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Hi There

Still a bit of a newby really. I have done alot of reading but I can't find any detail on how long you air the finished spirit for? Should it be diluted to drinking strength prior to airing or not?

Cheers

Richie

Airing depends on a number of things, but mostly personal preference.
1) the proof,,the higher the proof the faster it will air.
2) how much air it is exposed to, if the container is a bottle it will take longer than a wide mouth jar.
3) the temperature ,,the higher the temperature the faster it will evaporate. do not leave it in to high of heat as you will loose more than the lower alcohols.
this allows for some of the lower alcohols to evaporate. so the less heads in your product the less time it will take.(there will always be some)
so put it in a container of your choice covered with ??? and leave a day or so and sample.
I like a small neck at a moderate temperature ,as I thank you have more control but it does take longer.

Thanks Dnderhead

I have some 3 litre jars which are pretty wide I guess they will be better then bottles. Its pretty cool in the uk at the moment (for here anyway) so I will just leave uncovered overnight.

I use fruit jars but I leave out the metal plate and use a coffee filter and screw the outer ring back on. you could also use a coffee filter and rubber band.

Air it more, It makes it better. It doesn't take the place of aging but it helps make it drinkable sooner.
I have an aquarium air pump and a 5 gallon stainless soda keg. I cut it back to 130 proof then run the air during daylight hours for the first week after it comes out of the still. I turn it off at night cause I bought the cheapest pump I could find and it's noisy. If you like it white, it is ready to drink in a week. Let me amend that. It is ready to sample daily to check the progress of the aging. I actually sampled it before a week was past and It wasn't that great. Now, at six days old, I can sample a double shot at a time and at 80 proof, it's enjoyable.

You only need to run the pump for 5-10 minutes per day, not continously.

OD