I've owned an air still for about a year now because I have been fascinated with the science (and art) of distilling and wanted to start off with something very accessible to me here in Australia. I live in a very small apartment and host lots of company, and I chose the air still to keep in the kitchen without getting dirty looks
It was enough to learn the basics and no matter how often I strip washes I am amazed at what comes out of the other end, even if it smells like the missus' nail polish remover!What I wanted to ask you gurus is, what's the most I can expect from this 4L air still in terms of alcohol quality? I've ran things through it from old leftover wine to batches of Birdwatcher's wash, and I can get fairly clean-tasting spirit eventually... but it takes me several runs and even then it's not quite as clean as I'd like. I know plenty of you might tell me simple facts - if I want cleaner alcohol I have to get a better still. But I'd like to see how much I can get out of this bugger whilst it's in my possession.
As of this writing I am stripping the last of my 22L BW wash and will then begin distilling the stripped wash. I have been collecting 600-700ml of the 4L depending on taste, when I believe there's mostly tails left and it starts to taste "dirty" and diluted like there's water starting to come through. But from there I feel I could be doing better. I can identify the nasties, the foreshots, the tails and I'm getting better with practice, but I can't identify a stage (even after 2-3 distillations) where pure hearts are coming out. Maybe it's the small still (4L) or the fact it's just an air still, but I feel I won't be getting clean alcohol without being extremely strict with heads/tails and doing it over and over again.
Any advice for me?