Heads and stuff

[TBird61]

A complete idiot question I'm sure but:

If I ferment some wine I can drink it once it's clear; however if I distil it I have to remove the foreshots and heads otherwise I end up not well. Surely in one glass of wine there would be about the same amount of rubbish as in one measure of the raw distilled product. Am I right there and if so why does the distilled version make you ill?

Just curious, I have no wish to drink heads or anything :o

Christine

[Georgio]

The concentration of heads after being distilled increases, making it much more potent. That's why it should be omitted for the best part. It also tastes like shite.

[woodduck]

Read the thread on cuts and it will explain better than I can about how distilling separates the different fractions. When you do cuts you can take out all those nasties in the heads that cause the hangover.

[TBird61]

Thanks, I've read the thread on cut but that's not what I was asking.

My point was in an uncut distillation, taste aside, I would have the same volume of nasties unit for unit as in wine but wine won't make me ill but the concentrated will apparently. I have absolutely no intention of drinking like that, just curious

[bluc]

Simple really, not accurate amounts but say 5l wine at 15% has 20ml methanol from memory enough to fry 4 people but you have to drink 5l of wine to consume all of the methanol it. After distalltion you have 500ml easily drinkable and contains all the methanol of the 5l..

[TBird61]

Thanks :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So if I drank 3 glasses of wine, it would have the same affect as say 3 rum and cokes? It's only hammering the stuff that would make you ill?

Just curious that's all, I would rather play safe and get a better product than try to get an extra bottle and end up with a bad tasting drink, not that I have the skills to make a good tasting drink yet :))

[bluc]

Thanks :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So if I drank 3 glasses of wine, it would have the same affect as say 3 rum and cokes? It's only hammering the stuff that would make you ill?

Just curious that's all, I would rather play safe and get a better product than try to get an extra bottle and end up with a bad tasting drink, not that I have the skills to make a good tasting drink yet :))

Depends on size of wine glass..and how much spirit is in rum and coke. But if you condense 5l wine into x amount of spirit and dont remove fores/heads then drink it all your asking for trouble... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Basically if you distill 10 bottles of wine and you get 1 bottle of spirit and then you drink that 1 bottle of spirit you have effectively drank 10 bottles of wine.

I know blokes who can drink 1 bottle of spirit in a sitting but never heard of someone drinking 10 bottles of wine.

Also wine being made from fruit has a higher percentage of trace methanol. Wine makers don’t have the same capability to extract this as distillers have.

For a fun home test one night drink a heap of wine only and see how you feel the next day and then another drink only the hearts of a good nuetrel and see how you feel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Georgio]

10 bottles of vino......sounds like hangover hell :obscene-drinkingdrunk: :puke-huge:

[db1979]

You're correct, the same amount of methanol, acetone and other chemicals will be present in the original wine as in the final uncut distillate, if cuts aren't taken. What's essentially happened is water and some other high boiling point chemicals have been removed (left in the boiler). As has already been said, you could drink all of it (without cuts) but you'd likely not be doing your body any favours.

If taking cuts, you have the opportunity to remove undesirable chemicals. One of the biggest dangers in distilling is taking cuts and then drinking from the wrong cuts. You could probably have a night on tails and heads and, after your hangover-to-end-all-hangovers, never do it again (you'd probably need your stomach pumped too). You could have a night on foreshots and it would be the last thing you do. You could have a night on top quality hearts and feel great the next day.

This is a great hobby but it requires a lot of information to do it safely.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if anyone actually tests out the ideas presented in this post. :snooty: :naughty: :wtf:

[TBird61]

On the subject of foreshots, I used the last lot from my McRum's stripping run to remove my UV cured gel nail varnish which I usually do with a 25 minute soak in acetone :o

[Sam.]

On the subject of foreshots, I used the last lot from my McRum's stripping run to remove my UV cured gel nail varnish which I usually do with a 25 minute soak in acetone :o

Very good example why you don't want to ingest it!

[scythe]

Thought experiment time:
I guess technically if the commercial distiller does some form of cuts even if very broad, only ditching foreshots, and then mixing it all back together (like how some instructions tell you to run), then there will be less methanol in a standard drink of spirits Vs a standard drink of wine.

From a wash perspective i would think there was less methanol in a grain wash than a grape wash of equal volumes.

It wont be that tasty, which is why we recommend taking the time to do cuts.

Methanol is not the only nasty thing in the mix either, fussel oils (in tails) are not good for you long term either.