heads ?

[ninja_geezer]

what do you all do with your heads collected from a spirit run ?
do you save them all up until you have enough for a heads only run ?
or do you dump some back in before hand.

[Mash]

I use them for all sorts - BBQ lighter- cleaning fluid etc

[H12rpo]

The jars I don’t add back into my collected hearts, I put in the feints jar to add next spirit run

Foreshots are a differ3nt matter.....use for lighting the chiminea and bbq

[ninja_geezer]

The jars I don’t add back into my collected hearts, I put in the feints jar to add next spirit run

Foreshots are a differ3nt matter.....use for lighting the chiminea and bbq

Ok so your heads collected from your last sprit run you put back into your next spirit run ?
do you add it to your stripped, then dilute it all down to 30% ?

[Myles]

It depends really.

If they have been collected on a pot still run, then they can be blended back into subsequent strip runs.

However, if they have been collected at high reflux ratios on a packed column, then they will be so concentrated that they are not of much use except as solvent.

[Pyro]

Heads and tails are collected together and fed back into the next spirit run along with a litre of water and then topped up with strippings

[ninja_geezer]

It depends really.

If they have been collected on a pot still run, then they can be blended back into subsequent strip runs.

However, if they have been collected at high reflux ratios on a packed column, then they will be so concentrated that they are not of much use except as solvent.

Collected from the t500 column .

[H12rpo]

The jars I don’t add back into my collected hearts, I put in the feints jar to add next spirit run

Foreshots are a differ3nt matter.....use for lighting the chiminea and bbq

Ok so your heads collected from your last sprit run you put back into your next spirit run ?
do you add it to your stripped, then dilute it all down to 30% ?

Yes

Although I see you are doing stripping and spirit runs with aT500 column...I can’t say I’ve done that. When I use the T500 column I can’t distinguish any heads from hearts ........can you say quite how you are separating them?

[Brewhunter]

These days if making neutral I strip with a pothead then spirit run on the column, previously I would do both on the column.
Either way distiquishing between cuts is done easily with taste and smell.

I save heads and once I have around 7 litres @ 90%I will run them and usually achieve about two ltrs of 40% (once cut and diluted) neutral.

[ninja_geezer]

The jars I don’t add back into my collected hearts, I put in the feints jar to add next spirit run

Foreshots are a differ3nt matter.....use for lighting the chiminea and bbq

Ok so your heads collected from your last sprit run you put back into your next spirit run ?
do you add it to your stripped, then dilute it all down to 30% ?

Yes

Although I see you are doing stripping and spirit runs with aT500 column...I can’t say I’ve done that. When I use the T500 column I can’t distinguish any heads from hearts ........can you say quite how you are separating them?

no i strip using alembic dome first then use the T500 for the spirit run..

[ninja_geezer]

i strip using the alembic dome then spirit run with the T500 column,
i collect all the spirit run in 200ml jars after dumping the first 100ml .
i can then tell by smell how many of the jars to keep and how many to put aside as heads.i really wanted to know if it was worth collecting heads until i had enough to do a heads run.

[Maker]

I used to bin it all, well use it for lighting things, but now I separate the first few glasses off that smell of strong heads (300-400ml) for burning and keep the next glasses until I can't smell heads anymore, I keep a keen nose on the outlet as soon as the temp goes over about 80 the tails start to sneak in so I collect about 400ml more and switch off.
So to sum up on a sugar wash for neutral I now keep about 700ml to recycle that don't smell too bad, I've not got enough for a run yet but expect a reasonable return or I'll get bored waiting/need the demijohn and lob it in with some strip and never know...

The reason I have adopted this new regime was to try to avoid buggering up another batch of product, I leave the obvious glasses out to air overnight and I was reasonably sure my cuts that were selected as good were right but next morning realised I now had a gallon of heads infected product, a lesson was learned...

[Easydrinker]

These days if making neutral I strip with a pothead then spirit run on the column, previously I would do both on the column.
Either way distiquishing between cuts is done easily with taste and smell.

I save heads and once I have around 7 litres @ 90%I will run them and usually achieve about two ltrs of 40% (once cut and diluted) neutral.

no i strip using alembic dome first then use the T500 for the spirit run..


He says pyjamas, you say pajamas.
It is close enough for Jazz.
Just do it.

See what you get.

This is a hands on hobby, and not a push the right button on someone else's say so site.
Folk here try to help, but sometimes you have to read between the lines and maybe experiment a little.
We like to help, but it takes some input from you.

Robert.

[H12rpo]

I wonder if you stripped with the column the spirit run with the pothead would you be able to distinguish heads from hearts Just a thought....it’s late and I just got back home from a gig so having a quick few fat fingers

[Thunderbird]

I haven't been around on the forum for a while but have recently got the alembic setup for my T500. I was going to do what I normally do for making gin except, instead of using the Airstill for the gin run use the alembic.

I was planning on doing as usual, stripping and spirit run using the reflux column to get a good neutral and then swapping over to the alembic/pot still for the gin run. I figured that the reflux gives me a good neutral and the alembic will allow me to make better cuts in a shorter time than the air still does.

Brewhunter why do you say "These days if making neutral I strip with a pothead then spirit run on the column, previously I would do both on the column. Either way distiquishing between cuts is done easily with taste and smell,"?

What is the advantage of a stripping run using the pot still? I thought the object was to get as much alcohol as possible out on the first run, then with the spirit run, make the cuts and then all is all good to go with the gin run with no cuts?

I've just been saving my heads (I don't seem to get any tails with the T500 or if there are any I can't identify them) and then just add them into the next stripping run.

So far I haven't been disappointed with any gin I've made (neither have my gin loving friends) and the only PITA is the slowness of doing a full gin run with the Airstill even though the results are excellent. I'm just curious as to why strip using a pot still if it's a neutral we're after, or am I reading the post wrong?