Temp Question?

[emzy]

Great forum and its been helpful as a newby but have one very basic question that i have not found the answer to.

I I have a very basic HBS Reflux still, my understanding is that Ethyl Alcohol starts at 78.3 degrees C. After ditching the first 100ml of my 25L my temp sites at around 77 degress C for some time and i get probably a good 750ml out of it before it creeps to 78 degrees C.

This stuff i am assuming is Ethyl Acetate. Does that mean you dump everything below 78.3 C or is this just classed as the foreshotes and is stafe to drink if mixed into to the product between 78.3 - say 85 dgrees C ?

Thanks for your help

Andrew

[Brendan]

Emzy,

This may not be a very definitive answer...but you are really talking specific boiling points of pure compounds measured in lab conditions...you probably wont see this.

You have a wash of many compounds mixed in together, and they will not perfectly boil at those lab measured temperatures...not to mention that you cannot guarantee your thermometer used at home to that level of accuracy...

The best answer I can probably give you here, is that you need to learn by smell and taste and learn how to dial your senses in, so that you will know with a quick whiff whether it's any good or not :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Foreshots have acetone components which you will smell immediately without any indecision...Heads contain ethyl acetate, which many recognise as a sweet kind of smell with a very harsh bite in the taste...Your hearts will be very clean and only carry a mild but pleasant smell of the base of your wash used (ie. Corn, wheat, tomato paste)...and the tails are recognised by a really nasty, oily smell which i think some people refer to as a wet cardboard or wet dog smell...alot of the stronger flavour compounds from your wash come through here, which is why people tend to add back some of the really early tails into whiskies to add a bit of that character in (which require more ageing to smooth out)...

Hope that helps...unless you're running a commercial distillery, where every wash is identical day in day out, I don't think you can predict your output just by the vapour temperature alone (except maybe on a very effective VM rig).

[emzy]

Brendan,

Thanks for your very informative reply, just one clarification if you dont mind me asking.

The sweet smelling ethyl acetate you referred to, is that something that should be discarded or is it safe?

Thanks again

Andrew

[Brendan]

Brendan,

Thanks for your very informative reply, just one clarification if you dont mind me asking.

The sweet smelling ethyl acetate you referred to, is that something that should be discarded or is it safe?

Thanks again

Andrew

Maybe not discarded, as you can put them into your next spirit run to get some of the ethanol out...but you wont want to drink them...not bad in the way that foreshots are (ie. poisonous), but they will give you a NASTY hangover...think Bundaberg Rum, it's full of that stuff ;-)

[emzy]

Thanks Brendan you have been a great help

Andrew

[SBB]

Emzy, you need to look at the newbies corner, specifically at Kiwis Tutorial on cuts, using your nose and taste buds and learning that by trial and error is the only way to do it.
Using Temperatures or ABV readings to access cut points is really only a very rough guide at best.