Heads run?

[mozr]

I am near on 2 litres of 2nd run 80% heads in a jar.

Should I just dilute to 40% and run it?

What would I expect to collect?

Can I use tails to dilute, or is filtered water better?

Cheers,

Moz.

[Capt-Cudellez]

I find tails collected from a column rather than a pot are already really concentrated and don't really clean up all that well by redistilling.
Doing a heads only run, can produce some very clean neutral product - diluting the charge lower than normal (I run at 30%) seem to work better for me.

I'd keep it just as just heads and run it slow- can't comment as to what you'll collect as its been a while since i did a run like that and I'm a bad note taker. The return is quite good if i remember, and no tails to boot.

Let me know how you get on, as I nearly have a 30l keg full of 60% that I'll be running come the spring, so would be good to compare results.

[mozr]

Hi Captain

I'm using an air still.

My heads are 75%, not the 80% I had in my head.

I will water down to 30% and run it.

So... no foreshots,heads or tails then?!

I can just collect 100mls at a time and keep the decent spirit (above 60% ABV)?

That sounds brilliant.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Ah, I thought you had a T500, I don't know about an air still -

You wont get any fores as these should already have been removed - you will get some heads - and some hearts - but no real tails if the still is charged with only heads.
When running heads through a column I suggest a long equalisation to get good separation on the heads and hearts
I would normally run heads with the column -or add to future spirit runs with new wash\strip when pot stilling - I have never done an all heads run on a pot still so let me know how it works out.

[mozr]

I got round to doing the heads run on Monday.

Results.

50ml - Foreshots
100ml - 78%
100ml - 77%
100ml - 76%
100ml - 75%
100ml - 73%
100ml - 71%
100ml - 70%
100ml - 68%
100ml - 67%
100ml - 64%
100ml - 61%
100ml - 55%

I left the lot in wine glasses overnight. 24 hours later I discarded the foreshots and the first 100ml after (they both stunk). The rest smelt quite clean, especially 500ml in the middle (good hearts).

I collected the lot watered down to 40% creating just over 1.5 litres of spirit, and carbon filtered it and it smelt and tasted just as good as the vodka star I have just done.

So all in all I would say for those that double distill (strip and spirit runs) collect those heads as you get a nice little present every few washes.

Moz.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Nice one mozr, the first time I got a result like that it really sunk in that making good cuts from the spirit run, rather than trying to squeeze every drop out of a run, isn't wasting anything - if you save it up, you get at the good stuff eventually.

When running the column I only save heads, and feints, to be run at a later date, the tails are so concentrated it's not worth sweating it (in my opinion)
When running the pot for flavoured spirit- I save everything - it all goes back in with the next batch of the same wash - boosts the flavour - and you don't end up with any more volume of heads or faints than doing a single run - just like the whisky guys do - again, no "waste", as long as you have the storage it will all come good in the end.

My last heads only run, resulted in some really nice neutral.

CC

[mozr]

I have just completed another very successful heads run, gaining 1.7 litres of 40% spirit.

I left it to air for a day, then another night after diluting.

IT SMELLS LIKE RUM!

Really nice rummy smell of it. I have smelt tested with a bottle of Bacardi and I can't tell the difference.

I haven't carbon filtered it yet.

I know how rum is made, but never got this smell off my fermented processed sugar.

Strange indeed.

[rhinus]

So I've collected 2l of heads following the double distillation guides and am now interested in doing a heads run. I am planning to take Chill's advice of adding some baking soda in order to gain more clean spirits but am wondering if I should collect the entire run in 100ml jars or if there is any recommended amount that I should immediately set aside as heads. I plan on carbon filtering but am scared that this run will have much more heads than normal and I don't want to create headache juice. For people doing heads runs in airstills, about how much good hearts are you collecting before dilution on average?

Rhinus

[Almanac]

On the heads run I always dilute the Heads to 30% because this lower strength aides ethanol separation and makes the detection of the Heads cut much easier.

You will have a bigger amount of Heads but this shouldn't concern you, it's definitely worth doing.

Seeking to detect the Fores/Heads cut is unnecessary as you will simply run the distillate until you detect the begininning of the Hearts cut. Everything collected as Fores/Heads should be disposed of as it's not suitable for further recycling

Similarly, at the end of the Hearts cut there is no point collecting after the end of the Hearts is detected and whatever is left gets chucked down the drain.

A Heads run is a good place to educate your palate to detect the changes from one fraction to the next but you must be careful to follow the accepted procedure for tasting 'live' distillate straight off the still.
Dilute - use an eye dropper to mix equal amounts of distillate and clean warm water on a spoon
Smell - very early and very late samples will be detectable by smell and won't need to be tasted
Taste - once the diluted sample smells OK you should taste it and let it make contact above and below your tongue so your taste buds get a good look at it.
Spit - DO NOT swallow the samples they will affect your ability to detect changes in the samples
Rinse - always rinse your mouth and taste buds a couple of times with clean, cool water after each sample tasting.

With Heads there really are no pre-set points for cuts. It all depends on what's in the Heads in the first place. Having said that, you can safely discard the first 250ml as unusable Heads etc., and start live testing after that or you can collecting everything, after the initial 250ml, in small batches, say 100ml and test them after they've had a period open to air to allow volatiles to evaporate.

AM

[Spirits4BB]

Great thread, I'll be doing my own 1st Heads run soon.... Happy Days.

[Icefever]

Well done John it's all starting to make sense now....and very rewarding don't you think??

[Easydrinker]

Wowee do I love it when an old thread gets new life!
I personally love a heads run for the amount of fire/BBQ lighting fluid that it provides,but the amount of drinkable hearts is not to be sneezed at.
When you are at the stage of doing a heads run,you have already produced much that is good,and so various milestones are passed.
IMHO get one of these under your belt,and then you can claim to be an experienced distiller.

Robert.

[packapoo]

Thanks Robert.
Slow learner, just realised the significance of this.

[Spirits4BB]

Well done John it's all starting to make sense now....and very rewarding don't you think??

I really enjoy the thrill of it all, trouble is I've lost a little interest in brewing beer at the moment...

But on the plus side by drinking my spirits I'm not shitting through the eye of a needle on a morning after a sesh on real ale and being bloated blaming bread. lol

S4BB

[Icefever]

...I know what you mean John, I lost my Mojo for brewing beer back in 2014...now I have my BM it's back. I'm looking forward to the day I've got the balls to run the still along side the BM brewing.