so, did a 5-6 gallon ujsm ferment and put it through the pot still today. 5 gallons of water plus 7 pounds of corn and 7 pounds of sugar was around 6 gallon mark in fermenter. started at 1.6 sg and when I worked it it was less than 1 but not at .99. anyway put it through the still and this time really paid attention to my cuts. thanks heeler! first 300 mills I threw out, then next 200-300mls in one jar and kept changing around 400. around jar 3 it started smelling less but still had a nose. around 4 I liked the taste. around 5 really liked the taste but was loosing a tad of alcohol content. 6 was the bomb no smell great corn taste but weaker still. then collected 1.5 quarts of tails. first qt tasted great but very low alcohol but great corn smell and flavor. then got a little sour so I shut it down after that last half qt. so I am thinking that out of 5 gallons I got 2-2.5 pints of good flavor/alcohol content and 1 qt of low alcohol content but good smell taste tails. all airing out now. ok, how does that sound boys? I tried not to be greedy. school me I really want to get this down. will be using the heads and tails in next batch that is perking now.

I very rarely run it again, if you run it really slow to start I don't see any need to. just make good cuts and keep a feints jar

"Oh sorry one more thing, all those jars that you dont add to the hearts jar just save em in something and add all that liquid to the next boiler fillup. See your not throwing it away just saving it for later.
Now I dont save or re-run any of that stuff but newbies just cant bring themselves to throw it out and thats understandable, it took 2 weeks to ferment and 5 hours to still it - and you ask why in the hell would I toss it out, you'll see just use your nose and palate and keep at it."

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Hey kid, it is harder to adjust the heat with gas I know but that sounds about right. The collection rate sounds good too, remember always in small quantities.
24-36 hours is just right on the airing out bit too, you can really notice a difference huh? Remember use your nose, give a little puff of air BEFORE you sniff....
About the heads and tails..yes and no!!!! Heads is not something I want to drink and re-distilling it wont make it better. Remember the heads alcohols are -Methanol and Ethyl Acetate and some Acetone... yucky! Now with the tails adding that back is a little easier on my mind and I will tell you to save that and re-run it. Heads no ---tails well ok!!
The ABV you get is dependent on what type tower you use but dont concentrate on proof its not that important. If you get 190 proof and it tastes like shit does that make it better? Oh and by the way high proof likker does taste like shit.
From a 5 gallon wash I get approx 2-2.5 quarts of -- keepers ---. You may have 3.5 quarts after you cook but after you cut tomorrow and get rid of heads and tails it is deminished somewhat by what you toss out (the heads) and put in the feints jar (the tails). So for me I know 2-2.5 quarts is the best of the run but I make damned sure theres none of that smelly stuff in my finished likker. If I dont have enough I'll just make more but I want what I've got to be the best.

OK then sorry for the length of all that babble - hope it helps you some and happy stillin."

back to the drawing board. im not geting quite that much to keep. I saw those burners mentioned before. I am using a less quality burner though it has a better valve on it than my turkey frier. Could i be too hot still and missing some collection time? May be time to squirrel away some funds. thanks for the help amigos.

Hi whiskykid,
How much you cut will vary based apon your recipie that you're using and what type of still you have as well as your own personal tastes. There's really no exact science to it because there's so many factors and variables that changes things. Doing a standard sugar wash, I usually get around 2.5 gallons (or 10 liters) at 40% ABV of finished product. I learned the hard way that a higher proof can kill a recipie. It took me 4 runs in 2012 to figure out that I needed to drop the proof to 30% ABV (60 proof) and do a yeast starter instead of just using the yeast the way I had been on my peach brandy recipie. Now my peach brandy is like a fresh made peach cobbler that just came out of the oven which is what I wanted. It comes with time and experience.

Oh yeah man. You're about to have some serious fun. Here's a little tip for you. If you plan on using a submersible pump set up for your still, try to get a container that's at least 3 times bigger than your still's boiler. I use one of those large storage containers that you can get at walmart myself. It will never get too hot. When it does finally start to get there, your run is pretty much finished.