Airstill, Best Practice and Results

[John51]

I agree, airstills are a great first still.

If you couple them with a power controller, you can increase the quality of the spirit run. I used a neat looking 300w light dimmer from the bay to do the spirit run at 160w. ok it's 30w shy of the airstills power draw but it never got excessively warm. Of course the fan runs on a separate socket at full mains.

I now have a T-500 and the pros are better quality and more product per run but the cons are having to plan time for the run, fiddling with it some and being in the kitchen for ages as I do slow runs. Starting with a T-500 would have been somewhat daunting for me without the airstill experience.

[Speed_demon666]

Hi Newstill,

I have to say I love the Airstill. True its a bit time consuming to get 5.5L of good alcohol from in comparison to the Bigger stills (the BIGGEST tip I can give you is use The double Distilling technique from the posts above...takes longer than the manufacturers instructions but boy! what a difference! ) but how much Booze do you plan on drinking?

I find it easy to just finish one complete session,and while I'm cleaning up, stick a new mash in the tub and have a couple of weeks rest from it all while it brews,that much alcohol keeps me and my folks going in the meantime and over a period of time you can stockpile any spare in a demijohn and just measure it out to make whatever flavour you need in the future.

The Airstill is also alot more convenient if you dont have a lot of space or cant keep it on display and it can be stored under a bench and used without a water source...even when you're at work

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Corps012588]

Hi.
With my new wash I'm only getting 1000ml at the specified 50%
Simple question is, after throwing 50ml then keeping 250ml to one side
How much should I collect as hearts please?
Thanks in advance

[woof811]

first post lol and just a quick question about the volume after the first stripping run , in the guide it says you end up with approx 13.5 ltrs at 30 % .

the spirit run uses 12 ltrs , so what happens to the spare 1.5 ltrs thats left from the stripping run ?

just got my airstill and a wash is bubbling away , going to be following the guide for double distilling kindly provided by this forum .

[YHB]

The obvious answer is keep it and add it too the next stripped wash. This time you will have 15 litres (13.5l + 1.5l) to play with. The next time 16.5 litres i.e. 4 not 3 spirit runs. And so on ad infinitum.

In reality it will probably become a continuous cycle, with the next wash being ready to strip before you are down to your last 1.5 litres.

By the time you get through your first wash everything will fall into place. You will develop your own timing and methodology.

However you end up doing it, I am sure you will not end up with lots of bottles with 1.5 litres of low wines that you do not know what to do with.

[woof811]

thanks mate for the reply , i wasnt thinking straight about the spare 1.5 ltrs and it all sounds common sense now

my air still hasnt come with any collection jug , what do people use or recommend for a collection jug and im assuming its going to need measurements on the side of it .

a newbie to distilling but looks like ive come to right place

[vino-tinto]

I prefer to use glass with everything spirit, a 1 litre Pyrex measuring jug is my choice of weapon

[Almanac]

IKEA do a pretty good 1 litre graduated stainless steel jug and quite cheap. Good value and it won't break if you drop it

AM

[woof811]

Thanks for the tips , just looked on Ikea website and those stainless jugs look Beltin for what I need thanks .

[Magnu420]

I got one of these a few weeks back
http://m.wilko.com/wilko/product/detail ... Id=0316154

[woof811]

seen 2ltr glass jugs on flea bay seem cheap enough and be large enough for each stripping / spirit run - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330940943596? ... 1423.l2649

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

Airing final spirit is essential as there are a small amount of volatile elements in the distillate that will evaporate during airing - the Angel's Share

Those volatile elements are detectable as unwanted smells and tastes in your spirit and need time to evaporate and they will evaporate because they are lighter than air and have a low vapour point.

If you mark the liquid level on your distillate containers, with a marker, after just 24 hours you will notice a small difference in the overall volume and your spirits will be ready for bottling/flavouring/ageing/oaking etc.. This minor loss of volume is accounted for by the evaporation of the unwanted elements and your spirits will taste and smell clean and delicious

So is this done at whatever strength you get out of the still, or do you water it down towards 40% first?

Would a demijohn be suitable or do you need a wider necked vessel?

Do you lightly plug a bottle with cotton wool or cover with some sort of gauze?


Incidentally, she who might be obeyed has more or less said (or rather reluctantly agreed) that I can buy an airstill after we've both been paid at the end of the month.

[chill]

Don't water it down. A larger mouthed vessel is prefferable. I cover mine with a paper towel held on with an elastic band or simply drape a dish towel over it. A loosely woven cloth, coffee filter, etc also works well.

Chuck

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

Thanks Chuck.

I've got some old fashioned glass sweet (candy) jars up in my shed, must be at least 5 litre capacity with a 100mm diameter neck, I reckon they should be ideal.

[Almanac]

The distillate should be aired in it's raw state straight from the still and DJ's are not suitable.

I use these...


...the jars are 1 lt Kilner preserve jars and have screw on caps with removable centres. The fabric is gauze I got from my local pharmacy. They're 10cm square and I reuse them after each spirit run.

I found that larger volumes of spirit needed to be stirred every now and then but these 1lt jars don't have that problem.

A worthwhile investment, you can use jamjars just as effectively but I found the screw on lids ideal for keeping the gauze in place.

AM