OnTap Magazine

32 | Winter 2020 | ontapmag.co.za AGAINST THE GRAIN FORESHOTS HEADS HEARTS TAILS POT RUN upwards of 90% alcohol, but for a pot still, the avours of the liquor are impacted by the quality of the wash. O - avour compounds, such as aldehydes (which produce avours like green or red apples in beer) will also be distilled (they’re called congeners in distilling language). Of course, you can re-distil the liquor until it is almost avourless, but much like homebrewing we are doing this for the quality rather than the alcohol content, and respect for the product should still be shown. For the sake of time, using a high-pressure burner is the best way to heat up your wash as THE FRACTIONS OF DISTILLING FORESHOTS The first 5-10% of the distillate. Comprised mostly of methanol and harmful compounds. Cloudy appearance and smells like acetone (nail polish remover). Vapour temperature of around 50-70°C. HEADS Comprised of acetone, methanol, esters such as ethyl-acetate and ethanol. Clearer than the foreshots, but smells like solvent and will have a harsh flavour. Vapour temperature of around 70-76°C. HEARTS Cleanest fraction with highest percentage of ethanol. Clean, somewhat sweet taste and not harsh. Vapour temperature of around 78-82°C. TAILS Contains fusel alcohols as well as some ethanol and congeners. Smells like wet dog or wet cardboard and becomes oily and cloudy. Vapour temperature of 83-95°C. quickly as possible. e condenser only needs to be started when the vapour temperature reaches around 70°C. Ethanol, which is the alcohol we want, only boils around 78.2°C, but this is for pure ethanol. Water, of course, boils at 100°C, but because the wash contains some alcohol (probably around 5% if distilling beer, but all the way up to 40% if doing a second distillation), the boiling point will be somewhere between these two temperatures. For a wash of 7% beer, you can expect the ethanol boiling point to be closer to 94°C. However, prior to this, methanol (which is toxic and can be fatal if consumed) and a lot of other harmful compounds will reach their boiling point and will make up the rst runnings out of the still. THE ART OF DISTILLING e art of distilling is actually in the cuts. is refers to cutting the distilled alcohol into di erent batches, separating what is known as the foreshots, heads, hearts, and tails . e rst runnings are known as the foreshots and contain methanol and other harmful compounds. e foreshots should always be discarded. When you hear of people going blind or dying from drinking home-distilled liquor, it is largely because they ingested large quantities of foreshots. If you have a thermometer in your still, you can monitor the vapour temperature to know when to make the cuts. Before ethanol starts to boil, you’ll extract other volatile alcohols and congeners, known as the heads. e heads, when mixed with the hearts, help to give some spirts, such as whisky, their avour and body, but would be unsuitable for gin or vodka as these require a more neutral spirit. While a thermometer is helpful, the art of distilling actually takes place through your senses. When trying to determine the cuts, you can smell, taste and see how the liquor goes from a cloudy substance reminiscent of nail polish remover, to a very clear, almost sweet liquor. When you reach the hearts, the harshness will have passed, leaving a more neutral avour. As you continue to distil, the alcohol will again take on more avour and harshness and become cloudy – these are the tails. Being able to do cuts early and get more pure ethanol (the hearts) is a real skill, and relies on a keen palate. BLENDING YOUR PRODUCT After your spirit run, with a 40-litre wash of around 5% ABV, you can expect to extract about 4-5 litres of alcohol at the end. Your extraction of pure hearts (ethanol) will be roughly a third of this amount, and there will still be ethanol present in the heads and tails. It also helps to leave the distilled alcohol uncovered (though with a cheesecloth to stop insects coming for a sip) to allow some of the volatile components to evaporate. e heads and tails can be added to your next distilling session to increase the alcohol of the wash, giving more ethanol to extract. Once you’re a more accomplished distiller, you can also dabble in the art of blending, particularly if you plan to make whiskey. Much like making the cuts, blending is what separates the pros from the amateurs. It takes years to learn the skills to blend the right amount of heads and tails with the hearts and to pair the results with the perfect barrel to create an amazing whiskey. A HOBBY OF ENDLESS OPTIONS Much like brewing, the amazing thing about distilling is that your options are pretty much endless. Di erent washes through your pot still will deliver di erent avours, and allow you to make di erent spirits such as rum, cachaça or mampoer. Di erent blends will also give you di erent avours, and when added to a barrel – be it rst, second or third ll – will also give you new variables and new avours. And for those who already brew beer, you’re half way there to starting another hobby that will inevitably take over your kitchen, your garage and your social life! STRIPPING RUNS Stripping runs are distillations where there are no cuts, other than foreshots. You run the still hard and fast, collecting all of the liquor in one container. You can expect to recover about 20% of your wash (ending around 98°C or when ABV reaches 20%), so a 50-litre wash would recover about 10 litres of alcohol, which is now called low wine. This low wine can be collected until you have enough for a second distillation, which would be slower and with cuts. Doing a stripping run first results in a smoother end product.