Home Distiller

Hi all!
A lot of people (myself included) purchase an Airstill, find this forum and then discover that despite what the advertising eludes to, their new pride and joy isn’t really suitable to produce a high quality neutral spirit to use with essences or natural flavourings. If you follow the supplied instructions you’ll end up with a distilled turbo wash with no cuts that doesn’t taste that good and stings your mouth when you drink it.
I’ve recently conducted an experiment to try and produce as neutral a product as possible using my cute little Airstill, putting into practice some of the many techniques I’ve learned from HD.

Wash

I used Birdwatcher’s recipe with 10kg of sugar in a 48 litre wash and Allinsons dry active baker’s yeast used; this was fermented at 28 Celsius with an aquarium heater used to maintain temperature, SG 1080(ish), FG 985. This gave me a wash of about 12% ABV. I cleared by multiple rackings and cold crashing this and managed to get 46 litres off the lees. I noted the wash tasted quite pleasant – slight acidity, very slight fruity note with no off flavours, didn’t smell objectionable during fermentation either!

Stripping Run

I stripped the wash, collecting everything down to 10% ABV. This took 11 full and 1 half charge runs, each taking 4 hours and gave me 1300ml at 30% ABV per run. In all I collected just short of 15 litres of low wines at 30%. The predominant aroma of the low wines was soggy cardboard/ damp dog.

Post Stripping/ Pre Spirit Run

With an Airstill smearing is a real problem. I tried a couple of things to “clean up” the low wines prior to the spirit run to try to minimise smearing.

I have noticed in the past I can clean-up early tails with carbon filtering which removed the bitter taste and wet dog smell somewhat. As my low wines smelled mainly of tails I wondered what effect carbon filtering my low wines would have on my final product; I thought less wet dog smell in my low wines, less of it smearing in my spirit run. With this in mind I ran my low wines through carbon and the low wines smelled almost good enough to drink following this with no wet dog.

I have read on HD that treating the low wines with bicarb can help give a more definite step between heads and hearts, useful when trying to produce a neutral by presumably reducing smearing of heads into hearts. Armed with this knowledge, I treated my low wines with bicarbonate of soda at a rate of 1 tbsp per litre of low wines, dissolved completely in the low wines and left for a week to do its thing.

Spirit Run

I had enough low wines for 3x full 4 litre charges and 1x 3 litre charge of my Airstill. I collected in 100ml fractions for the full charges and 75ml fractions for the 3 litre charge. I collected 22 fractions in all, the last one coming off at 30% ABV.

The first fraction was dumped in my foreshot bottle, the last fraction in my tails bottle. The other 20 numbered jars were covered with some clean cloth secured in place with rubber bands and left for 36 hours to air.

Cuts

Being a novice, this is the single hardest part of the distillation process in my opinion, so I made sure I had plenty of time and wouldn’t be disturbed whilst performing this part of the process.

Smell Test

Having already dealt with jars 1 and 22 I was left with 20 375ml jars to assess. I started by smelling the jars and any jars that smelled objectionable were moved to one side. Jars 2 – 5 were then put in my heads bottle and jars 20 & 21 were put in my tails bottle.

Taste Test

I was now left with jars 6 – 19 and now started the taste test. I used a pipette to put a couple of drops of distillate and a couple of drops of water on a spoon and tasted, moving the liquid around my mouth before spitting out and rinsing my mouth. I was looking for off flavours or unpleasant sensations. I started at jar 13, moved to jar 6 and then jar 19. I moved the jars as I tasted to a heads, hearts or tails grouping, then again tasted from the middle and either end of what was left.

I then tasted and swallowed a slightly larger quantity of diluted distillate of my last heads, my first and last hearts and my first tails jars again searching for any burning or numbing sensation on my lips, tongue or throat or any bitter or off flavours.

In the end I had consigned jars 2 – 7 as definite heads, 8 as possible; jars 18 – 22 as definite tails and jar 17 as possible.

As a final check I diluted a drop of each of my hearts jars together with an equal quantity of water and tasted. To some of this I added a drop of jar 8 and tasted and as a result placed this with the heads. I also added a drop of jar 17 and as a result added this with my hearts.

My final cuts were as follows:
Foreshot - jar 1, 375ml;
Heads - jars 2 – 8, 2625ml;
Hearts – jars 9 – 17, 3375ml (72% ABV);
Tails – jars 18 – 22, 1875ml.

Conclusion

This was the smoothest and cleanest neutral I have ever managed to make with my Airstill. It was a hell of a lot of work though, which doesn’t really bother me as this is my hobby and I love doing it. Not quite the dump turbo everything in a bucket with sugar and water, run it, drink it as advertised though!

If this can be of some use to other Airstill users out there then great! If any others can think of any refinements then please chirp-up, I’m here to learn!

I have to commend you on your efforts, but let's look at this realistically...

You started out with 46 liters of wash...
You spent approximately 46 hours doing stripping runs...
You ended up with 15 liters of 30% low wines...
You ran low wines through an activated carbon filter...
You spent and additional 15 hours doing spirit runs...
You ended up with just under 4 liters of 72%/144 proof spirits...

So, from that you will be able to dilute the spirits to drinking proof... Diluted to 80 proof you would end up with about 6 liters... Diluting to 100 proof you would end up with about 5 liters...

What you ended up with is not neutral spirits because it still has too many congeners in it... Even 160 proof is still considered whiskey... 161 - 180 is in between whiskey and neutral... Neutral needs to be between 180 - 190 proof, with close to 190 being preferred...

Running low wines through activated carbon is darned near an act of futility... You would have been further ahead just doing the spirit run on the low wines and then filtering if needed... Or you could have run the spirits through a third time, which would have been more preferable...

So, after well over 60 hours of running your air still, plus the time to carbon filter, you have about 6 liters of drinkable spirits... That's well over 10 hours of labor per liter... Sounds like a heck of a lot of work to me... And that's without the airing and blending time added in...

I doubt that others are going to follow your experiment considering the time invested in comparison to what they would end up with... You could have just run the whole batch through a right-sized still and been done with it altogether in 10% of the time you have invested, and had higher proof quazi-neutral... Or had true neutral in 15% - 20% as much time, at most... That's the reality of it, like it or not...

+1 rad
I could probably drink 5 liters of 100 proof in 60 hours.. "broken up into 6 ten hour days" not knocking the OP but get a keg or a big stock pot and save yourself some work.

You've obviously done a lot of reading and learned a lot about distilling. Id say you've ended up with pretty close to the best possible result from an air still

"I stripped the wash, collecting everything down to 10% ABV"

Haven't played with an airstill, but I've used a small potstill
I'd suggest stopping the stripping run much earlier.
The late tails take too long to collect and taste like "wet dog"
Carbon filtering has a bad reputation here. IMHO using it on low-wines works quite well.
If you want neutral spirits from a simple still

rad14701 wrote:I have to commend you on your efforts, but let's look at this realistically...

You started out with 46 liters of wash...
You spent approximately 46 hours doing stripping runs...
You ended up with 15 liters of 30% low wines...
You ran low wines through an activated carbon filter...
You spent and additional 15 hours doing spirit runs...
You ended up with just under 4 liters of 72%/144 proof spirits...

So, from that you will be able to dilute the spirits to drinking proof... Diluted to 80 proof you would end up with about 6 liters... Diluting to 100 proof you would end up with about 5 liters...

What you ended up with is not neutral spirits because it still has too many congeners in it... Even 160 proof is still considered whiskey... 161 - 180 is in between whiskey and neutral... Neutral needs to be between 180 - 190 proof, with close to 190 being preferred...

Running low wines through activated carbon is darned near an act of futility... You would have been further ahead just doing the spirit run on the low wines and then filtering if needed... Or you could have run the spirits through a third time, which would have been more preferable...

So, after well over 60 hours of running your air still, plus the time to carbon filter, you have about 6 liters of drinkable spirits... That's well over 10 hours of labor per liter... Sounds like a heck of a lot of work to me... And that's without the airing and blending time added in...

I doubt that others are going to follow your experiment considering the time invested in comparison to what they would end up with... You could have just run the whole batch through a right-sized still and been done with it altogether in 10% of the time you have invested, and had higher proof quazi-neutral... Or had true neutral in 15% - 20% as much time, at most... That's the reality of it, like it or not...

Rad, thanks for taking the time to comment!

I don't disagree with most of what you say.

The reality of my situation is that I am very limited by the amount of space I have to operate in; the trade off for using something as small and seemingly as convienient as an Airstill is the amount of effort required to make something decent to drink.

When you and Hamshine talk about getting the right-sized still you are very much preaching to the converted - I'd build myself a still tomorrow (I have already sourced parts), I just wouldn't have anywhere to store it or operate it at the present time.

Just to clarify I'm not suggesting that all Airstill users follow this, just demonstrating how much more effort is required to get a decent drop out of this little still when compared to the manufacturer's claims. I would also say that if someone has the space for something bigger then definitely go for something bigger.

This was actually a very useful exercise for me especially when it came to making cuts. As a bit of training it taught me a lot so I'd consider it time well spent.

Saltbush Bill wrote:You've obviously done a lot of reading and learned a lot about distilling. Id say you've ended up with pretty close to the best possible result from an air still

Thanks Bill!

The lessons I learned will stay with me and hopefully help me when I eventually move on to bigger and better things.

shadylane wrote:"I stripped the wash, collecting everything down to 10% ABV"

Haven't played with an airstill, but I've used a small potstill
I'd suggest stopping the stripping run much earlier.
The late tails take too long to collect and taste like "wet dog"

Thanks shady!

Now you mention it, it does seem obvious!

I'll definitely save myself some time and stop the stripping run earlier next time.

shadylane wrote:Carbon filtering has a bad reputation here. IMHO using it on low-wines works quite well.
If you want neutral spirits from a simple still

That was my experience too. I don't have the level of experience to try to articulate why it seemed to work, only that it did.

hamshine wrote:+1 rad
I could probably drink 5 liters of 100 proof in 60 hours.. "broken up into 6 ten hour days" not knocking the OP but get a keg or a big stock pot and save yourself some work.

Thanks hamshine!

This was done as and when I had some spare time, not all in one go!

If I had the space for a bigger still I'd definitely go for it. Unfortunately at the moment it's a case of do the best I can with the Airstill or not bother at all. I can see I am making some progress with the Airstill and my latest efforts are actually pleasant to drink so for now I'll stick with it.

There are lots of distillers that an Airstill is perfect for, and for a lot of reasons. Space is a big deal for a lot of people. And being able to work on the kitchen counter and from a bucket of wash makes sense. Being able to put it under the counter (hide) or leave it in plain site is pretty cool.

Even though I have other stills I use an Airstill quit often. They are perfect for trying recipes or for the guy that drinks a fifth or two a year.

Who won't an Airstill work for? A drinker! Someone who needs mass quantity, and/or needs it now.

DAD300 wrote:There are lots of distillers that an Airstill is perfect for, and for a lot of reasons. Space is a big deal for a lot of people. And being able to work on the kitchen counter and from a bucket of wash makes sense. Being able to put it under the counter (hide) or leave it in plain site is pretty cool.

Even though I have other stills I use an Airstill quit often. They are perfect for trying recipes or for the guy that drinks a fifth or two a year.

Who won't an Airstill work for? A drinker! Someone who needs mass quantity, and/or needs it now.

I wasn't trying to put anyone down. The fact that your thinking about how to make better sprits is the main thing. I get the convince aspect and if space is a concern that totally makes since. I used to run a tiny 2 gal still and I used to also have to buy alot of liquor at the store, so Dad is right if you want to drink three quarts a week and put down some for ageing you need a bigger still. I was also just saying bigger still easier time. Keep it up Phill but also think where you could hide a bop and several 5 gallon buckets, and a leibig.

This is where research comes into play. I used the calcs on the parent site to determine exactly what specifications my still will need to be to have the results I want. Pretty simple really.

However what I want has changed

I run my single malt (75% smoked barley- 25% 6 row) through my air still with great success. Just yesterday I put a 5 gallon wash together and is fermenting nicely.
Yes its not perfect and a lot of work for a small quantity, but its a hobby.
Yes cuts are challenging. I've found that time in a charred oak barrel makes this a fine drink.

The main thing to remember is that an air still is a simple pot still and as such will take extra effort to render neutral spirits from one... As far as working as a small pot still, yes, they will work... But making sure there the amount of spirit contact with synthetics can be problematic, depending on the make and model of air still...

Phil (and KDS) i gotta admire your fortitude in making a quality beverage. i use a 15 gal with a 54" column and i figure i average 2 hours per (finished) litre...but i have the luxury of space. so really... an air still is slower, but is it really that much slower? if you sacrifice more wash and cut off sooner like shady sez...i'll bet you could close your time in by 50%.
are you gonna try a whiskey or rhum? or is it all about the neutrals for you?

rad14701 wrote:The main thing to remember is that an air still is a simple pot still and as such will take extra effort to render neutral spirits from one... As far as working as a small pot still, yes, they will work... But making sure there the amount of spirit contact with synthetics can be problematic, depending on the make and model of air still...

That's a very good point you make!

The Airtill I have comes from the manufacturer with a silicon rubber seal that they tell you will degrade and need replacing! As a temporary measure I have double wrapped the seal completely in PTFE tape so the vapour contacts with PTFE, not the rubber. I'm going to order some cork and make a PTFE wrapped gasket with that.

There is also a plastic spout which I've removed and fitted a copper elbow to replace it.

To speed things for the stripping runs up with the Airstill, lots of people "preheat" the wash.

Heat the wash in a stainless electric kettle and just as it starts to boil tip it into the Airstill. Repeat until you have your 4 litres of nearly boiling wash and then close. Switch on the Airstill and it will be producing spirits in minutes, considerably shortening your stripping time.

HDNB wrote:Phil (and KDS) i gotta admire your fortitude in making a quality beverage. i use a 15 gal with a 54" column and i figure i average 2 hours per (finished) litre...but i have the luxury of space. so really... an air still is slower, but is it really that much slower? if you sacrifice more wash and cut off sooner like shady sez...i'll bet you could close your time in by 50%.
are you gonna try a whiskey or rhum? or is it all about the neutrals for you?

I've tried Rad's Bran Flake which made a nice faux whiskey which is now aging on toasted silver birch. I've also distilled some black currant wine which wasn't to my wife's taste which is currently aging on a mixture of plum and cherry. The main reason for trying a neutral was to have a go at making some fire piss!

I'd definitely like to try a rhum although molasses are ridiculously expensive over here!

KDS111 wrote:I run my single malt (75% smoked barley- 25% 6 row) through my air still with great success. Just yesterday I put a 5 gallon wash together and is fermenting nicely.
Yes its not perfect and a lot of work for a small quantity, but its a hobby.
Yes cuts are challenging. I've found that time in a charred oak barrel makes this a fine drink.

Oh bugger!!!

Another addition to my "to do" list.

YHB wrote:To speed things for the stripping runs up with the Airstill, lots of people "preheat" the wash.

Heat the wash in a stainless electric kettle and just as it starts to boil tip it into the Airstill. Repeat until you have your 4 litres of nearly boiling wash and then close. Switch on the Airstill and it will be producing spirits in minutes, considerably shortening your stripping time.

Cheers for that, YHB!

That's what I love about HD.

Post a stupid question with no research and you'll get jumped on. Take the time to do some research, put your research into practice. Tell of your experiences, problems or ask for some refinements and people are only to willing to help.

I haven't got a 4l electric kettle, but I've got a stainless pan that should do the job and an electronic thermometer.

Can you recommend a safe temperature to preheat the wash to?

phillmystill wrote:

YHB wrote:To speed things for the stripping runs up with the Airstill, lots of people "preheat" the wash.

Heat the wash in a stainless electric kettle and just as it starts to boil tip it into the Airstill. Repeat until you have your 4 litres of nearly boiling wash and then close. Switch on the Airstill and it will be producing spirits in minutes, considerably shortening your stripping time.

Cheers for that, YHB!

That's what I love about HD.

Post a stupid question with no research and you'll get jumped on. Take the time to do some research, put your research into practice. Tell of your experiences, problems or ask for some refinements and people are only to willing to help.

I haven't got a 4l electric kettle, but I've got a stainless pan that should do the job and an electronic thermometer.

Can you recommend a safe temperature to preheat the wash to?

I always preheat the wash to about 170 degrees.

phillmystill wrote:Can you recommend a safe temperature to preheat the wash to?

No.

Heat your pan until it is just about boiling and tip it into the Airstill. You could always measure the temperature at that point but it is not needed.
----
OOPs posted at the same time as somebody who knew the answer to your question.

There is one advantage to a small still.
You can learn a lot from the many runs needed.

YHB wrote:
No.

Heat your pan until it is just about boiling and tip it into the Airstill. You could always measure the temperature at that point but it is not needed.
----
OOPs posted at the same time as somebody who knew the answer to your question.

KDS111 wrote:
I always preheat the wash to about 170 degrees.

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated!

shadylane wrote:There is one advantage to a small still.
You can learn a lot from the many runs needed.

Aint that the truth!

At one point last month I had 48l of birdwatchers and 36l of mixed pear and apple cider fermenting and 23l of black currant wine clearing.

There's now light at the end of the tunnel with just the cider left to rack, clear and distill.

I'd also like to commend your efforts, especially educating yourself. I'm also a noob, and have a long way to go, but like you, I'm reading, reading, more reading.

There are designs here on HD that are compact. We are getting away from 2 meter long 2" columns, looking to more efficient packing, plates, hybrid designs. Got to get off the stove.

An electric still that sits on a short stand... I mean, your ceiling isn't THAT low, is it? Finances/environment permitting, you can certainly put something together that will allow you to take your new knowledge and make a superior product in 1/10th of the time. From what I've read, I have no doubt you will be posting a build soon.

Good luck! Again, nice job.

phillmystill wrote:
Can you recommend a safe temperature to preheat the wash to?

Know what your abv is, look up what the BP is, one degree less than that. Put yer fag out.

Big-Swede wrote:in 1/10th of the time

I do not own an Airstill but I am a member of a forum where many Airstill owners are also members, and there have been discussions about how much quicker/easier it is to strip a 24 litre wash with an Airstill.

The argument goes like this, at the most it takes 10 minutes to empty the back-set from the previous wash refill the Airstill with 4 litres of fresh wash and switch it on. 24 litres/4 litres x 10 minutes = 1 hour.

There seems good logic to their arguments, so much so I am thinking of investing in an air still and transferring my stripping runs from my cold draughty shed into my nice warm kitchen.

Common practice and a practice that I will adopt, is the addition / use of a timer that cuts the electrical supply to the Airstill in the event that I get distracted.

YHB wrote:

Big-Swede wrote:in 1/10th of the time

I do not own an Airstill but I am a member of a forum where many Airstill owners are also members, and there have been discussions about how much quicker/easier it is to strip a 24 litre wash with an Airstill.

The argument goes like this, at the most it takes 10 minutes to empty the back-set from the previous wash refill the Airstill with 4 litres of fresh wash and switch it on. 24 litres/4 litres x 10 minutes = 1 hour.

There seems good logic to their arguments, so much so I am thinking of investing in an air still and transferring my stripping runs from my cold draughty shed into my nice warm kitchen.

Common practice and a practice that I will adopt, is the addition / use of a timer that cuts the electrical supply to the Airstill in the event that I get distracted.

I've recently purchased an electronic timer switch so I will time the first stripping run for a batch of wash, then set the timer switch for subsequent runs and leave it to do its thing.

NZChris wrote:

phillmystill wrote:
Can you recommend a safe temperature to preheat the wash to?

Know what your abv is, look up what the BP is, one degree less than that. Put yer fag out.

Hmmm... I don't know... pan of nearly boiling wash, knock at the door, kaboom! Nicely flambéed kitchen to explain to the wife.