StillSmart

Hi Skookum, nice to hear from you. I too run a T500
great bit of kit. If you like Vodka, you must try a
Kale wash, if you have not already, its so good and
cheap.

Second, or third what Phantom said. By and large a friendly if some what motley crew on here

I personally have not been on here much over the last month. House is undergoing renovation and my free hours has been spent either clearing up after tradesmen or down my local gathering intelligence.

When I last posted, I was in the process of running my first batch of Gin through my newly acquired AirStill. I have to say I am very impressed. I try lots of different craft Gins out there and I have to say my first batch could easily fit in any of those without anyone knowing its from my "hobby" still. Those who have "tested" it have commented how smooth it is. A basic sugar wash, strip and distill runs and a very simple botanical recipe of Juniper,Coriander seed,Orris and Angelica root, Cardamom seeds and pods and Liquorice stick. The end result in my view is something akin to an "Old Tom", very nice and easy to drink, with or without a mixer.

All this done with the help of the likes of Robert and Mash whose advice I found invaluable.

I won't be able to run another batch for at least a month due to the building work here and next weeks trip to France as part of our town twinning association. My hosts will of course will be given a gift of Klunks Gin in a fancy bottle. No jam jars for them

Thanks for this forum I have now got hooked and my brain is already consumed with Gin distilling ideas.

Bon Chance et Sulut!
Grant.

Thanks for the welcome comments. I'm looking forward to participating here.

Gaza: I will be trying the Kale wash at some point. My project this summer is to find my go to wash for vodka.

First 5 batches were SS turbo 8, with 7 kg sugar. I wanted a consistent wash so I could figure out the still itself. Final results after double distilling are palatable but I'm sure I can get better. Carbon filter may help, but I don't want to rely on that going forward.

I did a wheat bran recipe (Teddy's fast fermenting vodka) - not sure if I like the product or not, has a bit of a sharp taste. Maybe I it needs filtering or aging. Will experiment.

It took a bit to convince the wife that I could make booze with tomato paste, but that wash is clearing now.

I'm also ordering some Vodka Star, as it seems a popular choice - not much different from Wineos plain old sugar recipe, except premixed.

I did read some posts about kale or lentil washes stinking up the house. Is that your experience? I ferment in the kitchen, and can't afford to piss off you know who.

Cheers, Skookum

Skookum wrote:Thanks for the welcome comments. I'm looking forward to participating here.

Gaza: I will be trying the Kale wash at some point. My project this summer is to find my go to wash for vodka.

Cheers, Skookum

IMHO The best Vodka wash is Kale.
You have found it cheap, easy and so neutral.
All my Vodka is double run Kale

Vodka Star is a good neutral, for those that do.
Others here bang on about Kale,Lentil, whatever.
You cannot take from a recent convert.
But there is no one true path.
And that is what keeps this thing fun.

Robert

Hi Guys,
Another Newbie to plague you with daft questions, I'm afraid! I started making wine in January and progressed to distilling 3 months later. (Only an Airstill but that's all I can afford). On my 3rd wash now (just clearing). 1st wash I followed the instructions that came with the still and watched Richard on Youtube.
Then I found you chaps and realised the folly of my ways!! so the second wash was a double run.Work intensive, isn't it? I was up and down like a whores drawers for 2 days making cuts and taking readings every 100ml. Since the best I could get on the strip was 55% I was pretty amazed on the 2nd run to get 96+% through the heads. My cuts were 50ml fore-shots; 220ml heads and continued hearts until the readings fell off at about 1200. Still no discernible off smells but it was getting down into the 30's so I stopped. Does this sound about right? I used all the turbo stuff that came with the kit but it's a trifle expensive. Ideas on reducing costs would be appreciated.
Looking forward to chatting with you all.

Hi Barafundle - welcome. There are plenty here who will help with your questions, daft or not.

Sounds to me like you have done your research into Airstill best practice! It works a treat, but take a look at some of the alternate recipes (kale, wheat, tomato paste) if you are using turbos - a lot of us find they produce much cleaner spirit.

I'm interested in your Airstill, if it produces heads at 96%. That's pretty much azeotrope (the maximum strength alcohol you can get out of a still without some serious physics) and normally only achievable with a reflux still. I get max 80% out of my Airstill..

Other than that, your figures are pretty close to what I get out of mine.

Cheers

Hampk

Hi Hampk. I know! I couldn't believe the readings myself. I'm doing a strip run tomorrow and the spirit run the next day so I'll post the readings I get each 100ml. As far as I know it's a bog standard Airstill with no manual temp control so we'll see next time if they were fluke readings. It was a brand new Alcometer which I bought after I discovered that my original one doesn't bend >:( $&%*£@<!!
Thanks for your reply; I'll be back in a couple of days.
B.

Next thing you need is a gap in the freezer...... Much quicker

Mash wrote:Next thing you need is a gap in the freezer...... Much quicker

Sorry Mash.....am I being thick?

Welcome Barafundle,
Your spirit % sounds high, all else sounds good.
Try a different wash, lentil or Kale, whatever. All as cheap as chips.
Mash is eluding to freeze stripping.
You have some reading to do here!

Robert.

Barafundle wrote:

Mash wrote:Next thing you need is a gap in the freezer...... Much quicker

Sorry Mash.....am I being thick?

I miss out the stripping steps but freezing the fermenter whole.

Try here... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4355&p=42098&hilit=Freeze+stripping#p42098

Oh right! I think I heard about this being done in roasting trays but never the whole fermenter. It would certainly save on the electricity bill but could also be a very quick shortcut to Slipdiskville, Hernialand!! . Many thanks for the link, tho.

Easydrinker wrote:Welcome Barafundle,
Your spirit % sounds high, all else sounds good.
Try a different wash, lentil or Kale, whatever. All as cheap as chips.
Mash is eluding to freeze stripping.
You have some reading to do here!

Robert.

Yes, I must say my flabber was somewhat gasted; and taking readings every 100ml it remained mid 80's through the Hearts but, after 1000ml it dropped off very quickly. Maybe the Ukrainian alcometer is lying to me....Ill see next time. Kale and Allinsons ordered for next week!

Hi all. Been lurking on the forum but it's a bit anti-social to take advice on board without at least registering. I've gone through the usual route of fermenting beer and cider but as my drink of choice is gin I've had a go at macerating the botanicals in a half decent vodka and been pleasantly surprised by the result (although the tea colour is a bit weird) so distilling seems the way to go.

An Air Still has duly been ordered which gives me time to get started on a wash - from the advice on here kale seems pretty straightforward.

I have one question regarding water. One of my other hobbies is marine fishkeeping so I have a ready supply of RO water (measured at 0ppm). One thread suggested tap water is fine for the wash. Any thoughts on whether the RO water is a good or bad choice to dilute the spirit?