General Question Safety Airstill

[taylor40plus64]

Guys,
When i come to do my spirit run first time, following the rules, is it safe and do you have to baby sit, i understand you will have to for the first 50ml foreshot


Regards
Rob

[John51]

I've never used a timer on an airstill but some have done stripping runs on a timer. Important part is to only use a cleared and degassed wash plus distillers conditioner. (Or a small knob of butter.)

In practice you get to know when to expect the next stage and can get on with other things.

[chill]

A spirit run you have to babysit. When you get into heads, you have a short amount of time that you can pay less attention to it. Unless you are following the seller's instructions and not making cuts. In that case, I'd be much more worried about the safety of what I was drinking!

Chuck

[Phantom]

The clear and conditioner point from John51 is very valid.

I now use both conditioner and also a handful of rashig rings (sold in small bags as boil enhancers). If you don't have those then even some pieces of broken glass will do.

I found out the hard way.......

I had cloudy spirit once, so it just went in and I switched it on. After a while, it seemed as if the still "burped" i.e. it seems that as the mix was boiling it was forming large bubbles that were big enough to flood the condenser and lift the lid slightly.

Erindoors spotted this, told me and as I leaned across to switch it off. It bubbled and burped showering me in 60 odd percent spirit. Luckily, I also learned another fact about high strength spirit - it loses temperature/energy very quickly and it was just like a sunburn type scald......

Hence once its running you don't need to watch it obsessively but its best to keep an eye on it until you've seperated the foreshots and its running steadily. Also put it away from where family and pets might pass just in case.

Since making sure my wash is degassed and clear, plus using the rings and conditioner, I've had no problems at all.......

Oh and when I redistill I alway let the first run spirit back down to about 30% and even in the airstill it comes out at about 80%.......

[John51]

Another thing that will help is adding some copper. Extra boil enhancers pluse it helps with the taste some.

Cheapest way is to find a short length of 15mm or 22mm pipe, hacksaw it into small non flat bits. Or be lazy and order some copper washers off the bay and bend them to 90 degrees.

[Phantom]

Bits of copper like that, I hadn't thought of, but it'd never be as satisfying as taking a hammer to some glass bottles

[RumJohn]

I babysit my runs. Especially the spirit runs and super especially when running in excess of 95% ABV. But I run on propane as voltage here flucuates a lot and is usually low. 10-15 minutes for a piece of toast some times.

For the spirit run I chuck a staineless steel pot scrubber into the boiler. That gives plenty of surface area to bubble off.

Having never seen an Airstill I can't be more specific on safety issues. Take your time and you will learn soon enough what your equipment can handle.