"Bring your boiler to temp as quickly as you have fuel and time for.
Some old school shiners might say that comin to temp slowly gives a better result. I do not make enough time to come to temp slowly and I am happy to report that I like my results. But you will need to conclude whats best for you (always remember that).
For the strip run (make sure your wash is well cleared IMO) just run as fast as your product condenser can knock down the vapor. Collect everything (down to 15 or 20%) in a single vessel. Some like to discard ""fores"" on the strip run. I toss the fores on the spirit run.
For the spirit run, bring your rig to temp at your (fast or slow) pace.
Feel the top of your boiler and the base of your still head as the unit comes to temp. Listen to the boil. Make a mental note of any changes that occur. When the wash starts to boil turn your input down to medium/medium low.
You will feel the heat climbing up your column lenth. Fores (poison) will likely discharge before the heat gets to the product condenser. Likely be about 50 ml of fores with your still. Do not drink this.
Next bit will be heads. This is where all the ugly hang over shit lives. Some gents use bits of heads to flavor there likker. Me,,,,I stir clear of all heads.
During your spirit run, try and adjust your input so that your discharge is the size of a pencil lead. Or perhaps a tooth pic. Drip sized discharge will get you a higher abv but man oh man thats too slow for me.
Try and collect your distillate in 250 ml or 300 ml sized quantities. You will need 10 or 15 jars to do this. Mason jars are cheap and fit the bill nicely. By collecting in small increments, you will be able to more precisely keep heads, hearts, and tails separate.
Heads will smell sweet and kind of fruity. Do not be fooled. That is one ugly ass hangover waiting to happen. Heads are very sharp on the nose with lots of alcohol burn. Don't burn your nose as you will need it to help evaluate your likker. Each recipe can produce a different amount of heads so collecting in small jars can really help. IMO women have an excellant nose. Your missus should be a very good evaluator.
Hearts will smell much more smooth and not have that nasty astringent smell. This is the cream of your run. Most reflux gents only want hearts as hearts are clearly the most nuetural.
We potstillers like a lil dirt in our likker. No dirt (congeners) no flavor.
Tails smell of wet card board or old shoe or wet dog,,,,,,or dirty ass (so I am told
). This is the back side of the run. Early tails can be quite nice. The reflux gents rarely get pleasant tails as their rigs do a very efficiant job of compressing the etho into the hearts. Tails through the reflux column is rank. But the whisky and rum Gents use bits of heads and some tails added back to their hearts for character. Gotta find your own preferences with this as it's all subjective. Just trust your taste buds.
If you cover your jars with a coffe filter and let them air out over night, it will be easier to evaluate your likker the next day. Much of the sharpness will have evaporated.
Once you get a feel for your recipe and your still, you will prolly not need to collect in small jars. You will likely learn that your recipe gives you X amount of heads and XX amount of hearts and the remainder tails.
Keep your heads and tails (not fores) and rerun with your next batch.
I prolly missed a bunch that others can articulate so much better."
