SECOND DISTILLATION
CORN WHISKEY EXAMPLE
1600 liters of low wines (4 loads)
75 liters of heads (50 minutes)
900 liters of hearts (6 hours)
set fan and exhaust pipe
FANS
When using the burner keep fans from the ceiling off so CO2 doesn't get pushed down and naturally goes up and out through the sucking conduct.
Keep windows open and horizontal fans on
In whiskey using a classic still, you want the oily flavors but only the light part of it, and to get it you push the distillation hard in the beginning by keeping the temperature relatively high, so they make it through and they will be naturally selected from the heavy oils by volatility (the heavy oils won't come out unless the temperature is really high
Example...
Pour the low wines into the still
Turn on fire
Bring temperature up at a steady speed, not too fast or fusel oils can go through and not too slow or the flavors and light oils won't go through
Temperature in the condenser will go up to 150, if it goes higher turn off the heat. And make sure the cold water is running through it.
Keep an eye on the thermostat that controls the temperature on top of the condenser, keep the condenser hot on top and cool on the bottom. On top a good temperature is 154F
HEADS:
The first thing to come out (at about 170) will be the FORESHOTS which are the most volatile and include ethyl acetate (acetone) and methanol
they smell solventy
The foreshots are about 5% of the product collected during the run (300ml out of 10 gallons) however the bigger is the mash the less percentage of foreshots
The heads are still volatile and taste bitter, [they run for about 20 minutes and collect about 45 liters (update with precise info)]
As you get close to the hearts flavor and less volatility comes in, then there's another wave of bitterness, and then you are into the hearts
HEARTS:
temperature is around 170
proof should be around 144 [check and update}
the temperature goes up and the alcohol volume goes down
the taste becomes sweet and flavorful, with a different kind of volatility
The hearts are about 15% of the mash and run for 3-4 hours [check and update}
TAILS:
starts at about 120 proof[check and update] and lasts 4-5 hours
as you get into the tails the flavors fade away and the alcohol has a more water down and unpleasant taste
7:00
Start the still
7:10
80F
7:55
110F
8:10
120F
8:40
160F
8:50
170F distillation begins
9:40
177F heads cut at 170 proof
3:00
tail cut at 120proof
when ready to open the still to dump, turn the fan off and the exhaust pipe on
Notes
Differentiate the carbons
ETHANOL
ETHYL ACETATE
METHANOL
FUSEL OILS
FORESHOTS