Foreshots, heads & Tails.

[mathew11]

Hi everyone,

I have read Kiwi's List about cuts and the above, My question is really?

From 3 x 25L washes

Cut say 150ml per 25L wash as fore shots = 450ml
Cut say 1L per 25L wash as heads = 2-3L
Collect about 2L of hearts

The rest gets thrown back in to the next wash?

So most of you Theoretically only collect from stripped washes, Thats been re distilled in a 50L keg
about 1-2L of hearts? Thats small.


Am I reading this rite? or Do most of you collect more?

[Multipleg]

Don't get hung up over the measurements. Do it by taste.

But, approximately...

If you start with 75 l of wash it will depend on what ABV your wash is at. Somewhere between 5 and 10 percent probably so let's go in the middle and say 7.5%. Then there is 5.625 litres of (100%) alcohol to try to collect.

If you're running a reflux you're probably getting it between 90 and 95%. If you're pot stilling it might average 60% (?). So either way makes the theoretical total more than 5.625 but you aren't going to collect every drop. Refluxing I'd be happy with about 5 1/2 l. And after taking cuts I'd be happy with 2 1/4 l of hearts. YMMV. That would get about 3 l of water to dilute back to drinkable and you're back to over 5 litres of drinking stuff.

But you can't do it with measuring amounts.

[bt1]

From 3 x 30lt washes I'd normally get 4.2 - 4.4lt of collectables at an avg of 80 abv. Your numbers are about right..it's as Multi said about taste,smell,etc. Some experimental washes I'll throw heaps out cos i wouldn't drink it.
Good wash managment, looking after yeasts, yeast selection, temp control etc can push your yields way up and also return better flavours...there's the learning curve we all ride.

bt1