Gin - To cut or not to cut!

[Goldenthroatcharmer]

Hi all
As posted in the welcome centre, I am a potential newcomer to the art of distillation with the main aim of producing reasonable quality gin. Leaving aside the fact that my wife and I go through the stuff like tap water, :obscene-drinkingdrunk: my interest was first aroused after visiting two different craft gin distilleries where you were able to make your own bottle of gin. Both places followed the same procedure - you each had a small pot still that had been charged with neutral spirit and which, I assume from all of my subsequent research, had been watered down to 30 - 40 ABV. You were then able to choose from a large selection of different botanicals which were put directly into the pot and distilled, resulting in 400-500mls of distillate which was then watered back down to give you a full bottle of your own gin.
However, what left me somewhat confused and hoping that someone can enlighten me, is the fact that at one distillery we were told to collect and tip away the first part of the distillate as it was considered 'heads' but the other distillery said that it was not necessary to make any cuts because it would have been done when the initial neutral spirit was produced.
It has to be said that in both cases, whether by luck or judgement, the gin that I ended up with was crystal clear and as good as many commercial craft gins that I have tried.

Hoping for some enlightenment!!

GTC

[scythe]

It all depends on the base spirit used.
If the distillery made their own neutral they might be confident in their cuts vs a place that just bought an industrial IBC from China or something.

We here recommend only using hearts of hearts, only the best of you neutral hearts.
Because you don't want to cut out any of the flavours produced, they come out a different point in the run rather than all mixed together.

[Goldenthroatcharmer]

It all depends on the base spirit used.
If the distillery made their own neutral they might be confident in their cuts vs a place that just bought an industrial IBC from China or something..

Pretty sure that both places would have bought in the neutral spirit, as they were both small concerns and I did not see any evidence of fermentation vessels etc, indicating that they were making their own.

GTC

[wynnum1]

If can safely drink what's used before then the finished product will be safe .

[Tesla101]

Like scythe said, if your using hearts of hearts for your gin run as a base then cuts have already been done.

However! Anything you introduce in your gin run may also bring some un-wanted flavours. Generally, for gin you want to toss your first 10mL/10L as this contains some bitter juniper oils that you do not want in your final product.