First Run Questions

aczesz

Did my first run on the Baby Crystal Dragon last weekend. Wash was 5gal of about 5% abv corn mash, with 1/4gal 60% feints from my old pot still all in an 8gal boiler from milehi. The run seemed to go well, kept my 2000w element around 77% to keep it slow for the first run. Collected 150ml of fores and threw them out, then after that the ABV was around 86%. Collected 11 bottles all with 100ml in each, then a 12th for the rest down to 20% ABV. It was at a fast drip speed the entire time. I threw some coffee filters on the top then let them sit for 48hrs. For the cuts, i had the first two bottles tasted like heads(200ml total), then the next 5 i thought were hearts(500ml), and the rest tails. The hearts came out at 80% ABV

Now for the questions:

1. Do these cuts sound right? I was trying to go off of kiwis guide even though that is for a pot still.
2. The final result smells and tastes strange...I use to do birdwatchers wash in my pot still but decided to try corn for this run. Does the first run always taste strange(i bottle brushed everything with soap and water before i started)? Was my fermentation too warm or too fast? (kept the temperature at 83*F and it finished in about 3 days) Did I mess up on my cuts?
3. After i proofed it, the final product was cloudy even though the product was clear before proofing. What happened there? I proofed it with carbon filtered tap water.
4. I kept my product condenser needle valve all the way open, should I not be doing that? What is the recommended setting?

aczesz

Well I did another run and answered some of my own questions.

1. The cuts I think were correct, just shifted more towards the tails. This un I am going to try and take some more from the beginning.
2. The smell ended up not being as strange as I remembered when i smelt it. There are forsure some esters in there though, this last run is much better.
3. didnt answer this one...
4. Messed with the product condenser needle valve, ended up being able to keep it much lower.