Nicola

Hi bluefish_dist and thanks for your suggestions. You said that I have to "collect my run in a minimum of 10 jars", but to be honest I have no idea of how much product will cum out from my distillation so I don't know when I have to switch from a jar to the other. Considering that I have a 4 gallons wash (I lost 1 gallon with wort separation from the initial 5 gallons) how much distillate do you expect that I'll obtain? Regarding instead my second question, what do you think: is it mandatory to make a double distillation, or can I run only one distillation making the cuts and put my moonshine in the jars as final product? (and dilute it if necessary) Thanks again for your help!

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and I'm new to distillation so, first of all I want to say thanks to every one for the help, and sorry for the (maybe) stupid questions. I write from Italy (sorry for my bad english) and I have to say that it is very difficult for me to find some info on moonshine distillation seen that in my country grappa is the only traditional distillate. Last week I prepared my first 5 gallons mash (20l) with 7.7 pounds corn (3.5Kg) and 2.2 pounds malted barley (1Kg) and I'm now waiting the end of the fermentation. For the distillation I'll use a 2.5 gallons (10l) pot still so I'll have to distillate my wash in 2 rounds. Searching on internet I found a lot of information on how to make cuts, but the topic is still not very clear to me. Someone base his cuts on distillate ABV, some others on the temperature, some others on both so my question is: Can I base my cuts only on temperatures of the vapours? If yes, at which temperature should I make the cuts for foreshots, heads, heart and tails? My idea is: - discard everything below 181°F (83°C) as foreshots - collect everything between 181°F and 190°F (88°C) as heads in different jars and then decide if discard everything or if mix something with the heart - collect everything between 190°F and 203°F (95°C) as heart in different jars and then decide if keep everything or discard something - collect everything between 203°F and 212°F (100°C) as tails Can it be correct? Another question is: Is it mandatory to make a double distillation, or can I run only one distillation making the cuts and put my moonshine in the jars as final product? Thanks again for your help!