HELP tops,hearts, bottoms

[haziflad]

Hi, Iam new to this hobby and Iam reading as much as possible, please could someone explain tops bottoms and hearts......I have just bought a still air and looking forward to my first run with my wash on the go...

many thanks

Andy

[Easydrinker]

Hi and welcome,
Have a look at this link,it should answer your questions. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=765

Robert.

[rhinus]

Welcome Haz.

The link above is the place to get started. Also make sure to get a copy of Aidan's guide. Follow those instructions and you will be on your way.

Rhinus

[haziflad]

thanks rhinus where do I locate this guide

thanks

andy

[haziflad]

thankyou too easydrinker

[Easydrinker]

thanks rhinus where do I locate this guide

thanks

andy

download/file.php?id=60

That should do it.
Robert.

[John51]

Hi Andy, the airstill is a great little machine.

To give an over simplistic answer to your original question:

Foreshots, aka fores, are the nasty stuff that comes off first when doing a run. Must never be drunk but they are good as a cleaning solvent.

Heads. These come off next. It's not advisable to drink them as your head may pay the price the next morning. Can be tasty though. Almost every commercial spirit has some heads in it.

Hearts. This is the good stuff. aka ethanol, ethyl alcohol or simply 'neutral'. No taste, no distinctive odour, no hangover. Comes out of the still after the heads.

Tails. The last to come from the still. Can really do your guts in. Has a horrible odour akin to manky cardboard. A good way to reduce tails is to turn the still off earlier.

Heads and tails can be recycled sort of. In practice, there is a lot of smearing as the various alcohols come out of a pot still. So a small amount of heads comes with a fair amount of hearts and the recycling is to get those hearts. Some of us find that tails are not worth the effort of recycling.

With the airstill, I found that using a light dimmer as a power controller really improved the spirit run. About half power for the still and run the fan from a separate socket.

Have fun.

[chill]

Hi John,

How long is your spirit run when you are using the light dimmer? It will be longer, but how much longer? Does this reduce the smearing?

Chuck

[John51]

iirc, it's about double the regular time. No never mind in practice as you don't have to babysit it much, just an occasional glance to see how it's doing and with a little experience you can predict when you need to be there.

I found the half power runs to be much better. No real benefit doing the strip run half power though.