StillSmart

Blackmoor came up with an idea here :

viewtopic.php?f=3&p=7755#p7749

Worth a try!

aidanmac wrote:Ah the eternal question Frank! - not really!
This has been mooted in the thread entitled "What's in you Still" under Distillation.

In a 'real' pot or reflux still this is easy but with an Airstill!

Let us know if you come up with a work-around!

Haven't seen you for a while, How are things with you these days?

AM

I haven't been (able to) post for a while mate (lost the plot/password) but, now, thanx to Jimmy, here is I.

Anyway, re this 'copper not there problem', I did email the Still Spirits company (to their Customer Services Manager or whomever) to ask
1. is their ANY copper in the Airstill vapour path and
2. if not, is there a recommended mod/workaround to get copper into the vapour path.

Her inital response was quite 'off the dial' in terms of telling me that the componentry of the still is a secret and the technical folk are not at liberty to expain the makings of the still blah blah. So..I responded with a polite but firm request for my questions to be answered (afterall I AM a customer etc)....and (finally) the response was that
1.'no' there is no copper in the airstill and
2. 'no' there isn't a recommended solution re putting any in there.

She then went on to say that perhaps I ought to consider the T500 and/or some other (outrageously) expensive Stillspirits model that includes copper etc etc. So....I did what I should have done from the start IMHO.

I (and some talented mates) built a 2.5 inch copper potstill that runs off a 50 litre stainless steel keg boiler. Now I get 5l hour on a strip run.

Nice one Frank.

Thats the way to reply to Still Spirits. Build yur own WITH some copper.
I'd love to see a photo of your new still.

as requested here,'tis...its got a 900mm adjustable liebig condensor on a 1200mm takeoff (1 inch over 3/4)...


and/or

copper all the way...and the very first 10 litres I stripped (from TPW) has buggerall smell already so, bring on the spirit run, I say
and I'm pretty sure its a keeper...mind you, so is my airstill

Nice one Frank, looking good. That's a really long take-off!!

I'm keeping my Airstill and will even give it a run to do now and again. After all, it's looked after me for over two years now - we're old friends!

AM

perhaps risking offtopic but...
AidanMac et al , I wonder if the last of the collected tails from a POTSTILL strip run could be run through the Airstill (perhaps double distilled) to get a decent end product?? I get about 2 litres of ave 25%ABV, so that'd make about 4 litres of typical turbo wash ABV% ...dont suppose anyone has tried it???? (and, please Jimmy, move this post if its too offtopic to be here)....

Generally I just chuck the tails in the next stripping run to boost the yield from the strip.

I take the view that when I add the tails to a stripping run I know it's going to be distilled twice and that will allow me recover clean ethanol from those tails.

Not sure running the tails alone in a pot would clean it up enough. Running it through a good reflux column to make neutral would certainly work.

When I add tails to a wash for stripping the 'Smell from the Airstill' is the same as a normal run - there, we're back on topic again!

AM