Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hello Forum friends.... my first post here.

Just distilled my first 25L TPW to the birdwatchers recipe. Pitched at 28 degrees celcius where it stayed for a couple of days then slowly went down to 24 degrees IT got to FG 990 in 5 days. Was 12percent ABV. Was cloudy light pink when it went into the boiler. Did not degas. Made on a T500 SS Reflux still. Alcohol was pouring out at 43degrees C. It was closer to 55 with the turbo sugars last time. I found the taste of the heads to be not much different to the hearts, is this usual? I feel I could mix some of the heads in with the hearts and it wouldnt change the taste too much... does anyone do or recommend this?

The tails smelt and tasted very ordinary....bye bye

I am quite happy with the flavour of the hearts, reasonably neutral though not 100%... there is some kind of flavour but its hard to describe...there is a definite sweetness to it...I'll let it sit overnight with the lids off and test the cuts tomorrow....

Cheers,

Pisshead

Gday pisshead, I moved your post to the welcome centre as it’s your first post, so you can use this thread to ask any questions.
As you already said, wait till 24 hrs to pick your cuts, the distinction between heads/ hearts/ tails will be clearer.
If in doubt, do harsh cuts, especially on heads.
You can always add the cut jars that didn’t make it into your feints and add to the next run :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks Doubleuj,

So I checked the cuts today and got the same result. Throwing the tails away and mixing the heads and hearts as there is minimal difference in taste.

I decided to Carbon filter some and try it against the unfiltered batch. To me the difference is huge. The carbon filtered batch is not quite as sweet and is a lot smoother. I have had this opinion seconded by a friend doing a blindfold test.

I am now about to make a spiced pear Vodka.

2 pears sliced, peeled and cored
4 Cloves
1 small cinimon stick

I'll let this sit for a week or so.

This sounds interesting let us know how it turns out. I love pears, which ones did you use or are going to use?

Regards,
Nino

Hey there Nino,

The first one on this page http://rediscoverthepear.com.au/which-pear-to-pick/

Though I dont think it'd really matter....

I made my own Countreau a few weeks ago... that was really tasty....

orange peels (no white pith as it is too bitter)
Star anise
cloves
cinnamon stick
vanilla stick
sugar
soakk for 7 days

yum

How many cloves in your cointreu?

Hi bluc,

I only put a 3 or 4 cloves in a 750ml. It is my preference as I dont like too strong a clove taste... just a hint is fine.

Rind of 2 oranges

1/3 of a vanilla bean (they are expensive)

a couple of star anise

some sugar syrup to personal taste

regards,

pisshead

OK.... I have just added 5ml of glycerine to the clear (1litre) aswell.... this seems to smooth out the pear vodka nicely.

Does anyone else out there add glycerine or similar to their clear?

Sometimes depends on what i am after

pisshead wrote:Hello Forum friends.... my first post here.

Just distilled my first 25L TPW to the birdwatchers recipe. Pitched at 28 degrees celcius where it stayed for a couple of days then slowly went down to 24 degrees IT got to FG 990 in 5 days. Was 12percent ABV. Was cloudy light pink when it went into the boiler. Did not degas. Made on a T500 SS Reflux still. Alcohol was pouring out at 43degrees C. It was closer to 55 with the turbo sugars last time. I found the taste of the heads to be not much different to the hearts, is this usual? I feel I could mix some of the heads in with the hearts and it wouldnt change the taste too much... does anyone do or recommend this?

The tails smelt and tasted very ordinary....bye bye

I am quite happy with the flavour of the hearts, reasonably neutral though not 100%... there is some kind of flavour but its hard to describe...there is a definite sweetness to it...I'll let it sit overnight with the lids off and test the cuts tomorrow....

Cheers,

Pisshead

G'day Pisshead. A trap for young players is mixing your heads (Heads = hangovers) with your hearts. We make this booze so cheeply that I chuck out all my heads and only keep the occasional tails (keep them both for a feints run), and I don't get hangovers and my mates love my booze. I learnt the hard way too...

You'll get used to smelling the difference between heads and hearts. Hearts and tails transition is easy to spot but heads to hearts can be tricky. I've found that taste can be a bit useful but smell is the best way to go.

db1979 wrote:You'll get used to smelling the difference between heads and hearts. Hearts and tails transition is easy to spot but heads to hearts can be tricky. I've found that taste can be a bit useful but smell is the best way to go.

:text-+1: on smell for heads-hearts, get your nose in as far as you can handle it and take a deep slow breath in with your mouth open. I find a world of difference with my mouth open while I sniff than closed.

db1979 wrote:You'll get used to smelling the difference between heads and hearts. Hearts and tails transition is easy to spot but heads to hearts can be tricky. I've found that taste can be a bit useful but smell is the best way to go.

:text-+1: Smell works soo much better than taste for heads for me

tipsy wrote:

db1979 wrote:You'll get used to smelling the difference between heads and hearts. Hearts and tails transition is easy to spot but heads to hearts can be tricky. I've found that taste can be a bit useful but smell is the best way to go.

:text-+1: Smell works soo much better than taste for heads for me

I'm the opposite, if it hits my lips I know if its heads or tails or a ratio inbitween :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I've always been a smell man myself. But recently after reading a post somewhere about the different places on your tounge you get that "burning sensation" from straight spirits has made me try tasting and I think it works, I haven't perfected it yet but I'm gonna have a good crack. They say heads will burn the front of your tounge where hearts will burn the back of your tounge. It's worth a try, may work for you, may not. To start with I suggest cut hard and make sure you are drinking just the good stuff. Remember it's not wasted because you can put them in the boiler with the next run to get a bit more out of them :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Good luck

Woodduck, sounds like the old idea of the "tongue map", where different areas of the tongue pick up different tastes... It found its way into a textbook, which was then copied by other textbooks and subsequently was taught for generations as truth. Turns out it's rubbish. Some people may have different taste receptors (taste buds) for different flavours concentrated in different areas of their tongue but everyone is different and most people don't notice any difference in flavour across their tongue. It's funny how old ideas sometimes die hard. I myself taught this as fact for a number of years but never really questioned it when my students experimented and never reproduced the "correct" results.

Anyway, I use taste to supplement smell and have also found a sharp taste from heads. Often smell is all I need, but more and more lately I've been backing it up with taste. The more info you have the better. And like Sam said, the lips do tend to burn a bit with heads. But everyone is different.

Well I'll be buggered, never knew that. So we don't taste sweet in one spot and sour in another? Well there ya go. Sounds like the nose will still be my biggest asset then :handgestures-thumbupleft:

woodduck wrote:I've always been a smell man myself. But recently after reading a post somewhere about the different places on your tounge you get that "burning sensation" from straight spirits has made me try tasting and I think it works, I haven't perfected it yet but I'm gonna have a good crack. They say heads will burn the front of your tounge where hearts will burn the back of your tounge. It's worth a try, may work for you, may not. To start with I suggest cut hard and make sure you are drinking just the good stuff. Remember it's not wasted because you can put them in the boiler with the next run to get a bit more out of them :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Good luck

This is how I distinguish my heads. I find Heads to be prickly on the tongue where as hearts is not at all prickly - both tend to warm up the mouth... but now that you mention this, I, Too will keep an eye out for it! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

pisshead wrote:Hello Forum friends.... IT got to FG 990 in 5 days.

Haha yep she's well and truly done!

pisshead wrote:... Was cloudy light pink when it went into the boiler.

Leaving it for a while longer will clean this up to become a clear, slightly Pinkish watery consistency. It will have an effect on the outcome of your final product, so, once you've built up some drinking stock, allow the ferment to settle out for a week or 2; you won't regret it! And it'll need less filtering, too.

pisshead wrote:... I found the taste of the heads to be not much different to the hearts, is this usual? I feel I could mix some of the heads in with the hearts and it wouldnt change the taste too much... does anyone do or recommend this?

They will initially smell and taste very similar. Took me ages to figure out the where to split the cuts... but in the end, you pay bugger all for this grog, why drink shyte?
Mixing Heads into hearts (and sometimes tails) is a well know commercial practice, after all they're in it to make money and that just gives it more volume to sell! BUT it can also add something special to the flavour of your end product ... something you don't want for a neutral (aka Vodka style drink like TPW)..

Stick with it and you will find more ways to enjoy this hobby, many many more ways ...

Good luck, ask heaps of questions!

When I said hit my lips I meant as soon as I can taste it, don't care where on the pallete the sensation is but the flavour will tell me straight away what it is.

If it's strong heads or tails I will pick it up on the nose but the finer cuts I need to taste, I guess my taste is better than smell in that way :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So much for those $100 each wine glasses dedicated to landing different varieties to different parts of the mouth....