StillSmart

Hi Guys

Just buying my first Air still been reading through your forum some great guides and information.

A few of questions I was hoping you could help me out with. I have read on you Forums about putting in copper washers/Copper mesh to help purify the Spirit where do I put these at the bottom with the Raschig Rings?

As I said I have just ordered my still and will put a wash on as soon as get. I was thinking of running some mead (honey wine) or Blackcurrant wine (would this make a mess of the still) through. Should I run this through once or double distil, After double distilling would the mead still retain any flavour? And is it ok to cut the finished spirit with the mead wine to get 40% ?

Also I have been reading about Methanol content would running wines through the still increase Methanol content?

Would Puking (Wash boiling over lid blown off) be more of a risk with wines? Anything I can do to reduce the chances?

Is this the correct calculation to work out alcohol content when mixing?[/size]

Sprit ABV = A
Mix ABV = B
Spirit L = C
Mix = D

((A*C)+(B*D))/(C+D)

Lastly does anyone have a recipe for making something similar to Captain Morgan’s spiced rum.

Thanks for any assistance greatly appreciated

Ian

Welcome

I'll let one of the more experienced members answer your questions, but with regards to diluting and figuring out alcohol content, I just use this calculator:

http://homedistiller.org/calcs/dilute

"I have read on you Forums about putting in copper washers/Copper mesh to help purify the Spirit where do I put these at the bottom with the Raschig Rings?"

That is what I do. If you have copper mesh, you could get creative and find some whay to suspend it above the liquid.

"I have just ordered my still and will put a wash on as soon as get."

Why wait? Start the wash now! :-)

"I was thinking of running some mead (honey wine) or Blackcurrant wine (would this make a mess of the still) through. Should I run this through once or double distil,"

It should be fine, you will probably want to double distill. At least that is what I would do.

"After double distilling would the mead still retain any flavour? And is it ok to cut the finished spirit with the mead wine to get 40% ?"

In an AirStill it will have lots of flavour. No harm in cutting it with mead if you like the flavour.

"Also I have been reading about Methanol content would running wines through the still increase Methanol content?"

It won't increase it (distilling does not create anything, it only concentrates it) but it will result in a higher concentration. I'd discard a bit more fore shots and then not worry about it. People have been drinking brandy for centuries. Methanol forms an azeotrope with ethanol, so you can't get rid of it.

"Would Puking (Wash boiling over lid blown off) be more of a risk with wines? Anything I can do to reduce the chances?"

There is a good chance that they would be more prone to boil over. Distiller's Conditioner is excellent to prevent this, but 1 tsp of cooking oil or a dab of butter will also work.

"Lastly does anyone have a recipe for making something similar to Captain Morgan’s spiced rum."
Pick any of the rum recipes around here and experiment soaking SMALL amounts of cinnamon, cloves, alspice, etc in it to get the flavour you want. A little goes a long way. My first attempt is now a "spiced rum essence". An ounce in a bottle of rum is plenty!

Welcome, and enjoy this great hobby!

Chuck

Manual calc for dilution of distillate would be as follows;

A = Volume of distillate (this is the volume of distillate before dilution)
B = ABV of Distillate (this is the strength of the distillate)
C = Target ABV (this is the strength you want your finished Spirit to be)
D = volume of water to be added.

Calculation: [(B/C)-1]*A = D

e.g. If your distillate (B) is 70%ABV and you want to dilute it to (C) 40%ABV and you are starting with (A) 3.25 litres of distillate the calc is as follows;

[(70/40)-1]*3.25 = 2.44 litres of water to be added giving a final volume of 5.69lt at 40%ABV

AM

I'm *really* interested to see what you get from mead or wine in the Airstill.

I make a lot of wine and mead, and have been tempted lately to put some through my Airstill but wonder whether it'll just be a waste of good wine? Seems like not a lot of amateurs make brandy or eau de vie, so I wonder if I'm just missing something, or it's just not popular?

I have 5gal of Shiraz bulk aging at the moment, I may pull off 4 or 8L during bottling for the still instead.

Anyone else have any experience with distilling wine or mead?

I've distilled wine, it makes a nice brandy (give a decent enough wine). You are not going to get a lot out of 4L of wine, so balance that against how good the wine tastes. Most of the wine I make is too good and too costly for me to want to distill it.

Chuck

Exactly the same problem Chuck.

I put time and effort into my wine, and to put 5 or 10 bottles worth into the still makes me cringe.

I've got a 4-wk Costco kit sitting in the closet I've been avoiding, pretty cheap table wine but it's drinkable. Nothing outstanding, but for the cost and time investment, may be worth a batch just to test out some brandy.

Do you blend back into the same type of wine, or age the distillate on its own?

I have been eyeing up a local cheap wine kit for exactly the same purpose/reason. I am going to do it soon. It seem much more suitable to distilling than a delicious wine. What I have distilled so far is my or my neighbour's discards.

I age the distillate on its own, or on some toasted oak if I want a brandy type drink. Both are good.

Chuck

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the information and advice ,Unfortunatelyhad to run off to work before my still arrived so going to be another few weeks before can try will keep you all informed how it turns out thanks again