Airstill, Best Practice and Results

[amaark]

Thanks Frank,

I think for learning and my personal health I'll bin the fores off both the strip and the spirit runs.

I'm working out of the UK and don't fancy the local health service much!! Better to be safe than sorry.

[Almanac]

I've been running my Airstill for several years and even though I also run a 50lt keg pot as well my Airstill is still in service.

The purpose of the stripping run is to simply to extract the alcohol and leave behind as much of the unwanted crap in the wash as possible. While there's nothing to stop you discarding an amount of the initial distillate as foreshots you will later find you didn't get them all and end up having to make another 50ml discard from subsequent spirit runs.

In my experience it is better to wait until the spirit run to separate the different fractions. They will be more easily identifiable because the distillate will be less polluted.

While an experienced distiller will have no problem identifying the presence and end of foreshots I have always advocated the ALL home distillers should identify a fixed 'overkill' amount of the initial distillate to be discarded as foreshots from your particular still.

In the case of the Airstill a discard of 50ml from each 4l spirit run will completely isolate the offending foreshots and you can confidently collect your spirits for consumption or ageing.

So, the answer to your question, after all that waffle, is No, it's not worth doing on the stripping run.

Edit: BTW the offending compounds contained in the foreshots is contained in approximately the first 10ml but we recommend 50ml to ensure any smearing is also covered. So 50ml is to be sure to be sure to be sure
AM

[amaark]

Thanks AM. I just don't fancy a night on the carsey. I was wondering and trying to learn. I'll stick to your assurances the 50ml.

[chill]

Once you actually smell the foreshots you will realize that you would never drink them unless you were a hard core addict. The heads that follow are not all that nice either.

Chuck

[amaark]

Ok then the day of reckoning is arriving.

My SS Triple Distilled had stopped fermenting (I checked it over a 24 hour period no bubbles etc), Added Part A and vigorously stirred it, Added Part B with a gentle stir.

Checked it this morning and it's going like the clappers again. Is this part of the clearing process, or have I missed a trick.

I'd don't fancy a strip run this evening exploding.

[Almanac]

Stirring vigorously may have oxygenated the wash and may have got the yeast reproducing again - no alcohol, just sex but if there's little or no sugar left to feed them it will stop soon.

Next time don't stir vigorously be gentle, you just want to gently mix in the Part A then wait about 30 mins before gently stirring in the Part B

AM

[amaark]

Thanks AM

Those yeasties have all the luck.

[amaark]

....thanks for the help everyone. First pot of strip well underway. Stuck my nose over the collector after 75ml had come off. (just to see what the smell was)

As you have all said rancid stink, nose tingle the works. You gotta have serious issues to want to sample that.

[amaark]

First spirit run complete. Really looked for the smells of the cores, heads and tails.
The cores smell like nail polish remover to me, the heads had a sweet artificial smell and the tails had a strong vinegar type odour. Not like the wet cardboard smell I expected. Are these descriptions of the smells I should be looking for

[chill]

Fores (Fore-shots, as in beFore the heads) not Cores. :-)

I have never thought that tails smelled like vinegar, but the rest seem spot on.

Chuck

[amaark]

Oop's Typo.

[Speed_demon666]

Hi Guys,

Noobie here with an airstill . I've done one run of 4L of sugar wash as the instructions say with my new plaything, but it is indeed very sweet and most of all incredibly "flowery" in scent (not chemical though, whats that mean?)

I wanted to improve it now my first 25litre batch has fermented (I'm afraid I'm still on a mix of brewers and household sugar with triple distilled turbo yeast and all the carbon gimmicks etc for this brew) This guide really is invaluable, especially as a turbostill 500 friend had concerned me about whether I needed to dilute the product from the stripping wash to avoid explosions etc (being a constant 78 degrees or whatever I guessed not particularly).

One question though, As time is a bit of an issue so I intend to literally just follow the procedure in the diagram to get something better than a single distillation. If we exclude all the jargon, why can't I just do the first distillation(s) and dilute as mentioned, then in step 2 just take off 300ml and chuck it away? After all, the maths just says there will be 6 times as much foreshots as the wash has come from the product of 6 stills and theres no mention of what you would do with the heads?

The same with the hearts. If someone else has gone to all the effort of finding out whats best with regards to tails (I was a bit unsure about the "average of 2 jars" statement and what you meant by that, do you mean in your experience it is generally 200ml that you add to the hearts?), can I not just collect 1200ml of "product" and be done?

IE for the second distillation I could just throw away the 1st 300ml, collect 1200ml and not worry about the tails OR use them to dilute my next stripping run instead of water, job done?

I know this wont make the booze "absoloutely the best it can be" for any specific wash, and I intend to do the full process in the future, but for someone who is running out of Tequila and whisky and wants to see how a full batch works with his new toy, it will at least be far better than a single run?

No criticism meant to all the hard work thats gone into this I'm just trying to cut it down to a "Dummys guide to better than the still instructions" Alchohol in as few points as possible.

[amaark]

Hi Demon,

I like you am a newbie at this and got a new toy with all the bells and whistles.

I have done 1 SS Tripled distilled wash then have been using the TPW. So I am no expert and am learning.

You have lost me, I agree 6 x 50ml + 300ml, but where and how are you going to collect this in one go. Likewise where you have bulked up other collections, these are individual compounds that will come out of each distillation not just be bulked at the front or rear of a single batch.

As time is of importance to you work out how many strip runs you need to do a single spirit run then do that.

A single run won't kill you and with stronger flavours like you mention may even be acceptable. But a properly done run double distilling run does improve everything.

The average of 2 jam jars added is exactly that an average. It depends on what you find acceptable and what you don't, you may find that you accept 3 jars on average or maybe 1.

In closing I would state this, follow either this guide or the alternative Mozr version and you will produce good quality gear which can be enjoyed with no after effects the next morning.

[Speed_demon666]

Cheers Amaark,

Good point about the 300ml over the three runs...d'oh! but in that case that means you're taking off 300ml PER Distillation

Bearing in mind air still instructions dont even take into account removing the foreshots (you'd think that would class as negligence although I think I heard its because they are allowed to vent off or something before the condenser switches in or some such), Taking another 250ml out of the suggested 700ml collection means you are losing almost half of where the "good part" they suggest is, I suppose you are collecting more of what they would class as tails and therefore diluting the end product with water a little less perhaps? personally I'm afer 45-48%)

Is this just that they have got it all wrong and experienced distillers know better

the extra 250ml does seem a lot to throw away..or what would you do with all that head (If only I was in the gifted position to know chortle chortle! )

[amaark]

You only lose the the fore's. Heads and Tails can all be reprocessed later, so don't despair it's not that bad. Go to the search function and type in airstill you'll find a second narrative on the airstill by Mozr.
It is like AM's ie a full breakdown in picture form but how Mozr does it. They are slightly different but you will get the idea. Also look for Lazy Double Distilling by John51. There is another different twist. The common theme been 50ml Fores (IN THE BIN / SINK / TOILET / OR WHEREEVER), 250ml Heads (SAVE AND REUSE LATER), 750ml to 1000ml Hearts (DEPENDING ON WHICH GUIDE), 700ml ish Tails (GUIDE DEPENDANT< SAVE AND REUSE)

So when all said and done you only bin 50ml. Not the 100's of ml's you're quoting.