Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I came across this channel the other day and although this guy is clearly no expert, he does provide a lot of good information, and his take on making cuts is nothing like what I have read anywhere yet.
It seems to me that most stillers here take the hearts and maybe a couple of jars either side of the hearts as one single chunk of their total collection.
It would be good to get some feedback and opinions from you guys on this method of making cuts as i thought it was interesting.

https://youtu.be/-LxX7UZL4hI

Not bad. Like some of his jar sorting strategies.

I got bored after 3 mins :laughing-rolling:
I suppose it’s not bad as long as people take it for what it is, a guide not gospel

Like stig said its ok but just one strategy. I personally strive for no heads/tails but it all depends what you call tails. On all grain peated whiskey i kept all the smokey grainy phenols which ended at 55% and changed to funky wet carboard. On a sugarhead i cut at about 72% 8-}

warramungas wrote:Like some of his jar sorting strategies.

:text-+1:

bluc wrote:Like stig said its ok but just one strategy. I personally strive for no heads/tails but it all depends what you call tails. On all grain peated whiskey i kept all the smokey grainy phenols which ended at 55% and changed to funky wet carboard. On a sugarhead i cut at about 72% 8-}

I've just been taking the widest single chunk I can get away with which has included late heads to early tails. One batch of BWKO gave me a headache and another batch of NGW tasted slightly too tailsy but I'd never considered doing a longer spirit run and selecting some to add from the deepest of tails. Like you said, with sugarheads its just the hearts you'd want but with AG whiskey its the tails thats gonna make it much more complex and interesting with time.
Now that I'm focusing predominately on all grain I'm now going to lengthen my spirit run and see what type of flavours can come about as I usually start stripping my washes when I hit 93- 92%.

I dont like heads...period and do my best to avoid them, going low abv doesnt mean tails dont get caught up with % with cuts train your palate..if it dont taste bad generally aint . Super grainy flavours in all grain are not tails but it switchs to tails very soon after, you will eventually pick the diff between late run and tails.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-+1: taste smell and feel should be your guide not the numbers. I hardly pay any attention to the alchometre.

So if running an all grain wash on a 4 inch bubbler how far would you guys go into the tails considering that with four plates they usually start at around 93.5% ?

I liked the vid(s) also watched a couple of his others .

What I get from this video is that flavors in this hobby are a personal thing and that there is hope in this even for numptys like me .

Its also obvious from this that even tho the Kiwis are not much good at the important stuff like , cricket , rugby and netball etc , they or their govt anyway are lightyears ahead of us here in recognising the need for allowing small scale home distilling .

Definitely one of the better vids I have seen on you tube for distilling :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Mormash wrote:So if running an all grain wash on a 4 inch bubbler how far would you guys go into the tails considering that with four plates they usually start at around 93.5% ?

You can't expect your still to be like someone elses as here too many variables .
Best you can do is work out how far to go into tails. be aware that once you have gone too far into tails you have made your wash undrinkable.

:D failure is the best method of learning. And an awesome motivator with expensive all grain..

I always collect down to about 20%, with a bubbler the drop from 90-20 can be a matter of a few hundred mills. When tails hit I usually turn off the RC water flow and start collecting in smaller increments. Maybe 100 mls per jar or even less. You will usually (but not always) get the wet dog smell at the start of tails, but that will go away after a while. You won’t want to add all of the tails to your hearts, but a jar or two may hold that special taste you are looking for.

Anything you don’t keep you can add to your next run.

So many ways to describe flavor, seriously green banana . I've only got 3 flavors to describe cuts. Good, Bad and oh my god that's disgusting. :teasing-tease:

pingu wrote:So many ways to describe flavor, seriously green banana . I've only got 3 flavors to describe cuts. Good, Bad and oh my god that's disgusting. :teasing-tease:

Hahahaha yer, I haven't had the "wet cardboard" smell ever, and only once or twice have I come across the "wet dog" smell (except from my pooch) ... most of my tails are a mix of off-mash smells intertwined with a distinct vomit smell. I don't ever want to put that in my mouth ... :puke-huge: I have NEVER been that drunk before to ever want to try it!!

I am, however, curious of trying to look for this:

Dig Brinker wrote:I always collect down to about 20%, with a bubbler the drop from 90-20 can be a matter of a few hundred mills. When tails hit I usually turn off the RC water flow and start collecting in smaller increments. Maybe 100 mls per jar or even less. You will usually (but not always) get the wet dog smell at the start of tails, but that will go away after a while. You won’t want to add all of the tails to your hearts, but a jar or two may hold that special taste you are looking for.

Anything you don’t keep you can add to your next run.