reusing feints

[adamOVD]

Any opinions on how many "generations" you reuse your feints before the fusel oils start to over accumulate and you dump them or reprocess them into  a vodka or something. Alternatively do you find doing a hydro separation or shallow tails cut every once in a while is enough.

Realize it's gonna be pretty dependent on the desired product and equipment, just looking for a very broad opinion if you've tried different things and prefer a certain method. Thanks.

[bluestar]

For our whiskey feints, it is about half a dozen times.

[PeteB]

For Rye Whisky, I have re-cycled all feints for almost 8 years.

Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2019 just scored one of my Rye's 95.5  and another 95, they would have almost 5 years of feints re-cycled.

[Bier Distillery]

2 hours ago, PeteB said:

For Rye Whisky, I have re-cycled all feints for almost 8 years.

Including foreshots and heads?

[adamOVD]

6 hours ago, PeteB said:

For Rye Whisky, I have re-cycled all feints for almost 8 years.

Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2019 just scored one of my Rye's 95.5  and another 95, they would have almost 5 years of feints re-cycled.

That's awesome. Congrats. By saying "all feints", i assume you don't do hydro separation on them? How deep do you go into your tails?

I realize you may need to protect your trade secrets now that you are hot s**t now and all ?, so feel free to decline to comment.

Thanks for the reply.

[PeteB]

5 hours ago, bierling said:

Including foreshots and heads?

 

3 hours ago, adamOVD said:

That's awesome. Congrats. By saying "all feints", i assume you don't do hydro separation on them? How deep do you go into your tails?

 

Firstly my still is a simple pot, alembic, no plates.

To avoid confusing people with names that vary around the world, I split my spirit run 4 ways.

The first small part I use as fuel under my direct fired still, the next section is re-cycled into next spirit run. (foreshots and heads, not sure what name comes first)

Next section is the heart then the feints. I run the feints right down to about 2%abv. (my still runs on fryer oil so there is very little cost running it for so long to get it that low)

First cut is done on volume only, next cut into heart is by nose only (no hydrometers allowed) then cut into feints is by nose and taste, again no hydrometer.

Hydrometers only indicate the amount of ethanol, I am trying to maximise the correct flavours, I treat alcohol as a by-product.

[bluestar]

We never recycle foreshots. Just heads and tails, and we don't go too deep into the tails.

[PeteB]

On 10/25/2018 at 3:55 AM, adamOVD said:

...................By saying "all feints", i assume you don't do hydro separation on them? .................

What do you mean by "hydro separation"?

[adamOVD]

@PeteB Some people dilute their faints or low wines to under 30% alchohol so fusil oils and whatnot separate and float to the top. They then skim them off the top or pump from the bottom, and leave them behind.

[Foreshot]

It's also called phase separation. We were just talking about it in another thread. If you search the forum you'll see details. It's exactly like Adam said. It will help remove the really late tails.

Full info here: https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19169&start=12

[PeteB]

On 11/8/2018 at 12:16 PM, Foreshot said:

 

Thanks for that link, interesting information indeed.

[Eud]

I read what Odin wrote over at Home Distiller.  How long do you let it sit at 17% before siphoning out the middle bits?

[Foreshot]

day or two.