh the the nose. This is true for all the collection jars down to 30 proof.
Being a newb to running liquor I just want to be sure I can produce a good product.

The run was done as follows:
I started with about 3 gallons of filtered mash and started the run. The collections were made in small jars about 200mls each the first being 250ml’s which measured at 100 proof and burned pure blue. I will most likely be Discarding this. Each subsequent 200ml collection reduced 10 proof. I stopped the run after 9 jars the last measuring 20 proof. This brings me to the last question. What proof should I be striving for in a finished product?

Sorry if these seem like lame questions. i just know of no one that can “tutor” me during this learning curve. And sorry if I posted this in the wrong section.
Thanks in advance for your comments.

[BeverageCommander]

Q) First, the product seems to be a little cloudy. The heads are particularly cloudy. Is this common? All the way thru the collection there appears to be a haze in the product.
A) This is not normal- it can be caused by a few things-
1) A still “puking” into the collection vessel can cause this- when this happens, liquid in the boiler foams up into the column and then drips down through the condenser and drip arm.
2)You want to use just the right amount of heat- If you add too much heat, liquid will boil up into the column and puke into the collection vessel, causing distillate to turn cloudy. If too little heat is added, runs will take much longer than they should.
3)Don’t transfer yeast and other sediment into the still-

Q) Second, the product has a definate alcohol smell to it as it should (lol), however it is very harsh the the nose. This is true for all the collection jars down to 30 proof.
A) Most sugar shine recipes have this harshness- I only use sugar to make fuel or to slightly boost a fruit mash for brandy. You might want to look into making all grain mashes once you have the process down.

Q) I started with about 3 gallons of filtered mash and started the run. The collections were made in small jars about 200mls each the first being 250ml’s which measured at 100 proof and burned pure blue. I will most likely be Discarding this. Each subsequent 200ml collection reduced 10 proof. I stopped the run after 9 jars the last measuring 20 proof. This brings me to the last question. What proof should I be striving for in a finished product?
A) This is a great way to learn how to make cuts. The first part of the run will be foreshots, then heads, then hearts, then tails. The heads is what we are after- this is the sweet spot of the run. Checkout this guide on making cuts: http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/12206385-making-moonshine-the-dummies-guide

What was your exact recipe? Do you know your starting and ending gravity of the wash?

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