New SS AirStill owner from Australia

[Kelly]

Hi everybody.

I hope it's ok to sign up. I looked at joining a couple of Aussie brew/distillers forums but they seem to really get nasty with anyone who dares to admit they have an AirStill Seeing as how you guys seem more reasonable, I thought I'd sign in and say "Hi".

I'm almost a complete noob at distilling - I purchased a SS AirStill a few years ago, did a couple of runs then got distracted by life and did not go back to it until this week.

I can't say I'm overawed by the quality... because apparently following the instructions was not the way to go I've sussed out the 'Air Still distillation breakdown' thread and the 'Airstill, Best Practice and Results' thread and now it makes more sense as to why my alcohol tastes like crap! I'm so glad I found this site!

I have a quick (I hope) initial question. I have a stash of three AirStill 10lt production packs kicking around. I was planning on using a CL23 or EC1118 as the Turbo yeast is dead (I've just done a batch with CL23 so I know it will work - it tasted shite and now I know why). So, my question is : Do the same rules apply regarding the cuts, etc apply when using dextrose, champagne yeast, liquid carbon and 2 part clearing agents as they do for other (less clean?/more complex washes? Hope that makes sense.

Once I work my way through the dextrose, I can branch out and experiment with other wash recipes.

Cheers!

[Icefever]

Welcome to the site matey...the answer to your question, is yes...the cuts are very important if you don't want to drink crap..

Don't worry to much about yeast...most guys stick to bog standard dried bakers yeast.
Most of us don't use the carbon crap either, try a basic sugar wash with kale or lentils...it'll all start to drop in to place as you do more and make sense of it.

[Kelly]

Hi IceFever,

Thanks for the reply. I've already orderd the yeast so I'll use that for this next batch.
The carbon crap and clarifier is already here, so I feel compelled to use it rather than waste resources... so I'll use that for this next batch.

Lentils and kale... great gods, I won't even eat those things! Even my chooks didn't like kale! I will look up the posts for those and give them a go in the near future. I look forward to delving into the new natural world of fermenting and distilling. I'm also about to have a bash at an apple cider. If it's crap maybe I can run that through the AirStill as well!

[Mash]

Welcome aboard. How are you making the cider ?

[Kelly]

Hi Mash,

I'm starting out the Noob way - as in I'm cheating with a Mangrove Jacks Apple Cider kit I have a tonne of apples on my trees and they will be ready in about two-three weeks. I wanted to have a quick run at it and learn the basic process before I attempt to do it from scratch.

Pointers?

[Mash]

IS thats ton literaly or just loads.

Either way you gotta break em down to get the juice out. If you have a freezer big enough that's brilliant if not a garden shredder works. Butyou will need a press.

[Anavrin]

Hi Kelly

Apple Cider from apples is a lot of hard work, I found you need about 10kg of apples to get 5 litres of juice to ferment.

That's after you've chopped, pulped and pressed them, if you collect the apples and leave them as long as you can to ripen, they will be sweeter.

Also if you can get your hands on a garden weed shredder, it will save you a lot of time chopping and pulping, just feed the apples into the shredder and you've got instant pulp :-)

Then you just need to press them.

[Mash]

Easier still is just freeze them. Thaw and then press. Just brilliant.

[Easydrinker]

As you can see, this is a friendly place to be.
We just bitch a little about who has the best method.
But, all are welcome, users and methods.

Robert.

[Flump]

Use a juicer to turn your apples into pre-cider. This is cheaper, faster and more efficient than messing about with a scratter and press. I have and use the scatter and press method because I've had them for years but if I was starting now I'd go for the juicer method. Here is a quick article on how to do it - http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2014/03/an-interview-with-the-kitchen-cider-innovator/

If you only have one tree then check with your neighbours if they have apples going to waste. The more varieties you add to the mix the better the cider. I have five varieties and my cider usually comes out at 7% abv, some years 8%.

[Mash]

GEE I am glad I have a press.

[Easydrinker]

Do I smell sarcasm?
Definitely a difference of opinion here, which is healthy, 'There is no one true way'!
One day I will make that my signature here.
I have tapped it out often enough.

Robert.

[Mash]

Do I smell sarcasm?

Yup. Sorry couldn't find the right smiley

[Thunderbird]

Hi Kelly, nothing wrong with the AirStill in my opinion the only thing was I found stripping and spirit runs really slow (an average of 3 nights for a 24 litre wash) so I got myself a T500. But I use the AS for the final run, making great gin so there's no way I'm getting rid of mine. It's only me and one or two close friends drinking it so I don't need a huge still - my setup does me just fine. Just because we've bought our gear off the shelf, some seem to refer to it as 'toy stills' which I don't understand.

The T500 makes alcohol to around 93% - 91%, which may not be high enough for some experienced distillers, but for a home distiller like me (making small quantities for my own consumption) this is plenty strong enough. Yes, the AS might not reach high strengths of big stills, but it makes a very decent hooch if you follow the AirStill guidance on this forum and use the Still Spirits AS instructions to light the fire with.

I was lucky, I found this forum before I made my first spirit so I was really happy with the results from my AS. It's not the AS that's at fault, it's the f***ing crap instructions it comes with that gives it a bad reputation with the uninitiated. And this has to be one of the friendliest forums there is; the more experienced distillers are so patient with us noobs, unlike some of the other forums which I find very intimidating.

[Kelly]

HI Guys,

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to a noobie. I've had all sorts of internet issues. The National Broadband Network (NBN) is being rolled out in Aus and I signed on a few weeks ago. Since then I've had virtually no connection apart from the past few days. I think NBN actually stands for No Bloody Network! Thus my very tardy response.

As for the "tonne" of apples... Well I've eaten a fair few, made apple pies and the King Parrots and Rosellas scored more than their fair share, so there will be no cider from my apples this year. It was a metaphorical tonne - I doubt I would have had enough apples to scrounge together 5lts of juice anyway I checked out the link Flump provided and I'll have a go at it next year. I used to have a whole fruit Breville juicer and gave it to my ex and bought a screw press... which is going to be really tedious!! Still, I'll give it a go.

I did make a batch of the Mangrove Jacks. It was bottled on Sunday. I'm not going to know what it's like until at least the 27th. There is no way I'm going to try a bottle after just one weeks rest - it will probably be dreadful!

I'll be running my first large batch of wash in the 25tlt fermenter next week (in the past I've run the 10lt batch). And then I'm going to try the triple distil method from this forum. I'll let you know how I go.

Thank you everyone for being so friendly and helpful. It is really appreciated.

Cheers!
Kelly