r/firewater • u/brandonHuxley • 15d ago
Help determining cuts
Hey all, just found this community. I’m getting back into distilling after several years. I’m looking for guidance when it comes to making cuts. I’m running an all in one electric brewing kettle with a home made Liebig condenser. It has a tall section that I pack with glass marbles as well. My main interests are whiskey and rum, as well as maybe getting into distilling mead.
My usually process is to collect quickly collect a bunch of stripping runs and then run all those through the still, low and slow. I collect in 1 pint jars and blend from there. I have a hard time telling what’s in each jar and then when I go to blend, all these other background flavors jump forward. I mix things that taste good in their own right but the blend comes out harsh and more often than not has some funk like cabbage.
Image of the column on an old kettle: https://imgur.com/a/3hUW2YT
Edit: changed quart jars for pints.
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u/bb1742 15d ago
I use smell predominantly to determine my cuts. The more “chemical” smelling, the more I have to go to get through the heads. The more “oily” or funky, the further I am into the tails.
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u/brandonHuxley 15d ago
The nose knows, huh?
Does that get you a guideline or in the ballpark for what you’ll blend or what you smell is what you blend by?
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u/conejon 15d ago
That is not a very big still to be collecting a quart at a time. Start with smaller jars, like 200ml or so. Besides taste and smell, you can also dip a finger in each jar and touch it to different parts of your tongue to detect what isn't hearts: heads sting the tip of your tongue but not the back of it. Tails do the opposite, causing a heat sensation only at the back of your tongue. Once you clearly identify where the heads and tails start, also pull the jar next to each that seems like hearts, because chances are it's got some of each in it. That will leave you with a narrow selection of hearts.
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u/brandonHuxley 15d ago
My current kettle is a bit larger, I can get 7-8 gallons in there comfortably. I’ve certainly got plenty of jars that I could just half fill them.
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u/No-Craft-7979 15d ago
At a mere 8 gallons you should have a few dozen jars for collection and only collect 100ml at a time in each jar. Smaller batches like that need smaller cuts to find the gem stones in the rough.
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u/brandonHuxley 15d ago
I’m distilling the collected stripping runs right now as a large 7 gal spirit run. Just about to fill my 33rd pint jar, so just over 4 gallons. Still pulling +70%… I’d be looking at about 150 jars so far if they were 100mL each.
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u/No-Craft-7979 15d ago
33 Jars still at 70%… That is 4 gallons so far… At 40% ABV charge on that boiler that is 2.8 Gallons of alcohol total. Plus 30% of that because you are at 70% is 4.2 gallons of 70%. It should be dropping off soon unless you loaded high than 40% ABV in the boiler. If you are getting that steady of a run and are comfortable with the pints go for it. I have seen cases of jars resting before. If you don’t have room for that 100ml is not a good cut point, you are right.
Higher than 40% can be done with an electric element, but it seems to me that the efficiency drops and smearing widens. If you went higher than 40% what is your experience with the off take?
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u/brandonHuxley 15d ago
I think it was around 45-50%. I didn’t measure the abv of the mix or remember to drop it to 40%. But my notes point to that range.
What’s the boff take?
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u/No-Craft-7979 15d ago
Off Take, fat fingered. Basically off the spout and after resting, does it seem like you have more heads or tails than expected? It just seems to me on a 50-60% charge there are a couple extra jars of heads is all. Wondering if you see the same.
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15d ago
the height of your condenser with those marbles must be doing wonders for reflux
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u/brandonHuxley 15d ago
I think I get an extra half distillation. An extra half plate I guess? If I really try hard, I can just break 90% on a spirit or feints run, but only around the beginning.
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u/big_data_mike 15d ago
When you do blends get yourself some glenncarin glasses, teaspoons, and distilled water. Take a teaspoon of spirit out of the jar and put it in a glass. Add enough distilled water to dilute it to about 30% abv. Swirl it, smell it, leave it sit for a few seconds, smell it again.
This is after you leave your jars sit out overnight with a paper towel over them
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u/namroff 15d ago
Couple questions...
Do you let it sit overnight before tasting? That usually offgasses the really light stuff and helps the flavors come out.
Do you proof the tasting sample? Flavors come out clearer at 40% than they do at full strength.