Distill & Cut agent

Real-time heads, hearts, and tails control for reflux, column and plate temperatures, ABV, copper contact, and cut timing.

What it does

Caskent controls the run as chemistry and vapor behavior change, holding the hearts window while the wash, still condition, throughput, and ambient conditions drift.

  • Tracks ABV, temperature, copper contact, and quality proxies in real time.
  • Identifies heads, hearts, and tails transition risk as it develops.
  • Recommends or executes the cut inside approved site guardrails.
CUT & QUALITY AUTOPILOT ENGAGED
HEADS HEARTS TAILS 96% 70% 60%
ABV AT SPOUT72.4%
CUT CONFIDENCE99.2%
METHANOL RISK0.3ppm
CONGENER SPECON TARGET

How it works

The agent combines still telemetry, inline ABV, spectral signals, lab labels, and prior runs. It predicts cut state continuously and applies bounded changes to reflux, collection, heat input, or operator prompts.

  • Maintains an explainable cut-state estimate.
  • Uses the digital twin to compare expected and observed run shape.
  • Logs every transition, recommendation, and actuation.
ABV / TIME
ABV curve with hearts windowA solid ABV curve crosses heads, hearts, and tails zones with a bounded hearts collection window. HEADSHEARTS WINDOWTAILS95%60%

Capabilities

Closed-loop control for the most valuable moment in the distillery.

Cut-state prediction

Estimates heads, hearts, and tails state from ABV, heat, plates, reflux, and quality signals.

Reflux tuning

Adjusts or recommends reflux and collection strategy to keep product inside the approved window.

Copper contact awareness

Tracks contact and sulfur-risk proxies to guide run stability and cleaning decisions.

Methanol guardrails

Applies hard safety limits before any automated action is allowed.

Operator handoff

Returns control to the distiller on pause, alert, limit breach, or manual request.

Inputs and signals

Live sensing and historical labels turn the cut from judgment alone into measured control.

SignalSourceWhat Caskent does
ABVInline proofing or spout measurementMaps run state and detects hearts-window drift.
Column / plate temperatureStill telemetryPredicts vapor behavior and transition timing.
Reflux and heat inputController dataRecommends bounded changes to stabilize the cut.
Copper contactStill configuration and run profileFlags contact-risk patterns tied to off-notes.
Quality labelsLab, GC, sensory, and prior runsCalibrates the model to site-specific cut intent.

Control sequence

The cut is an ordered decision, so the agent runs an ordered loop.

  1. Step 1

    Detect transition

    Continuously estimates whether the run is in heads, entering hearts, inside hearts, or approaching tails.

    STATE
  2. Step 2

    Check safety and quality

    Compares methanol risk, ABV, congener proxies, and recipe rules against hard guardrails.

    VERIFY
  3. Step 3

    Commit the cut

    Prompts the operator or actuates approved collection and reflux changes, then records the decision.

    ACT

Outcomes

Illustrative design-partner targets, measured against each still baseline.

32%less off-spec hearts collection
6%higher spirit yield per run
22%lower cut-time variance
100%of cut actions logged

Assurance note

Distill & Cut operates under bounded control with hard safety and quality limits. Recommendations and actions are logged with context, and the distiller remains human-in-the-loop through shadow, assist, and graduated autonomy modes.

Works with the rest of the stack

The cut improves when upstream and downstream agents share context.

  1. FW

    Ferment & Wash

    Supplies wash trajectory, pH, and yeast-health context for each run.

    Open
  2. SQ

    Spirit Quality

    Verifies congener profile, off-notes, methanol limits, and clarity before cask.

    Open
  3. DT

    Digital Twin

    Simulates cut strategy and maturation impact before the live run.

    Open
The cut became a controlled operation instead of a tense handoff. We could see why the agent called hearts, and every decision was available for the quality review.
Master distillerDesign-partner distillery, illustrative

Hold the hearts window with governed autonomy.

Request access to evaluate Distill & Cut on one still with bounded control and a complete action log.

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