StillSmart

My guide was based on a wash at 15% but it must be remembered that it is only a guide and that many other factors can affect the output on both stripping and spirit runs.

Things like the completeness of the ferment e.g. remaining unfermented sugars, pH of the wash and low wines, the clarity of the wash going into the still will affect the final output from the airstill too.

Also, in the normal course of events you should be adding some feints to each stripping charge and this will boost the output.

Someone recently posted a serious point for all home distillers. One of the most essential skills required by a home distiller is brewing skills.

The better our brewing the better our distilling will be.

AM

Ah, I must have misread.

Thanks for the great info.. I just ran 2 23 l washes through using the old method,, Now I want to run it through as described here,, unfortunately I did not do a stripping run down to the ABV listed,, I will wait for my next batched to do it this way,,

Any hints or suggestions on how to get the 4L wash up to a correct temp before pouring into the airstill? will it speed up the procedure? or does the unit need to cycle through the whole procedure when restarting?

@Kerryw
I put the 4 llitre wash on the (LPG) stove in a big ss pot until its nearly boiled. Whilst waiting, I also pour some boiling water in the airstill and put the lid on.
When the wash is suitably hot on the stove, I pour out the airstill water, pour in the 'boiled' wash ...it really does make a BIG diff re startrup times for the airstill.

Please note: dont try to boil anything on or above 40%ABV this way. In fact, if you wish to consider this method, I'd suggest its best left for the preparing for the stripruns (ie fermented wash) only. Also, it requires LOTS of 'careful-first' behaviour as there is no room for error and hot liquid hurts.

Thanks I knew there had to be a way to speed up the process,,waiting 90 minutes for the first drip is a very long time,,

From Aidanmac's "Unofficial Guide" you will see he recommends collecting until the tails (wet cardboard smell) are detected. Depending on wash type and strength, this occurs around 55% in my runs, but you'll soon recognise that awful smell and won't want to drink it. Hence the advantage in using smaller containers after the initial 1 ltr hearts collection. Good luck. SW

Ooops, somehow ended up wrong page - please ignore. SW

Hi Aidanmac, am I right in thinking that if I use your "Unofficial Guide" for neutral spirit, the heads and tails are not really useful? My first attempt at your double distilling method has produced some really nice neutral without them.
I can see a benefit for a brandy or scotch run but for neutral do you want to add flavours? SW

Add the tails to your next wash just prior to the stripping runs. Collect the heads and run when you have enough. There is lots of usable ethanol that can be extracted. I add baking soda and hot water (50/50 with the heads) to try and separate the ethyl acetate and so boost the ethanol reclaimed.

@ SW: I suppose the end purpose of the guide is to demonstrate how to process a fermented wash to the point of defining and separating the Heads, Hearts and Tails. How much, or if, any of these elements are to be blended is at the discretion of the distiller depending on the final product required.

Obviously, for a neutral spirit, you would want to exclude all Heads and Tails but, with the Airstill, you will always have some residual flavour. After all, the Airstill is a Pot-Still and, as such, it's not going to be efficient at producing real neutral spirit. To achieve a good neutral you would have to triple distil the hearts cuts from multiple spirit runs which is perfectly doable but a lot of extra work.

AM

I am doing the spirit run toonight and following the hints from earlier,,
So far the hearts seem to be good @ 80%,
The preheat method works fast,, only took 54 minutes to get it dripping

Thanks for the good advice

Been a while , but I've been following Aidan's guide and can't recommend it enough.

Being using a tomato paste wash and I couldn't be happier Only downside is it takes 3 weeks to brew

Got enough heads saved up now and about to do my first heads run. I basically don't have a clue what I'm doing. AM told me to dilute down to 20% to make it easier to cut but not sure what I'm looking for or when to stop collecting etc Will there still be heads and tails in the heads?? May be a dumb question that but I really don't know. I've already dumped the foreshots on the spirit run so obviously that's dealt with.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I treat my heads to improve my yield. I full up 1.9L bottles half full of heads, add 2-3 Tbsp of baking soda, and then fill up with HOT water. They should fizz quite a bit as some of the ethyl acetate is reduced back to acetic acid (?) and ethyl alcohol (e.g. you will get more hearts if you do this).

Then run as normal. You will get more heads than a normal run. I usually discard the first cup and then save any heads that I collect for a future heads run. You will have to taste to see when the hearts start. There will be a small amount of tails, but they will appear much latter (at a much lower ABV) than in a normal run.

Chuck

this chart you made helps a lot. I have been running left over wine and have good results Thanks

Chuck's method is for running Heads is good and another example of how different people employ various practices for processing product.

Personally, I dilute my saved Heads to 20% because at lower ABV it is easier to separate the ethanol from the rest. Keeping the temp as low as possible while maintaining a drip from the condenser makes for a better product but even with the Airstill you will get good results from a Heads run.

Although there are no Fores in a Heads run, as such, you will get a lot more Heads than usual and I taste after every 250ml until I detect a falloff and then I change to 100ml collection until I'm satisfied that I'm into the Hearts.

I don't retain the Heads or Tails from this type of run because I think there's a limit to what is practical and how much I'm prepared to squeeze my product.

Different strokes

AM

Cheers for the replies guys.

I'm just finishing of 2 stripping runs, so will probably be tommorow I attempt the heads run.

What exactly am I tasting for?

Following AM's instructions has mostly been simple measurements up to now, apart from the tails which I collect down to 30% in 100ml, adding the ones I want which don't smell foul. Must admit though, I'm only getting 100ml I'm not adding with the TPW, which are still borderline if they could be added. Way better than the turbo anyway. Ending up with 1.4l @ around 65%.