Heads throughout an entire run

[bradocaster]

I read somewhere about a scenario during distillation where you could end up with heads throughout an entire run. I can't find the information now, and can't remember what the cause was. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks as always,

Brad

[bgrizzle]

Cycling heat source could smear heads/hearts/tails.

[Swede]

Too much heat will easily cause this to happen. The thermal mass that a typical boiler charge has will negate any imact that a cycling heat source has (within reason). The only way that a cycling heat source would cause that problem is with an extremely small boiler charge.

Too much heat, or poor cuts are the most likely culprit of a problem like you describe.

[Ned]

If you're talking a spirit run then this can happen when you don't reduce the low wines to below 30% ABV; above 30% the heads will remain dissolved in the low wines and when added to the still can run through the entire run. The other scenario is storing your low wines below 30% ABV, allowing the heads to separate but then dumping the entire mix, heads and all, into the still for the spirit run.