Feints

[ginandtonic]

Re Feints.....
when to keep them ?
how to use them ?
is it worth it ? are we potentially contaminating good stuff with bad stuff,
trying to squeeze a bit more alcohol out of our batches ?
My thoughts...
Not worth keeping anything but the hearts from a reflux run ?
I can see the benefit of keeping the heads and tails from a spirit run,
and i'll throw those back into the next reflux run.
Many thanks,
Gin and Tonic

[ginandtonic]

Just to clarify my original question ( up above )
I just re-read it, and it sounds like I could have been offering advice, rather than asking the questions.
Like the questions I ask in the first couple of lines, before I go ahead and attempt to answer them myself.
My bad.

[TheRealMrMessy]

First depends on what you are making, and what still configuration you have (ie its ability to compress heads and tails). Say I'm making neutral. Done all my pot still strips. Spirit run - 60ish litres at 35% or so. 4 plates and packed section and I'll be pulling azeotrope. It's stupid cheap to make - I don't bother with feints.

Making rum or bourbon or anything with a bit more price, effort, complexity etc. behind it? Strip runs, spirit run, more or less the same. 3-4 plates but no packed section. Be pulling around 88-91% depending how much time I have or how impatient I am. Make the tails cut, turn off the RC and run it out as a pot still. Those are the feints I keep. I did 9 rum generations and had an entire boiler of feints to run at the end - got another 5 litres of good stuff (probably the best stuff - definitely was worth it).

Thanks to some post I read here (sorry, forget whose it was) if I want to do a pot still spirit run, I start in reflux mode and use the plates and RC to compress the heads and toss em away, cut the RC and run it out from there as a pot still. Lots of feints to keep after the tails cut there, and more hearts since I was able to limit the heads smear.

I've never kept heads as feints. I pull just as much heads out at the start of a feints run as I put in the feints jar. Why waste the space, time and electricity. Interesting flavours can happen in heads but that's about it.

Actual edit: See you have a pot still. Be more worth you keeping some heads than I as a general rule of thumb, still some good stuff to try and eke out of the pot still smear!

[The Stig]

I recycle all my feints next run of the same style

[RobMichelle]

Yep I run my fients again

[howard]

I recycle all my feints next run of the same style

me too.

i only chuck the fores, usually only 1 x 250ml jars

[GrumbleStill]

I recycle all my feints next run of the same style

Ditto.

Except fore’s - they make real good fire lighter :angry-extinguishflame: