Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

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AdrianS
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Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by AdrianS »

Bought an airstill and used turbo pure yeast from still spirits to create a 14% sugar wash.

Then distilled that and discarded 100ml as heads and collected 600ml

I used some essence to create a Spiced kraken like dark rum.after diluting down to 40% with a spirit alcometer.

I drank like 3oz of it and felt really spaced out and buzzed which was very unusual for just 3 shots. Then I gone to bed and had some pretty scary closed eye visuals before I eventually fallen a sleep.

Sent the airstill back today after I read how awful they are on here.

Does anyone know what could have caused my incident? Because its honestly scared me from the hobby. If I could work out exactly what caused all that and prevent it in future I might order a real pot still for sure.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by still_stirrin »

AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:58 am…Does anyone know what could have caused my incident?
It sounds like a big dose of heads! Did you do any cuts? Using flavor essences could cover up the heads and that would be a bad thing. Heads have toxic solvents in them that are not good to consume.

I can’t vouch for the Airstill, but making cuts is important to the safety of our hobby. Be careful what you swallow.
ss

p.s. - did you have a headache or feel sick at your stomach the next morning?
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by AdrianS »

still_stirrin wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 10:57 am
AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:58 am…Does anyone know what could have caused my incident?
It sounds like a big dose of heads! Did you do any cuts? Using flavor essences could cover up the heads and that would be a bad thing. Heads have toxic solvents in them that are not good to consume.

I can’t vouch for the Airstill, but making cuts is important to the safety of our hobby. Be careful what you swallow.
ss

p.s. - did you have a headache or feel sick at your stomach the next morning?
Very interesting indeed thank you. The run was 4l of 14% sugar wash and I removed 100ml before collecting the hearts.

Do you think the 100ml wasn't enough to get rid of the heads?

I had a mild headache the day after and felt very spaced out for most of the second day.

Honestly the closed eye hallucinations on the night was very intense. Whenever I closed my eyes I would get full on lifelike images flashing through my viaion. Was that scared that I nearly gone to the ER.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by NormandieStill »

You need to go and read the basics of making cuts. Unless you know your recipe from experience and have been doing it for a while, you can't just make cuts based on volumes. You need to be collecting in multiple jars and finding the cut points yourself. I think you just poisoned yourself... although you seem to have gotten over it. Do some more reading while waiting for your tried and true sugar wash to ferment and settle out then have another go!
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by still_stirrin »

AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:07 amVery interesting indeed thank you. The run was 4l of 14% sugar wash and I removed 100ml before collecting the hearts.

Do you think the 100ml wasn't enough to get rid of the heads?

I had a mild headache the day after and felt very spaced out for most of the second day.

Honestly the closed eye hallucinations on the night was very intense. Whenever I closed my eyes I would get full on lifelike images flashing through my viaion. Was that scared that I nearly gone to the ER.
You really can’t judge the heads cut by a specific volume, especially if it was a “one & done” run. If you’d have done a strip run prior to a spirit run, then 100ml might have captured most of the “rough stuff”.

But in general, I guess the foreshots and heads measure roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the total “potential” alcohol volume. And I hope you understand that potstills (of which the Airstill is an example) will tend to smear throughout the run.

Review Kiwistiller’s Guide to Cuts in the mandatory reading to better understand this phenomena.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I've never experienced this from alcohol and I've drank a little bit - store bought and homemade...

Recommend this:
*** Make sure you do a cleaning protocol of your new still - Vinegar run then sacrificial alcohol run - discard all output

- Ferment a tried and true recipe from here on HD in the tried & true section. About 10% ABV max.
- Make that ferment 3-4 times the size of your boiler charge.
- Strip your wash to total average 30%ABV and collect the output low wines (also taking and discarding a fores cut) - Do this 3-4 times to collect a total low wines volume that you can fully charge your boiler with for a spirit run.
- Fill boiler with collected low wines @ 30%ABV.
- Do a spirit run and collect all output in 25-30 jars of fractions numbered 1-30.
- Air jars for 24-48h then make your cut decisions and blend fractions for heads, hearts, tails.
- Keep hearts for use and combine heads and tails into feints jug to use for an all feints run or discard.

Read and memorize the recommended reading by others.

Make sure you do a cleaning run which includes vinegar then sacrificial alcohol - who knows what was in the still before you bought it??

Good luck and cheers! Let us know how it goes and yes a different still might work better for you but I don't think the still made you hallucinate.

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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by shadylane »

The alcohol might not of caused the problems.
You may be having a medical issue that a Dr needs to look at.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Chauncey »

Look up a condition called HPPD. If you had certain experiences in the past that cause hallucinations, be they drug induced or other, alcohol can exacerbate the symptoms.of that.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by still_stirrin »

AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:07 am….The run was 4l of 14% sugar wash and I removed 100ml (fores & heads) before collecting the hearts. Do you think the 100ml wasn't enough to get rid of the heads?
still_stirrin wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:18 am… the foreshots and heads measure roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the total “potential” alcohol volume.
So, Adrian, let’s look at the numbers…
4 liters of 14%ABV wash has the “potential” for 4 x 0.14 = 0.56 liters, or 560 ml of 100%ABV (pure) alcohol.

But of course, you won’t get that out of a potstill. For a “one & done” single distillation through a potstill, you’ll collect an “average %ABV” of approximately 40 to 50 %ABV, starting perhaps a little higher (60%ABV) and dropping from there. And that will include the heads and foreshots, hearts and some of the tails. This would give you a collected volume of 560 ml / 0.40 = 1400 ml (1.4 liters).
Note - this is roughly 1/3 of the initial wash volume.

So, considering that the fores & heads portion can be 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume of the collected distillate, you could expect from 350 ml to 460 ml of your collection to be fores & heads. So, a 100 ml “heads cut” is far short of this and indeed, you drank some of the heads.

If you had run a post-strip 2nd distillation (spirit run), you would have compressed the heads more and possibly eliminated more of them.

And in conclusion, the rum essence you added very likely covered up some of the crappy taste and aroma indicative of the heads in your finished spirit. So, you were treated to a “cheap likker” buzz and the resulting hangover.

Next time, plan to do a double distillation (at least) and then making proper cuts following Kiwistiller’s guide. You’ll end up with “less but better” spirit in your liquor cabinet.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by NZChris »

AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:58 am Sent the airstill back today after I read how awful they are on here.
Really? Who said that? Were they distillers who had a lot of experience using them? AFAIK, their main drawbacks are their small size and the poor instructions that come with them.

Had you done vinegar and alcohol cleaning runs before this run?
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Trapped-in-Oz »

The Still Spirits Air Still is good equipment…. a cleaning run a recommended idea……… the Air Still basket a useful multiple purpose addition…….... disregard Still Spirits other products….. burn the Still Spirits instructions and forget having read them…… Start again.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Saltbush Bill »

NZChris wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:00 pm Really? Who said that?
Trapped-in-Oz wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:44 pm The Still Spirits Air Still is good equipment…
Personally I wouldn't rate them as anything but a mistake bought by newbies who don't know any better.
Possibly usefully for small batches of gin and other tiny experimental batches.
Even then you can make something that will out preform one for half the price and a few hours work.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Trapped-in-Oz »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:30 pm make something that will out preform one for half the price


performance is subjective….. Air Still fulfils my requirements………. and it’s never about costs.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by NZChris »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:30 pm
NZChris wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:00 pm Really? Who said that?
Trapped-in-Oz wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:44 pm The Still Spirits Air Still is good equipment…
Personally I wouldn't rate them as anything but a mistake bought by newbies who don't know any better.
Possibly usefully for small batches of gin and other tiny experimental batches.
Even then you can make something that will out preform one for half the price and a few hours work.
I agree, but you should still be able to make good, tasty, safe, spirits with one. If you haven't, you can blame the still all you want, but you're the one that did the homework, (or didn't), cleaned it, (or didn't), made the wash, did the run/s and chose the cuts.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Tummydoc »

Yep, this was operator error, not a defective still.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Setsumi »

Can not comment on the airstill. Saw some pictures and thought there may be better stills. But then i would rather build.... and that may not look like a coffee kettle.

Regarding your closed eye experience.... CUTS... not just heads look at tails as well.

Stilling safe is not just cooking a wash/mash, it takes some commitment to understand what you are doing and why.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Thought about this a bit more and I would 99% attribute your so-called hallucinations to a combination of items working together:

-1- Active imagination.
-2- Fear of the unknown.
-3- Misconception that home distilling creates poison or similar.

I encourage you to keep #1 and continue to address the roots of #2&3 by researching and gaining knowledge and experience.

HD is a huge resource for our hobby. “Read till your eyes bleed then read some more”. Take a step back for a minute and arm yourself with accurate knowledge. There might be a little bit of alchemy involved.

No comments on the air-still. It’s just a tool in the kit. Have fun and be safe!

Cheers!
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by greggn »

AdrianS wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:58 am
I used some essence to create a Spiced kraken like dark rum.after diluting down to 40% with a spirit alcometer.

It's possible that your alcoholometer (proof and tralles) is not accurate and you were, in fact, drinking something stronger than 40%. Try checking it in some commercial booze to rule that out as a factor.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by squigglefunk »

sounds like some good stuff! I'd pay extra for the visuals lol.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Hambone »

I saw stars the first time I took a big sniff of heads…
Good judgement is the result of experience.

Experience is usually the result of bad judgement..
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by rubberduck71 »

+1 to others above who said the AirStill is safe. I used it for over 6 months with no issues, but executed on all the prerequisite reading on this site. I've since upgraded to larger unit, but it's a great tool for small batch experimentation that you don't want to spend time, resources, & money on. Check out Odin's 1.5 technique. You can get a couple liters of hearts, but you'll have 2-3x in feints. I used the feints from 1 run in the next until my 25L fermenting bucket was empty.

Don't believe the YouTube videos and/or written instructions that either outright say or imply that you can "keep everything" after 100 mL of foreshots. Cuts between heads/hearts/tails is indeed more difficult on a 4L potstill, but NOT impossible.

The essences shopped by Homebrew & online Stores are pitiful knock-offs of the stuff you're trying to achieve. If you're happy with generic cola, then you don't need to "splurge" for Coke or Pepsi. But if you hone your craft, you CAN make good stuff that may even be better than name brand.

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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by T-Boon »

I had something similar with a "Midori" I made. it was one of my early spirits and I assumed I just had too many heads in it as I think it was only single distilled. made your eyes feel like they were on stalks.

I will stand up and defend my Air Still as if you do it right and get all your ducks in a row, you can make some really good spirits. it is especially good if you do not have a lot of water to use, and want hands off indoors stillin.

Is it the best product? no.
Do the instructions allow for you to make anything other than booze to get pissed? no.
If you have clean ferments, double distill and make good cuts can you make great spirits? absolutely.
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This was my feints gun spirit run, came out really well. fiddly as hell though with diluting and cutting.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Grandad7 »

Tummydoc wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:29 pm Yep, this was operator error, not a defective still.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Grandad7 »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:30 pm
NZChris wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:00 pm Really? Who said that?
Trapped-in-Oz wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:44 pm The Still Spirits Air Still is good equipment…
Personally I wouldn't rate them as anything but a mistake bought by newbies who don't know any better.
Possibly usefully for small batches of gin and other tiny experimental batches.
Even then you can make something that will out preform one for half the price and a few hours work.
Sure, it's easy to build one...but it won't have the convenience of being air cooled.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Metalking00 »

Do you take any medications? Many drugs are listed as having negative interactions with alcohol, which is the collective term used for the mix of chemicals in alcoholic beverages. Some of those chemicals besides ethanol may interact with certain drugs,and if you drank a bunch of heads and tails, you consumed a different "cocktail" of chemicals that may interact more.

Also, i like my little airstill, though i only use it for gin and experiments.
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Re: Closed eye hallucinations from airstill

Post by Chauncey »

Alcohol may exacerbate HPPD which is a disorder that is something like "flashbacks" in a way.
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