The first 50 to 200 mL of liquid from a distillation run, called the foreshots, should always be discarded. This portion contains the highest concentration of unwanted compounds, including methanol, which boils at 64.6°C compared to ethanol’s 78.5°C and comes off the still first. Beyond the foreshots, how much more you set aside depends on your ability to identify the transition points between heads, hearts, and tails through smell, taste, and temperature monitoring.
Foreshots: The Non-Negotiable Discard
The foreshots are the very first drips from your still, and they go straight down the drain every time. For a typical home-scale run, this means collecting and discarding roughly 50 to 200 mL before you even start thinking about keeping anything. The exact amount depends on the size of your batch and what you’re distilling, but the principle is consistent: the first liquid off the still carries the most volatile and least desirable compounds.
Methanol is the primary concern here. It boils at about 64.6°C, well below ethanol’s 78.5°C, so it concentrates heavily in those opening moments. Acetone and other light solvents also come through early. A study published in Heliyon found that both commercial and home-distilled spirits typically contain methanol levels far below dangerous thresholds, but that safety margin exists partly because distillers discard the foreshots. When methanol reaches 200 mg/L or higher in the body, its breakdown products can cause vision problems. At concentrations around 5,000 mg/L, it can cause loss of consciousness or death. Discarding the foreshots is the simplest and most important safety step in any run.
If you’re doing a stripping run (a fast, rough first pass to concentrate your wash before a final spirit run), you can skip the foreshots discard during stripping and collect everything. The foreshots will still need to come off during the spirit run that follows, so nothing is lost and nothing slips through.
Heads: Set Aside, Don’t Pour Out
After the foreshots, the distillate transitions into the heads. This portion smells sharp and solvent-like, often compared to nail polish remover or paint thinner. Research on brandy distillation has confirmed that the dominant aroma characteristics of heads are “fruity and solvent,” while the heart fraction is purely fruity. That solvent note is your clearest signal that you’re still in the heads.
The heads don’t contain dangerous levels of methanol, but they carry harsh-tasting compounds like propanol (boiling point 97°C) and other heavier alcohols that are close enough to ethanol’s boiling point to overlap significantly. These won’t separate cleanly the way methanol does, which is why the transition from heads to hearts is gradual rather than sudden.
Most distillers collect the heads in separate jars rather than discarding them outright. They can be added back into a future stripping run, giving those compounds another chance to separate. The heads typically come through while your still temperature is in the range of roughly 76°C to 80°C (170°F to 176°F), though temperature alone isn’t reliable enough to make the call.
Finding the Hearts
The hearts are the portion you keep. This is the clean, smooth center of your run where ethanol dominates and off-flavors are minimal. Still temperature during the hearts phase generally sits between about 85°C and 93°C (185°F to 200°F), but experienced distillers rely more on their senses than on a thermometer.
The transition from heads to hearts is best detected by smell. When the sharp solvent edge disappears and the distillate smells clean, sweet, and purely of the spirit you’re making, you’ve entered the hearts. Research into brandy distillation found that adding even tiny amounts of heads fraction (as little as 0.38% by volume) back into heart distillate introduced a noticeable solvent aroma. That gives you a sense of how sensitive the boundary is.
To find this point precisely, many distillers use the jar method. Instead of running your output into a single container, collect it in small sequential jars, maybe 100 to 200 mL each. Label them in order. After the run, go back and smell and taste each jar individually. You’ll notice the early jars have that harsh bite, the middle jars taste clean, and the later jars turn oily or musty. This lets you decide exactly where to draw your lines, and you can blend the best jars together. It’s far more forgiving than trying to make real-time decisions while the still is running.
When to Cut to Tails
As the hearts wind down, heavier alcohols called fusel oils begin to dominate. These include compounds like isobutanol (boiling point 107.9°C), butanol (117.6°C), and various forms of pentanol (115°C to 138°C). They give the distillate an oily mouthfeel and flavors often described as wet cardboard or overcooked vegetables. Still temperature at this point is typically approaching 96°C (about 208°F).
The most common rule of thumb is to watch the proof of your output. When the distillate coming off the still drops to around 60 to 65% ABV during a spirit run, many distillers start watching closely for the tails transition. Some cut as high as 65%, others push to 55% or lower depending on the spirit. Whiskey distillers, for instance, sometimes allow a small amount of tails character through because those heavier compounds contribute body and complexity after aging.
Like the heads, tails don’t need to be thrown away. They contain usable alcohol and can be recycled into future stripping runs. Collecting them separately lets you recover that ethanol on the next pass.
How Much You’ll Actually Keep
On a typical pot still spirit run, expect to keep somewhere between 30% and 50% of your total output as hearts. The rest splits between foreshots (discarded), heads (saved for redistillation), and tails (also saved for redistillation). The exact proportions vary based on your still design, the quality of your wash, and how tight you want your cuts.
Tighter cuts mean less volume but higher quality. If you’re making a neutral spirit or vodka, you’ll cut aggressively and keep a smaller hearts fraction. For whiskey or brandy, slightly wider cuts are common because some congener character is desirable. There’s no single correct answer here, which is exactly why the jar method is so useful. It turns a stressful real-time decision into a calm, post-run blending exercise.
For a practical starting framework on a 5-gallon wash: discard the first 100 to 150 mL as foreshots, collect the next 200 to 500 mL as heads in separate jars, then collect hearts until the output drops below about 60% ABV or you detect oily or off flavors. Everything after that goes into a tails container for your next run.