Using An Air Still

Other discussions for folks new to the wonderful craft of home distilling.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
Jon Grant
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:30 am

Using An Air Still

Post by Jon Grant »

Hi,

I'm new here, have never distilled anything although have been making wine/cider for a couple of years. I have a batch of blackcurrant wine than has not came out anywhere near as good as last years, it's barely drinkable. I have see a few people on you tube successfully distilling alcohol using a small water distiller like mine, this one here: There is no temp control is just on or off. It has a 4 litre capacity or just shy of 1 Gal.
The questions I have are:
If the wine is poor will this also make for a poor tasting spirt or as I hope, will it get rid of some of the nasty tasting crap?

Do I just chuck it in and do a stripping run? pour off the first 50ml or so of foul smelling run off, keep the hearts and discard once I think I'm getting into the tails?

The wine has an abv of around 12% so I should expect to get around 450ml of alcohol after the heads? If so do I just stop the still once I have collected that amount or will need to go beyond that to get all the alcohol out?

Should I then dilute this down and run it thorough again?

Apologises if these are all stupid questions, hopefully someone is kind enough to answer. I think this is a good opportunity to dip into the world of distilling so I'm not too bothered what the end product tastes like. As it stands it's going down the sink anyway!
Sporacle
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1149
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:45 pm

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Sporacle »

Hi John, no experience with using an airstill bit I do have plenty of experience using the search function.
A quick look in there shows a heap of threads on the airstill.
Good luck
" you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends; but you can't always wipe your friends off on your saddle" sage advice from Kinky Friedman
Smog
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:27 pm

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Smog »

I use one to make Odin's easy gin.

I just added a diode in series with the element to slow it down to 375w

Works fine for my own needs when doing very small batches.

Strip your wine batch once then do a spirit run splitting the distillate in small 100ml glass jars.
Shit I bought but shouldn't have :
1. Amazon 30L pot distiller
2. T-500 reflux column (good product but expensive)
3. Large 60L stock pot + 2" column

Now using 15.5gal KEG + 5500w electric + fully aircooled reflux condensor and product condenser.
Jon Grant
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:30 am

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Jon Grant »

@Sporacle First thing I did when I arrived here, search returned zero results. I have tried again this time putting 'airstill' as one word instead of two and now I see heaps as you say. It would still be nice to hear from others if this sounds like something worth doing though. Thanks.
Jon Grant
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:30 am

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Jon Grant »

@Smog Thanks very much, I may ask an electrician friend to to that for me, he's also been talking about buying a still so hopefully he'd be happy to help. I'll need to read up on the stripping process a bit more first I think, planning on giving it a go on Wednesday if time allows.
Sporacle
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1149
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:45 pm

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Sporacle »

Jon Grant wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 12:55 pm @Sporacle First thing I did when I arrived here, search returned zero results. I have tried again this time putting 'airstill' as one word instead of two and now I see heaps as you say. It would still be nice to hear from others if this sounds like something worth doing though. Thanks.
That's the point Jon, heaps of people on these threads have been through the exact same process as you and they have documented their journey in those posts, one of those threads has a heap of responses on distilling wine with an airstill, another three or four discuss power control and in the required reading there is a link to Kiwis guide to cuts.
Edit. Use the Google search in the search function, then scroll down to the HD results

Good luck and there's heaps of helpful people here that will chime in :thumbup:
" you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends; but you can't always wipe your friends off on your saddle" sage advice from Kinky Friedman
Jon Grant
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:30 am

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by Jon Grant »

Yeah, thanks again. Having a bit of a flick through the results now and bookmarking the interesting looking ones. It sounds like you have a particular thread in mind? If you would be so kind as to link it, I would really appreciate it. A search for 'airstill' returns over 1300 results, not sure I have enough time to work through all that!
User avatar
NZChris
Master of Distillation
Posts: 13062
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:42 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by NZChris »

You can cut down on the number of results by including other keywords. E.g., if you are interested in making whiskey, include it in the search.
worldsbestdistiller
Novice
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2022 5:04 am

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by worldsbestdistiller »

Jon Grant wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 12:58 pm @Smog Thanks very much, I may ask an electrician friend to to that for me,
Years ago I made a control panel for my brewery which included thyristor controlled heating elements (2 x 3Kw). In those days we didn't have access to mass made Chinese stuff, so it was put together with separate parts and boards from RS using a big heatsink from an old controller scavenged from work.
Nowadays, controllers are relatively cheap unless you're looking for top of the range stuff with super fine control (and quality).
I've used this one jury rigged for a few months now on a 2kW pot and on a 900W 6L air still wired into a standard UK extension lead to enable just plugging in the stills as per normal. Also need to earth it. It hasn't blown up as yet.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385082887670
I've recently bought a complete unit, enclosed which works ok. However, although the socket outlet is earthed via the plug, the enclosure isn't, so I've modded it to earth the enclosure plus put a bit of card down behind the board as I'm pretty sure if it were dropped on this side from height the live board would contact the enclosure. Rather shodily made - but what do we expect for a few quid? Certainly in the UK I'm not sure this is legal as it can hardly be designated double insulated like an electric drill even if i did have to scrape the paint off of the enclosure to test it through..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314264559501 .
The weak link, apart from the earthing of these seem to be the flimsy heat sinks, so really need to be thought of as consumables and max 50 pcent full quoted loading.
Perhaps back to building or modding these into a more robust controller with good heat sink. My brewery one has last 20 plus years.BTW - the air still I use is this 6 litre jobby. Made some good gin and triple sec in it.
CO-Z 900W Pure Water Distiller
User avatar
TwoSheds
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 569
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:49 pm
Location: New England, USA

Re: Using An Air Still

Post by TwoSheds »

Hey Jon,

One other thing that may help to know in your learning: The air still is just a pot still. That is all. The "air" just refers to it being air cooled instead of liquid cooled. That means as you read through more of the general/beginners information or other threads about distilling wine into brandy when folks talk about pot stilling, that's what you're doing.

Many of us use them for various purposes quite successfully. The capacity is small, so to get good results and yield you'll want your take-off speed to be slow and your fractions to be small. That has everything to do with volume (and possibly surface area) and not with the model of still.

Hope that helps.

TwoSheds
Post Reply