When you start distilling, it's helpful to think about things in a linear, staged way. Taking absoloute measures of foreshots and heads is almost a safety net when you have no experience on what to look for. As you progress in the craft though, you become more aware of what to look for and make your cuts in a far more intuitive way that ultimately yields better quality (not volume). This is an exciting and inspiring journey and most of us learn by doing, hence Jessie's term of 'chasing the craft'.
That’s some great info, I also don’t stress about foreshots, I collect both together as well. I don’t ever put heads back into the next run, just tails typically for my sour mashes.
I think with my small still with a 10% abv wash, the recommended amount to classify as foreshots would be 25ml. So 50ml would definitely cover it. So I take 100ml. It goes into a jar with a skull and crossbones label on it. The heads and tails go into a feints jug and when I have enough I run 'em again. And still take the 100ml for foreshots.
Been slowly looking at getting into distilling, been home brewing mead for about 2 years. This is the best description that I have seen yet... Thank you
Part of the issue is about "volume" when people start distilling they are surprised at how little product is actually produced from large quantities of mash / wash and then they start compromising on what cuts to keep for the sake of volume. There is also a lot of home distillers that literally make no cuts at all and peddle the end product as some old time gift of the gods instead of fire lighter fluid it usually is.
Boy. Telling it like it is. I made that mistake my first run. Blended what I thought tasted good. I should have known better than to pour that last pint in with too much tails but I was blinded by my own greed. Talk about turning crap into shit. Too much heads as well. Tasted like the cheapest tequila with ass mixed together. Lesson learned
Agree. I don’t even worry about foreshots, I’ll take a 200ml or so hit every 50L mash because it’s nasty volatiles anyway. I rather quality over hellwater quantity any day.
I do the same or a bit more. I'm happy to have solvent or lawnmower fuel.on a 50L batch it isn't a worry, I think people with tiny stills /batch sizes are the ones more concerned
@@rwhitenz What they do not realize is the volume removed as foreshot is relative to volume of mash. You need only to remove 20 ml from a 5 L batch to equal to 200ml per 50 L mash. If you use it as a fuel or a non-consumable solvent, it is not a wasted product anyways.
You've helped me a ton, Jesse! I would say this video checks important box #1: foreshots are dangerous (unless used for something other than drinking, which can then be useful). Box #2: heads are not good tasting so you don't want them in your final product, so who cares about the line between foreshots and heads (the whole point of your video). The only polite critique I'd offer, is that a lot of new distillers find you at the very beginning of their journey into this hobby, and it's impossible to know which of your awesome videos they'll find first. So perhaps a little more emphasis on the need to chuck the methanol for the newbies, rather than speaking strictly to the vast majority of us who have been climbing the at home distilling mountain of information for years now would be appropriate.
@@johnm.515 That's not quite the same thing. When distilling, you are concentrating the alcohol. The first bits that come out thru that process is toxic. It contains acetone and methanol. With beer and wine, you are going thru a fermentation process that produces alcohol that is not as refined. It's safer to consume at that state.
Keen for a new cuts video Or maybe I should watch the old one Did my cleaning run/first alcohol run in my still last night And I’m keen to try a brandy after a neutral
Follow up, would you say there’s a rough fraction your cuts should be? For example, I’m only using a 3L pot still, and a 15% sugar wine or sugar-apple juice “cider”, I know from my hydrometer that there’s 450mL of ethanol 15 cuts the size of a shot glass? *yes I know it’s harder on a smaller still, my next mission will be a keg and perhaps then a reflux column.
Maybe just collect the first part of the run in a half dozen small jars? Your nose will tell you what to throw out. The “not so bad” can be added to the next run. The “just about hearts” can go into your “tavern grade” bottle, that you will use of making a product that has strong spice that can add a bit of edge to (e.g. Apple Pie).
Hit that nail right on the HEAD. As a newbie myself you cannot help but look at the net result after the cuts are made and you think am I being to fussy, Why throw that away, I just paid good money to make that and the reasons go on and on. BUT and there is a BIG BUT. What are you are doing it for. If it is for pleasure, Your pride on the label and your turn on for your mates why not put your best foot forward and get tough and do the job right.
I do agree with your opinion. Let's suppose you have set aside enough "heads" to make a run through your still... Can you estimate what percentage of those heads will make it into the hearts during that second run?
Noob question: Perhaps this matters less with a reflux still, but could be more important with your 'home made contraptions' or pot stills... especially 100 years ago when information was mainly passed on by word of mouth and tradition? Also, is it conceivable that a backwoods moonshiner from 1927 would want to save the heads for drinking/mixing? For example, their main concern would be not going blind or dying, and perhaps using/selling every last drop of what they made. Nowadays a home distiller is more likely to be concerned solely with maximizing flavor, and has access to a plethora of technical information, at his fingertips.
I'm a noob at this. This is literally my third video on distilling. _I'm not qualified to make a comment or ask a question._ Just starting my learning. I'm headed down the mead road, but distilling has my interest too.
The part I really don't Understand is why would you want anything that doesn't smell nor taste good in your drink. The reason that people distill is because they want the best product they can get or something that they can not buy. Why would you possibly Is risk an entire run over even a liter. I've done hard cider were we ended up with 50 gallons of product who gives a damn if I lose one gallon due to whatever.
I am about to be new distiller, I have just only made my first sugar wash. The only thing I want is the hearts. How much do I need to through away on a 5 to 6 gal. batch to get rid of the foreshots and the heads, and keep only the hearts? Foreshots ,heads ,and tails only to be used as firestarter or cleaner, never to see the inside of a still again.
What sort of still do you have? Reflux or pot still makes a big difference as the reflux will compress the foreshots and heads a lot more into a smaller volume rather than being smeered over a bigger volumn that happens in a pot still
A 5 gallon wash at 10% abv contains a half gallon of spirits. About 200ml should be fores, then what is left is dependent on your personal preference and desired flavor profile. That initial half gallon is diluted into roughly a gallon of finished product minus what your pallet says tastes bad. Collect your run in small jars and decide what to keep the next day. Cheers!
I found that since I started some of my own distilling I actually drink much less alcohol than I used to, however my use of cleaning/disinfecting has gone up quite a bit, so these days I take a generous amount of foreshot often going way into the heads, just because it is a useful cleaning product. The rest I just separate out by taste, so yeah pretty much the same as Jesse does.
@@theworldisastage1984 To be honest, I get enjoyment out of fermenting and distallation, I've got so much of the stuff that I really don't need to be frugal.
I'm a new distiller and I learned very quickly the separation of foreshots to heads really doesn't matter. Give or take and in the long run, I'm more concerned with the transition to hearts.
Old-style Slivovitz like my grandpa used to drink used most of the heads and tails. The stuff was nasty, but that's what they drank back on the shtetl. You or I would take a sip and ... feint.
Hey Jesse. First ever comment. New distiller here in England. I agree 100%. For the home distiller this makes so much sense. Keep up the good work bro. BTW, you're the reason I got into this and thanks to your personable way it's what gives me the inspiration to keep plugging away! Thank you brother.
Nice to see a fellow Englishman getting into distillation! I've been thinking for a while of getting into distillation; how've you found dealing with HMRC, or will that come at a later date?
@@LeavinMyTown I've only ever homebrewed which is legal, but having spent a few years reading the forums online, as well as asking the odd staff member from local gin distilleries for advice, the common wisdom seem to be that you just don't. You don't ask the cops or government agencies if there's a way for you to do things above board because unfortunately that doesn't exist and you will just alert them to the fact you're considering doing it. You don't grow weed in your attic, you don't get nicked for speeding, you don't get charged with assault after punching someone during a night out on the lash, and you don't make videos on youtube saying "Hi I'm Lewis Cooper from Mansfield and here's a video of me distilling alcohol in my garage". You build or buy your equipment, distill discretely within the privacy of your own home, don't go bragging about it, selling it, or giving it away to anyone but your closest and most trustworthy friends. You don't give the cops any reason to suspect you're doing anything wrong and they'll have no reason to check you out. From anecdotal reports on forums, granted you're not distributing your illicit distillates, cops don't really care about discrete operations, but they'll do things by the book to shut you down if you're making it obvious that you're doing it. Said anecdotal reports mention this includes the confiscation of all of your equipment (that might include, collaterally, brewing equipment indirectly but implicitly related to your distilling), and maybe a fine. You probably won't go to court as a first time offender, but the combined loss of your equipment and fine make it stupidly expensive to get caught.
I learnt to distill from my father in-law in Ukraine, he gave me a book in Russian about it. I have been subscribed to your channel for ages and I now have 2 stills I bought and one I am makeing from a beer barrel, I'm even learning to TIG weld so I can make it properly. I intend to start making stills for sale eventually. I really just wanted to say thank you.
Hi Jesse, thanks for your amazing videos. I just want to let you know that the Tech Ingredients channel gave a shout out to you and your channel, especially concerning blending. I suppose that's a real compliment to what you're doing. Keep up the good work. As to the foreshots and heads I think you're right on the money: the first amount of heads will still contain a quantifiable bit of methyl alcohol and I don't want to drink any of it.
Jesse, your BEARD is the click bait! Agree with with your point about foreshots vs heads, but to better make this craft/hobby legal and accepted, we need to get rid of the bogey man of Methanol poisoning and going blind, so please go over the top about what % to toss and simple burn tests to expose Methanal, etc...
I use an 8 gallon pot still and 3 5 gallon fermenters. I do an individual stripping run for each fermenter and don’t take any cuts. Then I mix them all together dilute with distilled water to 40% abv and distill again, then take the first quart and use it for firing up my smoker and I keep everything until the distillate starts to drastically drop in abv. When the abv starts to drop it comes down fast and that is pretty much your tails so I just keep it simple that way and it makes a decent product.
@@brandongreene9615 my 26 gallon boiler was $479 from moonshine distillers out of winter park co My 4" column, perforated plates, all set up with dephlegmator and shotgun condenser was $550 from oak stills. Sold the old set for $400, after 4 years of use I felt that was good. Under $700 upgrade price
Im 10 seconds into this video, and i think its important we really talk about the main issue of the video so far. Mate, you're kiwi, you wear that hat until you cant wear it no more.
I agree, BUT, and I HAVE watched the entire video (and I believe this was a very important discussion to have), I think you did miss something, and that is the fact that the amount of foreshots, heads, hearts, and tails also depends on the type of wash (eg sugar V grain etc) AND the type of still being used (eg reflux V pot). For instance, our mutual friend George has claimed there are NO foreshots at all in a sugar wash through a reflux still - I am not going to test that hypothesis however LOL. For me, the amount of heads you stated seems way high, at least for a refluxed sugar wash. However, I also concede that your sense of taste and smell seems to be way better than mine (and I used to be a wine connoisseur - or pretended to be ;-)).
It still amuses me that people are so stressed about methanol that they're even afraid to just put a finger under the still and taste just a little bit (a couple of drops) of foreshots. NO!!! THIS IS POISON, A DROP WILL KILL ME!, but Heads pretty much have the same effect/consistency of acetone, nail polish, pain thinner, whatever. They're basically the same up to a certain point. And they taste those just fine. It's one thing to be afraid of methanol (even if you're more reasonable and just care about headaches and bad tastes and don't think that it's death or blindness) and it's another thing to think that 2 drops will kill you. If you wanna see why you're throwing them out - just taste them, that's why. They're horrible. I guarantee you won't die if you taste a bit on your finger. You won't even get a headache or anything because that's nothing. You're not a tiny mouse :P
If terminology is important for new distillers, you made a boo boo at 8:31. But yep... totally agree with the video. Peoples tastes are different & more importantly if you're not making neutral, much of that ass flavour is not noticeable (black sambuka is a good example) so I understand why some people don't use the heads and some do... especially if they take more foreshots out to start with.
well, I think the point is that the Foreshot is literally poison,, so you don't want to include any of that in the next uh.. batch.. faint was it?? Besides that consideration, I'm not sure what you mean you don't care. Did you mean you just go with a margin of safety there?
I found out that if you have a small bleed valve at the cap or the top of your column I have it barely open and somewhere around 150/152 temp (on my still 31L pot) I close it off. By that point about 95% of the Methanol has escaped, you can tell by taking a little in a spoon of foreshots/lighter if it burns blue you're good, burns yellow its still there. I find that I take maybe 50ml of foreshots out maybe. Sugar, grain wash (22L) no difference. I also find I get to the heads flavor right away. I'm not throwing away 6/8+ oz of heads.I can get almost 5L of 70 proof Rum. Almost 7 (750ml) bottles.
I kind of agree with you, & kinda don’t as I’m not someone who uses jars to make cuts. In the case of a fruit wash/mash, I take more fore shots, than in a sugar or grain wash/mash. Then I let it cook til it the tails are yuck & stop. That’s because I’m lazy. But....you have a good point. It’s not a cliff....it’s a sliding scale.
So...I have a still spirits air still. Tried making some stuff. I only have about 1 cup of alcohol, which actually doesn't taste all that bad (really corn heavy). It's only 55%, 110 proof...how do you make these kinds of cuts on small amounts (1-3) cups? Do you even have to with mid-range ABV in such a small amount? It's currently just sitting in a jar for the last week because I don't want to drink something that might kill me. Any thoughts?
Amazing Jessie thank your 4 shots insight lol! My last few runs honestly the first 500ml jar that's collected! I call it my 4 shots. 😅which is basically a mix of heads and 4 shots!
Im about to carryout my first run and im looking for some good 1 on 1 advice on the process whatsapp video chat Ive been told remove the first 10ml per gallon cooked. A link to a good acurate tutorial would br great and yes its continuos use.
My rule of thumb... 10gal 10% charge, take first 8oz as fores and heads, then start sensory checks to make cut to hearts... seems to work well for me. some batches, the hearts start right away while other grains tend to have more heads..
Clickbate title which I hate, but I agree with the concept, who really cares about that little volume of a whole run, worse case it ends up on the first heads jar which you might never use anyway, and likely not get blended into that batch. Personally I hate the xx ml/oz per gal/liter of wash, it’s good for your first run to get your bearings but if you cant smell & taste (not swallow) the horrible foreshore/heads vs middle you shouldn’t be distilling. Your first run should be split into many 50-100ml jars to really learn anyway. xx ml/oz per gal/liter ratios are worthless anyway on any run your putting feints into.
Lots of words jumbled up.... I'm newish.. and I think its important to keep the terminology and measurements concise and accurate... then WE can decide how to employ the practice. I make anywhere from 5-8 gallon runs... I pull off a pint and discard it. That is all of my fore shots and a bit of heads.... The rest of the heads I keep for adding back later. I do care about foreshots.... I just don't care about cutting them out super accurately, because the heads that immediately follow are horrid and wont be used.
I have never taken out heads. I always took out foreshots, (to get rid of the Methanol) (25 ml from a 20 litre sugar wash), then kept everything after that except for the lower wines. Is this wrong for vodka ?
The reason why you see them as the same is because they are the same. Heads and Foreshots are the exact same cut, the first of 3 cuts. 2 different terms, coined in 2 different locations, for the same cuts. Hearts/Spirit and Tails/Feints are the other pairs of cut terms used. Just watch the Distillery Manager at Laphroaig Distillery explain it > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k9Xo900woaU.html Differentiating foreshots from heads is bad advice because teaching proper terminology from the get go should be one of the main things that those giving out knowledge should be striving for.
I was working on an HCHO sensor for a client today and I happened to learn that methanol in vapor form oxidizes to formaldehyde. Something to think about...
I work off the idea that Methanol burn's yellow & Ethanol burn's blue...after your first blue flame, take your cuts.... Get the spoon out x I do make a bit of brandy, so there is a lot more Methanol.
Third attempt at making gin. Used Alcotec Turbo with liquid carbon in 25 litres with 8 kg on cheap sugar. Killed it and cleared it with alcotec. 20% yield. Distilled it using my home made pot still. 4 litres at a time Using the first cup off for cleaning stoped at 20% . Put the hearts in Demi jars. Watered down to 40% and dripped it through boiled carbon in a upside down plastic bottle with loose cap. Distilled again discarding half a cup each time. Watered down to 55%. Just added a stir spirits flavour for now. Tastes great. Made some second rate cheap wine so making brandy now. Got some oak now so cooking chop sticks next. 220 240 260 Degs C . This is a great program to watch.
Forshots, Heads 145 degrees F, how does Polish Autostill figure this out because it stops, Temp at the "point of no return" in the column? can temp be used to to check for heads and hearts 173 degrees F,
A similar thing happens in home winemaking, when beginners try to filter out the lees from the last liter at the bottom of the batch. I've been there myself and I can assure you, it's just not worth the effort to insist on saving every single drop.
A simple question, hopefully ! I have Never seen a breakdown of the chemistry, in the " Heads/Top or Mids" part of the distillates found in a simple corn mash/grain alcohol ! Do you have any friends that have access to a photo or mass spectrometer ! Like a lab tech, at nearby collage or university ?? I live in North Carolina USA, in a county that was settled by lots of Scotch and Irish folks !! It was a Dry County up until 1970. So you could bet there was a very large amount of Moonshiners around here ! And pardon the pun, still is !! PS: You are doing a Great Job !!!
Some people distill and only remove foreshots for some reason. Then it kind of matters in terms of safety, regardless of the fact that the end product is going to taste bad. But yeah, you aren't going to drink the heads anyway, so it doesn't really matter much if you throw away "too much" of it as foreshots. And since you aren't drinking it, it also is pointless to try to save more of it.
so like me and my dad are the only people who put it ALL together? because like... i reallllllly dont taste the difference in hearts etc etc even after its all blended together
After watching the whole of your video I just wanted to add something, not everyone does cuts after the foreshots, some people just want to catch as much liquid as possible. Just like to add this as when someone I was talking too told me they didn't know what heads hearts and tails was. They did know about foreshots though.
so there was a little misunderstanding in the comment section of the last vid, both ways I think. Thanks for clearing up, once again. (Note to myself: foreshots are never a part of the feints. Got that, m*f*?)
Something I realized early on. Yes. It's always good practice to take foreshots, It just removes a significant quantity of garbage from the equation with a minimum of effort and attention. But then, if you didn't get it quite right, it isn't going to be that big of a deal, since any remaining nastiness is still going to be in the heads, which will get processed out into the fores and heads of subsequent runs when you do whatever it is you do with your feints. So yeah, I get it. It's an important step, but not one to be overly concerned with beyond just making sure you do it. And since I love sharing my current project I'm working on a Fruity Pebbles vodka. It shows some promise, but I won't know until I put my test batch through. Simply put, I'm soaking pouches of cereal in a neutral spirit (store bought this time since I was curious and none of my washes or finished products would work or were ready) after that I'll see what, if anything will transfer through redistillation. If it works well, I plan on adding it to one of my finished washes that already has a fruity characteristic to it. I'm calling it my Breakfast of Champions.
It would only be dangerous if you were distilling on an industrial scale. You literally cant get enough product into a home still you get a letal dose off a single run.
You can always sell the methanol to diesel drivers that uses it like nitrous.. or use it in winter in you windshield washer on your car it keeps it from freezing
I will always take at least 100 mls of foreshots just for consistency on what I do. If im going to use my faints I want them with the less shit possible. And of course, it's easier to light my fire 😅
Jess try leaving the cap off your still till it starts to steam for abought 10 min. and then add the cap and run as normal " Low & Slow " the fore shots will not be in the mix and the heads will be a lot mellower . ; - )
And this is why home distilling for personal use is illegal in many countries. A few nitwits who does not respect or understand the dangers of foolish distilling. I hope the Gene Bennett(s) out there, stays away from pressure canners/cookers deep fryers and microwaves also.
That’s it, if your making cuts by your senses then there is no way that your going to touch horrible foreshots. I’ve been trying to kill this noxious weed with my foreshots but I think it has an immunity to it now lol. Shine on!
00:58 - To quote Pee Wee Herman "Everyone I know has a big but. C'mon ..... let's talk about your big but" 😉 Thanks for keeping it real Jesse. Long may you still it.
I agree with your thesis, Jesse. If you collect heads for the feints jar, throw away some of the fores, whatever you are happy with. Collect heads until your ABV starts to drop, then taste/smell until you can no longer smell nail polish remover. Then collect hearts until you drips start to smell a little janky. Collect tails until you are tired or you are just distilling water. Save heads and tails in the feints jar. The above is advice for a pot still only. If you don’t save your feints, make a hearts cut and a tails cut, save the hearts and chuck the rest or use it for weed killer. Bob’s your Uncle.
Ok. I'm gonna geek out here. Taste of certain molecules depends on vapor pressure. . Distilling and taking cuts is taking different vapors at different pressures over time. Higher vapor pressures represent more volatile molecules. Meaning the molecules move faster under heat. Methyl Alcohol is toxic and has a higher vapor pressure than ethyl alcohol. Thank our Creator for this miracle of Creation . Otherwise all distilled spirits would be noxious and or poisonious! That also affects what molecules can transport other molecules. Some flavors are transported with the lighter molecules, some flavors are transported with heavier molecules. Higher vapor pressures in general have a lower boiling point. If you "smell" something, that fluid at the surface is releasing molecules that connect with your nose receptors. Hot coffee smells good. Fresh ground beans smell good due to releases of molecules bound by the bean and releases by the energy of the grinder. Cold coffee tastes in the mouth more than it smells in the nose. If you could control the temperature in a still to 1/10 of a degree increments, You would see molecules releases in order of vapor pressure . Lots of things below are listed as solvents, meaning they carry other molecules and flavors. So "heads" will have numbers higher than ethyl alcohol and water, Tails will have lower numbers than ethyl alcohol and water. So when you made your 2 botanical runs, and mixed them with your darker rum, you were mixing solvents ( water and alcohol ) that carried the flavors and sugars. The art is the "taste" of the mix/beholder. It's actually HARD to make a consistent taste across years of product. Think Canadian Club port barrel aged , Captain Morgan's special reserve. The Blenders are the artists. Here is my attempt at a chart. Fluid Name Vapor Pressure (kPa) Acetaldehyde 120 Acetic acid 2.1 Acetic acid anhydride 0.68 Acetone 30 Allyl alcohol 2.3 Allyl chloride 40 Aluminum nitrate, 10% solution in water 2.4 Aluminum sulphate, 10% solution in water 2.4 Amyl acetate 0.47 Aniline 0.09 Beer 2.4 Benzene 14 Benzyl alcohol 0.013 Bromine 28 Butyl acetate 1.5 Butyl alcohol, 1-butanol 0.93 Butyric acid n 48 Calcium chloride, 25% solution in water 2.4 Calcium chloride, 5% solution in water 2.4 Carbon disulphide 48 Carbon tetrachloride 15.3 Chloroform 26 Cyclohexanol 0.9 Cyclohexanone 0.67 Ethyl acetate 14 Ethyl alcohol 12.4 Ethyl glycol 0.7 Ethylene glycol0.007 Formic acid 5.7 Furfurol, 2-Furaldehyde0.3 Heptane 6 Hexane 17.6 Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) 4.4 Kerosene 0.7 Methyl acetate 28.8 Methyl alcohol, methanol 16.9 Methylene chloride, dichloromethane 58 Milk 2.4 Nitrobenzene 0.03 Nonane 0.6 Octane 1.9 Pentane 58 Phenol 0.05 Propanol 2.8 Propionic acid 0.47 Sea water 2.4 Sodium chloride, 25% solution in water 2.4 Sodium hydroxide, 20% solution in water 2.4 Sodium hydroxide, 30% solution in water 2.4 Styrene 0.85 Tetrachloroethane 0.7 Tetrachloroethylene 2.5 Toluene 3.8 Trichloroethylene 9.2 Water 2.4
I fully agree with one exception if I am making apple or pear brandy the fore shot is just nasty on those because of the pectin I think but in my experience the faints on the 2nd run adds a bad taste all thru the hearts if I don't toss off the forshots from the heads maybe if using a column still would not be a problem
I think a big part of what people worry about here is solved by methodology. I've seen guides that say "collect all your foreshots in one container, then collect your heads, then get a big container for your hearts" etc. If you just separate your cuts into smaller quantities you'll be fine. You might lose more of your heads that might not quite be foreshots and so could technically go back into another run as feints, but that cut of heads probably has bad flavours anyway. I dunno that that's exactly what you were trying to say (no offense and love your work, but it was a bit rambly 😂) but that's what I took away from this and particularly watching the process with your rum blending.
Do I have to grow a LONG GOATEE to make moonshine, (most you guys have them) Goiod thing the ladies stay away from camera! Thanks for your information as very helpfull Sir
Distilling has ruined alot of commercial booze for me. Now I can taste tails and heads in so many of them that I had enjoyed before. Had a bottle of Cabo Wabo this week that tasted like straight tails.
Me being new, I'm trying to figure out why cut foreshots, some day methanol, some day don't worry. What is the composition of those first ml, and how can you determine that composition has changed to a different alcohol
Well, I agree that the the recommended volume for the foreshots that I've seen mentioned in various sources is somewhat arbitrary, that is not to say that the concept of removing them is irrelevant. So in conventional distilling where one is throwing away the foreshots and the stuff left in the boiler, keeping the heads and tails for redistillation, and the hearts is the keeper going into the final product. If you model the process, the undesirable stuff (methanol, ethyl acetate, acetone, hexyl alcohol) will build up over time (as they are recyled into the next batch) if there is no purge stream and that is what the intention of the foreshots disposal and boiler residue disposal is all about. So, without a lengthy differential equation treatment here, it is necessary to purge both the still bottoms and the foreshots. What the the precise amount of these should be, will depend largely on what kind of products your yeast have churned out in your fermenter. So I think that over the years, certain rules-of-thumb (100 mL foreshots for 5 gallon batch of wash) have been developed to that are reasonably conservative. If you wanted to treat this a little more precisely, you could say that if you are fermenting a pectin rich mash (wine, cider) you should use larger volumes for the foreshots, whereas if you are using a sugar wash, you could almost forego the foreshots, I think, whereas we are not measuring the amount of undesirable organics within the distillate, it's probably safe to stick with the conventional volumes for the foreshots, with the understanding that we (in our ignorance of what is present in the distillate) are maintaining a confortable margin of safety. PS: I really enjoy your channel; please keep up the good work!
Hi mate, really love your vids. I have a few questions... I know that acetone and methanol concentrations are higher in the foreshot. However, what is in the heads that make them taste like arse? Also, can you do a vid discussing the issue with non ptfe gaskets? I know it's controversial, but I think you could do a wicked balanced vid on the subject!
