Using ABV to calculate cuts

[Arismac]

I currently have a wash of 27 litres with an ABV of 10.24%. Can I use the ABV to calculate the amount of cuts? eg: Heads are say 10% of total total reflux still, therefore Heads are 276 mls?

Calculation as follows ...
27 litre wash multiplied by ABV of 10.24 equals 2.76 litres of ethenol.
Heads is equal to 10% of total ethenol so there is 276mls of heads.

If this works then all I need to know is the correct ball park percentages of the various cuts?

[Fishleg]

Read beginners guide to cuts in the newbies section. That is probs the best way

[bluc]

You cant do cuts by abv. Use smell and taste. Abv does not corealate directly to good alcohol (hearts).

[Plumby]

Before I found this place I was surfing the web and found a few, let's say questionable articles that said you throw away about 50ml of 4shots then break your run into 3 sections.
I tried it like that, they are wrong, follow the cuts guide on here and you can't go wrong. My reflux still is the model b4 yours, I follow the cuts guide and I chuck 150ml of 4shots, take about 1 litre of heads and between 1.2 and 1.4 litres of hearts, ( I find I get a better hearts yield during winter as the colder temps means that less off flavours are produced. ) and about the same in tails sometimes more. Hope that helps :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Kenster]

Arismac, you may be over simplifying this. Each wash will be slightly different as there are many factors which influence outcome, even if we do the 'same ' thing each time. Having said that, alcohol/ethanol is produced however we run the still but the congeners will also alter in terms of where they are and when. If you produce say,92% ABV thru the heads and that doesent change, going into hearts, the percentage does not show you where the congeners are.There can be a lot of unwanted stuff mixed in. As stated, READ the CUTS section, you will then understand that smearing is a factor, and a black and white cutoff does not produce the goods. Your personal taste will vary to that of others also, so your own nose and taste will determine what you are happy with.It is not a formula as such.