Foreshots to tails
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I got a 25 gal still and just started. I only dont know how to notice when i get to my heads and hearts and tails. Also wondering how much i need to take away from my foreshots and when my tails are starting.
Hope someone got some good advice
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Are you planning on doing stripping runs or only spirit runs?
Stripping Run
A stripping run is the best way to remove water from within the wash.
Simply fill the still with wash and run the still hot and fast. Collect everything into one large collection container.
Once there are multiple stripping runs saved, they can be added to a still and run as a spirit run.
Think of the stripping run as nothing more than an alcohol concentration step: you can get a larger, more refined spirit if you do a
stripping run.Stripping is usually achieved via the use of a pot still, but can be done with a de-tuned reflux still.
Running a pot still as quickly as possible will extract as much alcohol from your wash as possible.
The distillate collected is called low wines.
The low wines of several stripping runs are then collected and a spirit run is done.Spirit Run
Spirit runs are used to distill low wines produced from a stripping run or from a single run in a pot still. A spirit run is used to separate the heads, hearts and tails for the final spirit, called the spirit run. A spirit run takes a lot more time than a stripping run.Foreshots
Foreshots are the first vapors to boil off during distillation. They should not be ingested as they contain methanol and other volatile alcohols. Always discard the foreshots — they make up around 5% or less of the product collected during a run. Throw out the first 30 ml on a 1 gallon run, the first 150 ml on a 5 gallon run, or the first 300 ml on a 10 gallon run.Heads
Heads come off of the still directly after the foreshots. Simply put, they taste and smell bad. Heads smell like paint thinner or solvent. They are not worth drinking and are said to be the main culprit in hangovers.Hearts
Hearts come off the still after the heads. The hearts are the sweet spot during the run: This is the good stuff. The easiest way to tell when you’ve reached the hearts is simple: The harshness of the heads is replaced with a mellow, sweet-tasting flavor. Once that harshness of the heads fades away, you know you are in the hearts. The heart cut is very important and this is where the skill of the distiller comes into play, because they must recognize the end of the heads, and the beginning of the tails.Tails
Tails come off the still following the hearts. The tails start once all of the lower boiling point alcohols have evaporated. The tails contain a lot of fusel oil and other alcohols that are not desirable in a finished product. The tails are mostly water, proteins, and carbohydrates and do not taste very good. The tails start once the rich full flavors from the hearts taper off and start tasting thin. The tails make up between 20-30% of the run. -
Checkout this article as well:
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