StillSmart

Bought one earlier this year and with the help on here I've done around 3 runs on it...
Only advice I can give at the moment is to no get greedy with the cuts, especially before the tails arrive, if mixed in it can spoil the whole batch.

Until you gain more experience go for quality not quantity.

S4BB

That is very good advice. When working with such small quantities, it is easy to let greed take over. I've done so and regretted it on more than one occasion. However, you can re-distill it and try again at a small loss of quantity so all is not lost in a moment of weakness.

Spirits4BB wrote:Bought one earlier this year and with the help on here I've done around 3 runs on it...
Only advice I can give at the moment is to no get greedy with the cuts, especially before the tails arrive, if mixed in it can spoil the whole batch.

Until you gain more experience go for quality not quantity.

S4BB

Here,here go for quality.
Re-distill anything that you may have pushed too far.
Live,learn and lovely drinks.

Robert.

I have plenty of home brewed white wine in stock do you think I should run some of it through the still to get started?

That will give you an unoaked brandy / eau de vie. It can be nice as can aging it on some toasted Oak. I'd consider it an expensive wash to learn on, but if you have the desire and can afford the expense/loss of drinkable wine, then why not?

chill wrote:That will give you an unoaked brandy / eau de vie. It can be nice as can aging it on some toasted Oak. I'd consider it an expensive wash to learn on, but if you have the desire and can afford the expense/loss of drinkable wine, then why not?

I was lucky enough to get lots of heavily discounted wine kits when a tescos closed down recently so the cost would be minimal

Then welcome to your own playground.
Your rules.
Have fun.

Robert.

Then welcome to your own playground.
Your rules.
Have fun.

Robert.

Well, that was some good fortune for you, perhaps less so for Tesco. Get on with the stilling then and let us know how it comes out. Note that the directions here for the AirStill are assuming a sugar wash, so you may get noticeably different results distilling wine (more heads or tails). Use hot water when sampling the jars from the spirit run and let your taste be the guide. If it burns your tongue, it still has too much heads. If it starts to taste even slightly unpleasant, you are into tails. Better to make too narrow cuts at the beginning than too wide. You can always recycle the heads and tails.

Spirits4BB wrote:Bought one earlier this year and with the help on here I've done around 3 runs on it...Only advice I can give at the moment is to no get greedy with the cuts, especially before the tails arrive, if mixed in it can spoil the whole batch.
Until you gain more experience go for quality not quantity. S4BB

Well done John....it's great when all what you read on here, starts to drop into place.
When anyone starts off with this hobby all the info seems too much to take in, then you make a drop of the good stuff and it all makes sense.

I ran white wine through an airstill. Made a fantastic brandy with oak etc etc. Have a go. It will get you started. While you get a wash on...

The airstill is a fully functional still. Just small. It distills all sorts of things including essential oils.. Don't be shy. Being small makes it ideal to 1 or 2 bottle runs where you want try something or just need a small amount.

Thanks for your input guys, the still,alcoholometer,vodka star and ceramic do-dars arrived today but no conditioner yet..
I'm thinking now I will hold back on the wine idea and get the sugar wash started today but just out of interest could red wines be used in the same way?

Thanks in advance

Yes, you could certainly use red wine.

Robert.

Easydrinker wrote:Yes, you could certainly use red wine.

Robert.

..but bear in mind that your distilled spirit will be clear. I know that's not intuitive - it threw me when I did my Damson grappa a few weeks back, until I thought about it.

Cheers

Hampk

The conditioner is probably not required with wine. It is really only needed for a an all grain or partial grain wash (think of the form when you start boiling a beer). A little dab of butter will do the same thing if you want a bit of safety. Note that I do use conditioner on all of my strip runs regardless of what it is, but that is out of an abundance of caution.