StillSmart

To be fair the StillSpirits filtering system is a bit of a joke - I never managed to get a sensible trade-off between flow rate and decent result. I tried the teabag - that was as bad if not worse. Like most things, you get what you pay for and the Essencia is (IMHO) a good filtration system.

My general advice would be read the Best Practice guide, read it again, ask questions, experiment, don't worry about making mistakes, and read the guide again. It worked for me.

Good luck!

Hampk

Always wondered about that Still Spirits charcoal filtration malarky?? When I get a bigger rig I'll invest in a better filter system.

Spirits4BB wrote:Always wondered about that Still Spirits charcoal filtration malarky?? When I get a bigger rig I'll invest in a better filter system.

Make the investment - I thought it well worth it!

Hi Everyone,

Thought I'd let you all know what we did with the rocket fuel ...
We did a spirit run as reccommended and then I spent a couple of days running it through the carbon filter provided with the airstill kit, because it still smelt a bit like paint stripper ! Last night my husband made the decision to bottle it, I wasn't too keen, but he added a gin flavouring to it (just a cheap one that came with the kit) well BINGO it was amazing, we couldn't smell anything bad at all !!! In fact we poured two G&T's one with ours and a commercial one, ours was so much smoother, I'm so excited I could burst lol ... Paul doesn't ususally drink spirits but he ditched his beer and had a couple of G&T's, and this morning no hangover ....
We've got a mash going at the moment that we started last Friday, we're going to do lots of reading again, to try and prepare it as best we can, to hopefully get an even better end product, and also it's going to be our first proper go at heads, tails and all that malarky (that's my new favourite word lol)
Thankyou once again for all of your input, I was ready to ditch the lot and head to the bottle shop for my booze lol ...
If anyone has a personal favorite tip for the preparation of our mash in the lead up to the stip run it would be very much appriciated, but I am going to have a good read so please don't think I'm lazy ...
Thanks again
Sue

Forgot to ask, where do I find the best practice guide that Hampk suggested ?

sorry ingore that last question, I've already printed it out, I didn't realise what it was called

The kale recipe seems to be getting great results for neutral spirit for folks on here at the moment & I can vouch for the cachaca recipe if you have access to golden syrup (and enjoy a light rum style drink). I think I've got best results when the fermentation temperature has been kept steady at about 20°c so that will perhaps be your biggest challenge depending on whereabouts in Oz you are & how warm it's getting, hot yeast get a bit stressed & start to produce some off flavours.
My washes can take a couple of weeks to finish though & I try not to disturb it, when you come to travelling you don't really want to have your wash sloshing around on the journey as the yeast will have entered their anaerobic phase (& be making the good stuff) so it's best to leave them to it!
Just remember to always chuck the first 50-100ml (someone please correct that if I'm out I don't use an airstill) then most things after that are down to personal taste. Some people only want the heart cut, others like some of the flavours that hide in the heads or early tails so it's entirely up to you! Have fun & experiment safely, someone here will always be able to tell you if you're about to do something stupid...mostly because the mistake has already been made!

Benoit

Spirits4BB wrote:Always wondered about that Still Spirits charcoal filtration malarky?? When I get a bigger rig I'll invest in a better filter system.

The odd thing is,that IMHO, the bigger your rig, the less need you have to Carbon filter a neutral, probably due to the cuts being bigger, or the distillate being of higher ABV.

It has been said here before, ask ten members a question, and receive at least ten different answers.

And they may all be valid!

Unlike Benoit, I keep my neutral washes at around 30°C, wanting them fermented in four days,mostly clear in seven, and then stripped.

The resulting spirit run distillate goes through the Essencia, and emerges as pleasant as, most times better than, a commercial Vodka.

As always, I suggest you look at the advice offered, maybe try it, if it works for you, stick with it.

There are more ways than one to achieve a result in this hobby.
Maybe that is why it ends up becoming addictive, even after it has served the purpose that got you interested, cheap booze.

Robert.

PS. @ Vodka , Malarky is a top word! Although a few folk on here have taken exception to it when I used it in the past. If anyone gives you grief, let me know and I'll send the boys over, I have a little more clout these days.

The better the neutral is made the less you need to fiter too. I don't filter.

Don't be concerned about running warmer temps. 30c is fine. The big deal is consistancy they do not like day/night temp swings. Also much over 32c and they will die completely. So again consistancy is good. Better to aim to 29-30c rather than 30-31c.

Just a quick question ... we have a 24 litre wash going at the moment, we started it last Friday, it is still bubbling all be it very slowly. I think I read somewhere that you can give it a damn good stir? is there anything to be gained from this ? I should add it's a turbo yeast ... I'm dying to try something different but I got the turbo's with the kit so I intend using them, it's all good practice!
Once again many thanks, Sue

Did you get a hydrometer with the kit. This will tell you "where" it is.

A damn good whisking is reserved for stuck (and you warm them up a bit too) fermentations not necessarily slow ones.


So we need to know what the hydrometer reads really.

Leave well alone Sue...you only started it 5 days back...I've left sugar wash's for well over 2 weeks. Stirring a wash is ok if you think it maybe slower than normal....stirring it now will do nothing more than take longer to clear.

As we say..."crap in crap out"...another few days and it may finish altogether, then rack it, degas, into the still....and away you go

@Vodka...
Great to see your making improvements with the Airstill, and your now getting better results. Those Airstill instructions and demos are absolute trash .
The guys on here have been great, especially more so looking back at my initial posts asking possibly tiresome questions to seasoned stiller's..lol

Easydrinker wrote:PS. @ Vodka , Malarky is a top word! Although a few folk on here have taken exception to it when I used it in the past. If anyone gives you grief, let me know and I'll send the boys over, I have a little more clout these days.

The "No Malarky" police must've liked me and allowed it, didn't get one slapdown.... lol Nice to be accepted.

S4BB

I use "Malarky"....I didn't know that there are malarky police out there... smegging hell that was close.

Icefever wrote:I use "Malarky"....I didn't know that there are malarky police out there... smegging hell that was close.

Smegging?

Dave, they're all dead, Dave, Dave, they're all dead..