"Hi all;
Great site and great advice. I have been reading just about anything and everything I can find to learn more.
So, here is the situation;
My first run was about a month ago ...
20L water to 10lb sugar with 48hr turbo yeast
Initial SG of 1.12 at 77deg F
after 12 days SG of 1.008
Day time temps of 74-79, night temps down to 64 inside, no heater or blanket on the fermentor
Ran my wash through my new 16L SS pot still
(16L SS pot with 12"" tall 1.5"" riser)( I had previously ran water/vinegar and straight water runs to clean and verify function)

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I disposed of the first 100ml of distillate and kept everything else down to the 20% ABV point
was getting almost 70% purity for most of the run
after diluting to 40% i ended up with 5.25L of very clear product (single distilled)
WOW, what a burn though ... I knew to remove and dispose of foreshots but did not see any clear transitions for heads, hearts, or tails
BUT, after adding a bourbon essence and letting it sit for 3 days it tasted like nirvana ... nectar of the gods ...

OK, now we finally get to the real question ...
I have just finished first distillation of a second wash and i am hoping that someone can help me find some break points.
I did take a lot more notes this time while doing the actual distillation

wash 23L water to 15lb sugar (invert)
48hr Turbo yeast
Water temp of 85deg F
SG 1.12
after 7 days SP was 0.992 and bubbling had stopped as far as I could tell. So I degassed,added sparkeloid, and let it sit for 16hrs.
looking at the picture you can see the thermometer point is at top of 12"" 1.5"" pipe, I switched to a digital so i can track the temp more accurately.
had to divide wash in half and run 2 batches with my small 16L pot
even though I knew i would be running this twice i still ran it fairly slowly so that I can try to track temps better
my thermometer doesnt even change temp until about 2 minutes before i see product even though I have heard the pot bubbling for awhile ... top of tubes cool to the touch until about that time. Then the temp races up to 160ish quite rapidly.
SO, I started to see distillate at about 160deg F, 2 minutes later temp was already 180deg F and I had collected about 40ml
77%ABV at 86deg F
I disposed of the first 100ml of distillate from each batch and kept the rest.
here is a chart of times/temps/ABV as I was collecting ... all of the distillate came out of condenser at 84-90deg F
first drips time zero
0min - 160deg F
2min - 180deg F - 77%ABV
86F
9min - 185deg F
33min - 190deg F - 73%
36min - 191deg F
45min - 192deg F
54min - 194deg F - 63%
68min - 196deg F - 58%
77min - 198deg F
95min - 202deg F - 46%
113min - 203deg F - 28%
121min - 206deg F - 21%
123m - 208deg F - 15% stopped run ~3.3L product kept per batch have a total of 6.65L of product in 1.75L bottles running from 75%-55%ABV
And, I know i was deep into the tails because as i was cleaning up tonight I noticed a oily residue on my measuring cup.
Other that the sharp acetone type smell of the foreshots I never really notice much of a smell or taste difference during the run
I guess too many years of smoking cigars and working around solvents and fuels (NOT at the same time, hehe) has numbed my taste buds and sniffer.

I will be doing a second run on this to hopefully improve the final product (I will dilute to <40% before running)
Can anyone suggest where i should or could or might make my heads and tails cuts ... last product single distilled was pretty good but am always looking for better
ANY suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to doing the second distillation and finding out what the final product will taste like.
Hopefully I answered all of the details that us newbies always forget to list.
Thanks everyone for your time
Konlin"

This is good advice and helped me big time. In the joy of my first few runs with it actually working, I forgot this part and ended up not so pretty.. which is fine, my tractor needed a full degreasing any how :)

Next time, using numbered jars and a day or so delay yielded big benefits for me - I at least can tell within two jars how it shifts. As with anything, reptition brings mastery..

Hi Konlin, follow what heeler said and you will be able to make cuts to your taste.

At 194 degrees you are most likely into the tails, for my purposes tails start at 190.

I number pint jars and fill them 1/2 full. I will also do the sniff test within 24 to 48 hours after the run. At that time I will dip my finger in each product jar to feel the difference in texture also. It has helped me learn where the changes are occuring during the run.

You may also want to turn the heat to your boiler down a little as soon as you start to get product output. If your jumping from 160 to 180 then your heads are smeared all across your hearts.