Airstill, Best Practice and Results

[Almanac]

My chart is laid out in a sequence for beginners to follow step by step and there is no safe way to shorten the procedure or speed it up.

If you follow the procedure you will be able to make safe spirits even without much experience. The guide was produced because the instructions that come with the Airstill are just wrong and I found a lot of people were confused about how to get the best from this type of small still.

The heads are collected separately and added to the next fermented wash just before the stripping runs, not to dilute the wash but to add to the overall alcohol content of the wash or you can save them until you have enough for a separate Heads run.

This will, in turn, give you a better yield from each 4l of wash you strip. Of course you can just throw away the heads if you want but it seems more than a little wasteful to go to all the trouble to make the alcohol and then just throw it away when it can easily be recycled in the next wash to produce nice clean alcohol for drinking.

Each 4l spirit run will produce foreshots first. The 50ml collected ensures that none of the toxic substances in the foreshots end up in your drink.

My only caution would be to ensure you follow established safe procedures to ensure the removal of potentially toxic compounds such as Acetone and Ethyl Acetate from your distillate in the course of each 4l spirit run.

Give the procedure a run as its laid down and you'll see that it works.

AM

[amaark]

AM,

I'm a newbie, don't want to preach to anyone.

I follow your guide and Mozr's and have never tried the single run option. I like the results, it works, it ain't broken don't fix it.

I personally hope Demon goes to the shop buy's his supplies for this weekend and follows the guide. The results are worth the effort and patience IMHO.

[Speed_demon666]

aaahh! so you DO re-run the heads, ok that sounds like a plan. My only concern is I dont know what abv the heads are and therefore how much to water them down.

I only have a hydrometer for the fermenting (wine Beer one I believe) and not for the distillate so that looks like its time for a trip to e-bay lol.

Also, If you add more alchohol into your wash via the heads, or even a tails run, obviously you end up with more product (top marks eh! ) but does that leave the still faster or do you just collect for longer? I guess its the taste test until I get a spirits Hydrometer!

I also assume the above is relevant depending on the ABV% of your wash in the first place, it seems pretty high with Triple Dist. Turbo yeast (about 0.094 SG if I have read it correctly)

Talking of which I think I might put that single run whisky I did from 3litres of wash back through, as although theres definite flowery smells it can give you a headache after about 20 mins!! (I did take 60ml off from only 3l of wash though so perhaps just heads are in there).

Thanks for all the advice...More stupid questions to follow

[Almanac]

I found with the Airstill that it was best to chuck the heads and tails from your last run into the next finished wash just before stripping. That way you get a better yield from the strip and that will mean you get more from the spirit runs.

You really do need an alcometer for the stripping runs so you can collect low wines right down to 20% and you also need it to accurately dilute the distillate to 30% for the spirit run.

The last thing to remember when using an Airstill is to carbon filter your spirits after making proper cuts. ( I did a basic guide to making cuts for beginners and its on here somewhere)

AM

[Speed_demon666]

OK so I'm just approaching the end of the first of my "secondary" distillations and its all going well. Its amazing how clean the 500ml heads are (now I have a spirit Hydrometer, approx 72-4%) compared to the 6ooth ml sample after it (well the 7th glass after that was about 42%), never mind the original instructions product, but I guess you have to make compromises adding tales else it would be very expensive and very time consuming.

I realised I was about to make an error compared to both methods I've been following (Mozrs and aidanmac's) of triple distilling the heads and tails from the secondary distillations as soon as I have them all, along with any spare stripped wash left...is there a reason you cant do this even if its topped up with water rather than wait for the next wash to ferment before distilling them?

Also, I'm still trying to get my head round the maths of the foreshots. If you have 6 pots of stripped wash that means theres 300ml of foreshots lurking in it. you then 2nd distill (using Mozrs plan) 2 pots you take off 100ml in total of that 300ml of nasties.

The other 200ml is lurking in the heads which you will later distill. When you do this you will, as always take 50ml foreshots..ok so that leaves another 150ml of nasties lurking.

So on this 3rd distill do you throw away the 250ml heads after use? because if you dont theres 150ml of it thats methanol etc.and all you are doing is concentrating down the foreshots content in it and increasing how much there is in future distillations which isnt accounted for, so you slowly increase the risk of having them in your liquor??

I know 50ml is an optomistic safety margin but even so you would need to keep it for every distillation.

I'm not mocking anyone and I'm sure this has all been thought out but I'd be grateful if someone could explain it to me

[Almanac]

I think you're a little mixed up as you seem to have a number of things confused or maybe it's the terms you're using that are creating confusion.

Not to worry, we've all been there so let's see if we can help you sort things out.

When you run 4l of wash in your Airstill this is called a Stripping Run.

What you collect from running each 4l Stripping Run is called 'Low Wines' There are no foreshots to collect. You simply collect everything that comes out of the still until the ABV gets down to 20%. To do this you should collect the first litre in a large enough container and then collect 100ml at a time to check the strength with your alcometer.

When all the wash has been stripped the strength of the Low Wines you have collected must measured and then diluted to 30%ABV.

The next stage is the Spirit Runs (this is the second distillation)

Put 4l of the diluted Low Wines in your Airstill. When this batch starts dripping you collect the first 50ml and this is your foreshots. The total amount of foreshots you will collect will be based only on the number of 4l Spirit Runs.

After you collect 50ml of heads from each 4l Spirit Run the next part to collect is 250ml of Heads, then the Hearts and Tails. There are no more Foreshots. When you've removed the Foreshots they're gone, they can't come back and your still can't make any more.

Even if you were to do a Heads only run when you have enough there still wouldn't e any more Foreshots and, last thing, there's no Methanol in a sugar wash.

You need to look at Mozr's chart again and follow it exactly as it's laid out.

Take it one step at a time and it'll work out for you.

AM

[YHB]

Try looking at it this way. The 50ml of foreshots are not all nasty. The foreshots are a mixture which contain the nasty bits as you call them.

This applies if the foreshots are taken either at the stripping or spirit runs.

If the foreshots are taken at the spirit run the nasties will still be in the first 50ml but there will be more of them.

The easiest way is to try it and see, you can tell by smell. The foreshots taken from the spirit run will smell a lot stronger and be more concentrated than those taken from a stripping run.

Hope that helps.

Edit - Sorry Aidan posted at the same time

[Speed_demon666]

cheers guys. I have been following the diagrams but I Like to understand it not just follow blindly. However, I think YHB has made it a bit clearer.

So what you're saying is that as an example and using the suggested plans (which I believe can be used for sugar or other washes??), out of your 50ml foreshot lets just say..30ml is harmful to your health as opposed to just tasting bad (but as AM says theres no methanol in sugar washes..is that the only chemical thats gonna make you go blind or meet your demise early? and while I'm asking, if I later run a roasted malt extract would that have methanol in it as its extract?).

so, the harmful chemicals comes from the wash depending on quantity and alchohol produced and in the helpful guides that are posted here. you do 6 stripping runs therefore 6x30ml =180ml. Thats 180ml in the total wash thats bad for your health (known in my terms as "Nasties").

So you have done the strip and left everything in. now your spirit runs. lets say you do 3. thats 3 lots of foreshots coming off. so thats only 150ml of liquid and as none of the alchohols have yet been removed the ratio would be the same of 30ml of Harmful nasties per 50ml so you only discard (ie chuck away etc) 90ml of them in your spirit runs.The rest (another 90ml) will be sitting in the heads.

so now comes your heads run (can I run heads and tales together any reason not to?). Lets say you have filled the still with your 1500ml of heads and topped it up with your tails and/or water. ie you havent added more wash which would raise the concentration of harmful chemicals some more.

AM you say no more foreshots, well thats why I ask if you would discard the "Heads" from your heads run rather than use them yet again, as there has to still be 90ml of harm sat in that liquid in the still?

YHB I think I get what youre saying is that by the time of the heads run, because you have taken away essentially half the nasties already, the ratio in a 50ml foreshot might now be I dunno lets say 45ml out of 50ml. But theres still harmful nasties in the heads, so I'm just asking is this logical process of thinking right and surely you must chuck SOMETHING away from the heads run before you take off the hearts?

I really dont think I'm a dumb ass but I imagine I've totally missed something here (Like AM says, for example theres NO harmful chemicals in a sugar mash just bad flavours, but then this process of thought would still stand up if you used the laid out diagrams for washes with methanol in?

Cant wait to get my hands on some of this alchohol once its filtered overnight and completely forget I asked this lol!

[YHB]

Speedy,

Forget methanol, it is not an issue here and does not come into the reasoning for the removal of foreshots or for making cuts.

Think Acetone, the stuff that ladies use for removing nail varnish.

You do not want to drink that do you? The first drips that come off the still will contain it. As the drips proceed the concentration will decrease. After 50ml have come of the still the concentraion will be negligble. The smell of acetone is so powerful that you can check this out by smelling the distillate and confirming that it has been removed.

The two alternatives that you quote both remove the foreshots at different stages.

Method One - The Method described by the Instructions that come with the Airstill.

The single distillation described here is the only oppurtunity of getting rid of the foreshots and they will be found in the first 50ml of distillate of each distillation. Dump them for each of the 6 runs that you describe.

Method Two - As described by Aidanmac/Mozr

With the double distillation described here in detail, the foreshots are removed during the second distillation (spirit run)and they will be found in the first 50ml of distillate of each distillation. Dump them for each of the 2 runs.

Both methods will get rid of the foreshots and the amount of alcohol removed is insignificant compared to the overall amount produced.

When you follow the procedures and smell the foreshots all will fall into place, do not overthink the problem.

Yes, after the foreshots are removed there are other undesirable elements left in the still that will give you headaches and hangovers, these are found in the heads and tails and if you follow Aidanmac's / Mozrs's advice you will isolate these as well.

One step at a time.

Toodlepip

[Speed_demon666]

Right,

So I've now run 2 washes through using the diagrams aidenmac and Mozr supplied and WOAH!! what a difference! The unflavoured spirit is stunning.

I also found that as much as I'd intended to keep the abv near the top end of 40% its really not beneficial to the flavourings and its far better to stick around the 40%.

I have one question now though.

I've 3/4 of a demi-john (4.5L full?) of heads and tails mixed (yes not quite as the diagrams but there you go)..the foreshots have been removed.

So to turn this into nice yummy alchohol, can I just water it down to 30% and treat it like a spirit run? If so can I still take off the same measurements as normal (50,250,500,500,ml etc)or will there be less output thats of use?

[Almanac]

Sorry Speeddemon but afraid not.

Your heads/tails mix should only be added to your next finished wash. Just chuck it all in to the wash just before doing your stripping runs. This will greatly boost what you collect from each stripping run and you will do that each time you complete a spirit run.

AM

[Speed_demon666]

OK thanks AM It'll have to sit there for a couple of weeks till the next one pops up!

[newstill]

Thanks so much for this! I was toying with the idea of buying a still and researching. Before I'd decided what to go for my wife surprised me with an airstill! I was a little concerned that it was going to be a bit if a waste of money as many folks seem to suggest the end product is sub standard and not worth the effort.

I'm a complete novice to this hobby and haven't even set the still up to try it out yet as I'm trying to glean as much advice as possible beforehand to get the best results possible when I do give it a whirl.

Thanks for the guide... I'm sure it will help me on my way

[Almanac]

Welcome Newstill.

It's an unfortunate truth that there are 'Distilling Snobs' in this hobby who denounce the Airstill at every opportunity and, in many cases, without experience, justification or reference to facts

Thankfully we don't have any here, that I know of

The Airstill is a great piece of kit and probably the best place for any novice to start. Bigger stills may be an attraction but without experience they can be quite daunting for the novice to use and control.

Your Airstill will allow you to learn the distillers craft while producing a good quality product provided you follow the guides here and completely ignore the manufacturers and sellers claims and instructions.

If you run into any difficulty just drop a question here and you'll usually get a quick response.

AM

[Frank]

@newstill, mate...welcome.....take your time, read heaps, try a few basic recipies, ask questions here and, maybe most of all, have fun while you do.....meanwhile, just ignore the 'ignoramus-types' as IMHO there's no better place to start your distilling journey than with an Airstill (+1 AidanMac!)