Low Wines using AirStill

[Ayay]

Hi Dectscher,

I also live in WA and I originally bought an air still also (actually its still sitting in my shed, do you want 2?)

The reason people dis them is because there is a massive amount of marketing by the makers of these products to make you buy extra stuff. You buy you still, turbo yeast (Gives bad smells & tastes), dextrose (which is incredibly over priced, wont make a lick of difference because your turbo yeast isn't going to make you a clean spirit no matter what sugar you use) then you carbon for your wash, then you have to carbon filter afterwards, then you need glucose for your liquers and liquer mix B (which is just sugar) etc etc etc. And after you buy all that stuff you still wont make a good spirit cause your using a undersized still. Your liquers will taste ok cause you put massive amounts of flavours and stuff in to cover up the bad taste of the alcohol, but they will give you serious hangovers because your still is too small to do cuts.

You wont get a good clean vodka, but they sell a vodka essence (what the hell is a vodka essence meant to do???) The long and the short of it is, this still will make great distilled water, but the only way you will make a drinkable spirit is by flavouring the crap out of it. Like myself & Olddog, hopefully the airstill will lead you onto a bigger and better path, but you will get average spirits out of it until then. You can polish a turn as much as you like, its still just a turd, Liquour flavoured or not.

sorry for being so blunt

Ps. the guy at malt house might make good beer but he doesn't know anything about spirits as I questioned him at length one day, so I would avoid taking any advise if he does offer it.

Yer ain't blunt Aces; what you said is sharp an true! An airstill may work if you wring it's neck by takin it slow an re-run over an over and make the best cuts possible with a chainsaw.

[Aces High]

with a pot still,witch you have. in order to git a vodka type of spirits you should start with a very light flavored
wash/mash.example,, wheat/rice..next a good clean wash is one you "could" drink,with no off taste, a exsampol
for vodka would be sake,(there is others). if it has no harsh flavor then you do not have to worry about removing them

This is good advice. Start with the cleanest wash you can make, so no turbo yeasts.. If you have a 23L fementer, do a wash, get it as clear as you can. Possibly rack it off into a second container to let it clear even more. Do 5 batches of 4L and collect your 750ml's at a time and throwing away the first 50mls each time then collecting the 750ml after that. Then get your 5 lots of 750ml (these are your low wines and will be about 40% abv, if its not water it down to 40% which will help you repeat your results) and put them all back in and do a spirit run. Again throw away your first 50ml. This time its worth trying to do cuts in small jars and see if you can taste when it changes from heads to hearts & to tails. Write down your results and see how you go. As a very broad example it may be 1/3 heads, 1/3 hearts & 1/3 tails.

One thing good about the airstill is that it will run the same every time, so if you can keep your wash consistant, then do a spirit run with 40% abv low wines your cut points should stay fairly stable.

I used to do my strip runs with a timer on the power cable. Set it for 3 hours, the unit will get up to temp at pretty much 1 hour. Here you can take your foreshots. Then you can let it run for another 2 hours and turn itself off. That way you dont have to watch it too much. On the spirit runs it will start dripping earlier though as you are using 40% abv.

This is about the best way I found to run it. Good luck

[Aces High]

If you have used the system before, how did you get your best results?

I sold it

OD

Thanks OD, This wins as the best anwser of the day, made me fall of my chair laughing

['SideWinder']

Wow guys thx I'm happy now.

This is the information I'm after!

I'll start trying your recommendations. Once my Low Wines trial fails. I shall start my convincing strategy with my partner that I need a new still It could take awhile & may cost a lot too. She's already not impressed lol.

[olddog]

Can you solder? have you got any tools?


OD

['SideWinder']

with a pot still,witch you have. in order to git a vodka type of spirits you should start with a very light flavored wash/mash.example,, wheat/rice..next a good clean wash is one you "could" drink,with no off taste, a exsampol
for vodka would be sake,(there is others). if it has no harsh flavor then you do not have to worry about removing them.
(for the layman,, if you was filtering water,and if you start with clean water you will not have as much work to do as you would if you started with muddy/stinky water)

Thx Dnderhead.

I thought a "clean wash" meant anything apart from Turbos . So I did a All-Bran wash and my BirdWatchers is almost complete too. So a clean wash would be something like Wineo's plain sugar wash correct?
With regards to water, I was thinking because I use tap water. The house I'm in now is like probably 30yrs old atleast and when you turn the hot water on it looks murky lol (cold doesnt look that bad). I thought I'd try filtering the water next time too. I don't know much about PH levels, but in the BW wash I've added 20ml (I think) fresh lemon juice.

['SideWinder']

Can you solder? have you got any tools?


OD

Lol. Don't make me laugh.
I'm a student at Uni doing a double major in Accounting & Finance, I work in a Law firm office. Would somebody like me own tools? I have actually soldered 2 speakers wires together but thats it. I rather pay people to do it and atleast then I know it's done properly.

Edit: Did I mention poor aswell? My partner & I have been building our house since January (will get keys in 3-4weeks ) btw I'm 21.

['SideWinder']

Deu, you also need to start calculating your yields based on ingredients (sugar), Starting gravity SG and final gravity FG measurements using as hydrometer

I do use a Hydrometer. My SG was 1.060 from memory. I used the parenting site for potential abv. Although I used Dextrose I initially used 4.7Kg of dextrose in a 25L wash making my potential 9.9%. I then stuck my Hydrometer in to get a SG and from memory was something like 1.060.

['SideWinder']

I'll give these Low Wines & BiCarb a go, I'll try a potential 10% Wineos Sugar Wash, making sure my PH level is right, & using White Sugar instead of Dextrose. I'll try to collect cuts in shot glasses and try to make better cuts.

If none of these work to make a Vodka (up to my standard, like I said I'm 21 with not much good quality drinking experience), I will start trying to convince my gf that I need a new Still. I think once I tried a Wineo's with Low Wines & BiCarb & shot glass cuts doesn't reach my standards I think that will be the limits of the AirStill & then I can look into getting a better Still.

['SideWinder']

Bagasso “could be that the sweetness you are getting from your vodka is just the sweetness of the ethanol.”

Tater “Might try inverting the sugar.Ive found to my tastes that it lessen the sweet taste also ya might be keeping to much heads .”

kiwistiller “Ph treating your low wines with sodium caronbate might be a good experiment to do with your GC”

Braz “I don't know, my AllBran vodka has a bit of sweetness to it and I like it. So do the few lucky folks who have tried it. I think I agree with Bagasso that really good neutral is naturally a bit sweet.”

This is the kind of things I've read. That is why I don't know if the Sweetness smell is normal or not. I don't know what it smells like to be honest, I can't put a name to it. Sometimes I think it smells like older mushy apples or pears that I had when I was in Germany, other times it's an alcohol smells, other times I smell a tinge of nail polish.

[olddog]

other times it's an alcohol smells, other times I smell a tinge of nail polish.

Thats the result you get from Turbo yeast


OD

['SideWinder']

other times it's an alcohol smells, other times I smell a tinge of nail polish.

Thats the result you get from Turbo yeast


OD

I don't know what I smell then because I use All-Bran recipe.
I'll get others to smell my "vodka" and get them to tell me what they smell. Maybe my sense of smell is just retarded.

[rad14701]

Wow...!!! This topic got really long and drawn out really fast... Please allow me to interject a few pieces I don't recall reading here as yet...

First, forget that 750ml figure that the original instructions stated... It was wrong to state that for a turbo wash and definitely wrong to follow for a lower gravity wash like All Bran or Birdwatchers... You simply collect in small containers, somewhere between 9 and 11, or more, as previously stated here, but you only collect until the smell, feel, taste indicates that you are hitting the tails... Same method of making cuts as a big still, again, as stated previously... You won't end up with 750ml of drinkable spirits unless you count diluting to drinking proof... But there's more...

Due to the small amount of spirits collected it is almost impossible to make accurate measurements in an effort to determine when to stop collecting using an alcometer... Use the percentage method instead to get close... For a 4 liter/quart charge the 750ml/25oz number is fairly close but you might be able to collect a bit more if you are double or triple distilling, which I'd recommend... Again, don't just lock onto a number, use your senses to determine when to stop collecting... It's more complicated than the simple instructions that came with the unit state... If they said how complicated it was many folks wouldn't bother, they'd buy a bottle instead of the still...

And with regard to members bashing Air Stills in general, much of it has to do with either being a dis-satisfied owner of one or trying to help convince owners that they were duped with hype, only to be argued with that the brew shop owners know more than we do here... Nobody likes hearing that the brew shop folks are more interested in lining their pockets than caring about whether or not you can make decent spirits... They prey upon unknowing customers who partake in the art of insanity - believing that, somehow, during the course of making the same mistakes over and over again, that they will end up with different results... They'll have you try one thing and then another, never necessarily believing that you'll ever be successful because your repeated attempts is what keeps then in business... They falsely befriend you... And when you stop coming in they will just think you gave up and will wait for the next unsuspecting Air Still customer... Some Air Still owners will truly quit and others will find their way here, where this same scenario plays out again and again... Which brings us full circle back to where we are right now...

Sorry for making this post so long but I wish there was a way to warn people before they spend more hard earned cash than they should for a simple contraption that comes with more promises and expectations than the unit can deliver... Shiny little money pits, that's what they are... "Air Still" is a good categorization for them because you can just about watch your money vanish into thin air as you chase an artificially preconceived dream...

I think I've made my point so I'll slip back into the shadows from whence I came...

NUFF SAID...

['SideWinder']

Thx Rad.

Maybe you should write a book

The reason I ask for mls instead of smell/taste is because I have absolutely no clue what it should smell/taste like. I posted some quotes earlier. Some people think that ethanol has a sweet smell to it normally.

I do understand (in a way) about the AirStill bashing. But I do also know that different people have different tastes. For instance an alcoholic would drink whatever the AirStill could produce, while many of you wouldn't touch it. I myself haven't figured out where I stand in the scheme of things. (I'm not an alcoholic!)

Edit: Just remembered something. I was collecting the 500mls I do, and then collected some more in a seperate container and I got some uhh floaties? in the container... what are they?

Edit2: You recon I could collect more than 750mls if I'm double distilling? meaning a spirit run ye? This is why I created this thread. What am I looking for when I collect over 750mls? It's not going to change in smell is it? because I should have already hit tails ye?

[olddog]

Making cuts is not about quantities as they can vary with each wash, its about quality, this is why the guys are telling you to collect in small containers throughout the run. Then after leaving it to air for 24 hours, start in the middle and work out and you decide for your taste, which samples you wish to keep and which samples you want to discard. No one can give you a specific on this, it's up to your tastebuds.


OD

['SideWinder']

Making cuts is not about quantities as they can vary with each wash, its about quality, this is why the guys are telling you to collect in small containers throughout the run. Then after leaving it to air for 24 hours, start in the middle and work out and you decide for your taste, which samples you wish to keep and which samples you want to discard. No one can give you a specific on this, it's up to your tastebuds.


OD

Starting to get that I've tried %'s with your information and also Kiwi's (on cuts) and my foreshots should be atleast 40mls but everything else doesn't make sense lol.

Taking 1L from my 4L would be plenty to take for my Low Wines?
I'll chuck my initial 50mls. Then I'll collect 10x 100mls? would this be too broad? then trying my cuts XD
my birdwatchers should be done end of weekend.

['SideWinder']

New question.

If I have 3L of 40% (foreshots taken out already), if I water it down to make 4L, add 4 tablespoons bicarb then wait 2days. Run it through my Still.

What will this achieve? If I discard 50mls and then collect 700mls.

theoretically speaking.

Also,

Can you drink the alcohol with bicarb in it? (without redistilling it). I'm reading that bicarb soda is good for you.

[maheel]

dude you need to calm down, maybe you should sit down stop typing and do some reading ?
you don't seem to be taking what has been said in......

you will need to collect in smaller bottles try stubbies 8 (old 330ml beer bottles)
collect 100mls in each
let it air overnight
smell them from the middle out and try to "smell" the differance.

decide what you do and dont like

it might be a good idea to save some of them up and re-distill some. (not mixing heads and tails)

you say your drinking some of it and are "happy" well do a few washes and experiment a bit.

just collecting 750ml in a bottle is not going to get you away from carboning, filtering, adding all sorts of crap.....

hope i dont offend........

['SideWinder']

hope i dont offend........

Not at all.

I'm at work. Trying to absorb a lot of information.
If you hadn't noticed I don't trust my senses. Hence I try to find out from others a guide and then experiment from there.
It feels like I'm jumping into dark water having no clue what to expect.

Edit: Sorry if I come across annoying, I'm actually really excited and can't wait to get home

[olddog]

dude you need to calm down, maybe you should sit down stop typing and do some reading

+1

I would advise you to start here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2#p6815752


OD

['SideWinder']

dude you need to calm down, maybe you should sit down stop typing and do some reading

+1

I would advise you to start here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2#p6815752" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


OD

It is a very informative thread I did read it.
"I've tried %'s with your information and also Kiwi's (on cuts) and my foreshots should be atleast 40mls but everything else doesn't make sense lol."

But I am trying to mathmatically solve the question... that is unsolvable I think

Edit: According to Kiwi's cut's on his 25L he takes 8-12% for heads. In my case it would calculate to 320-480mls (which seems like a huge amount). And my 200mls after the 50mls smells better than anything after it.

Edit: I did like his graphs, because it really does show how the curve goes. and by using my airstill it would be a greater mush together.

[olddog]

This is now becoming troll like to the extent that there is an echo around here with everyone telling you the same thing, but you do not seem to listen to the advice given.
This thread is now locked, we cannot tell you anymore, do some reading and get some practice distilling.


OD