StillSmart

Hi Guys,
I have been lurking round the forum for some time reading quite a lot of very useful information, I am currently in the middle east and will be returning to the U.K. (newcastle) late in July, I have been using an airstill on and off for the last 3-4 years and am thinking of upgrading to a T500 when I return but have read that they take a little more effort than the airstill are there any forum members in the North East who wouldn't mind showing me the T500 running before I take the plunge?
I'm due back late July so if anyone could help me out that would be great.

Thanks,
Sean-f

Hi Sean, I'm in the North West so can't help you with the demo but I have used both the airstill and the T500.

Short answer is that I never ran my airstill again after doing a T500 run.

Longer answer is yes, the T500 is more involved and yes you do have to be there while it is happening BUT that one T500 run gives better quality first run than airstll 2nd run and that one T500 run betters a total of 9 airstill runs.

Hi John, thanks for the info
with the t500 are you getting the same amount of finished product from one lot of mash (25l) I understand the quality is much improved with the T500 what would you say your average collection would be after a run (diluted to say 40%)

thanks for the reply

when I run 25l of alcotec mash with 7kg of sugar, I get just less than a demijohn of alcohol all told.

Voddy wrote:when I run 25l of alcotec mash with 7kg of sugar, I get just less than a demijohn of alcohol all told.

what dose your mash start at %
Is that and demijohn at 40%?

Thanks

(a) I don't know as it's not something I've done.

(b) The DJ is neat alcohol. As a guide I use half a DJ into a 5litre carboy and fill that with water and that averages out to around 43-48% - once it got to 54% but only once - maybe my hand slipped a bit that time?

edited (the dj has fores and heads taken out before using)

I realise this may seem a little odd so let me clarify... I first do a strip run, all in, and then subsequent runs have the fores and heads taken off.

Sean-f wrote:Hi John, thanks for the info
with the t500 are you getting the same amount of finished product from one lot of mash (25l) I understand the quality is much improved with the T500 what would you say your average collection would be after a run (diluted to say 40%)

thanks for the reply

Can't remember the airstill total but it's less than the T500. I'm not one for getting the maximum alcohol out, it's minimum effort I go for so no recycling of hearts or tails.

I collect 500ml of fores/heads @ 42'C. (Vodka Star 6Kg sugar.) Takes about 5 hours from turning on. Then I collect 3L of hearts @ 46'-52'C ~92%abv. Takes 4 hours or so. No real effort as I have a pressure release valve fitted. I'm surfing, watching movies etc. and give the still a glance every now and again.

This dilutes to about 7L of 40%. Including leccy, 1L of 40% costs me less than £1.50, I really can't see the point in getting that lower.

Some find no increase in quality at the lower temps with the T500 but I feel better with the slower runs.