Spirit run in Air Still

spook100

Hi
I am new to the hobby and have a 4 litre air still from Still Spirits. I have read through several topics on this forum that talk around doing a spirit run after the initial stripping run. The consensus seems to be that you combine the product from several stripping runs, dilute to 40%, and then do the spirit run. However, the manual that came with the still says to dilute down to 12% to do the spirit run and I am trying to understand the discrepancy. The only reason that I can think of to dilute down to 12% is that the unit has a fixed power output ad the boiling point of a 40% solution is lower than that of a 12% solution so it would run tooo fast. Is that correct and, if so, does it matter much? Are their any other reasons that they would recommend 12%?
Thanks!

Sporacle

Use the search function, chuck in air still + spirit run and you'll get a heap of info.
Plus go right to the bottom of this page and have a look at the required reading, heaps of good info there as well" 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

Yummyrum

In most cases , the final combined  AVB of a stripping run is usually less than 40% and often closer to 30% , so unless you are striping a turbo or stopping short , you normally never  need to dilute down to 40% abv .... Which incidentally  is just a suggested safe maximum to go into a boiler . Less is fine . Lower will help with the tails seperation .
To be honest I have no  idea why they would suggest 12% abv boiler charge for a spirit run ..... Mind you , I would query a lot of instruction that they includeMy recommended goto . /pic/1mdotrj3opo ... ory/theory
Some of it is outdated but most of the basics are correct .

Saltbush-Bill

Thats about nailed it Yummy .....Ive yet to see an instruction booklet that came with any Still Spirits Still that makes much sense.
Most that Ive seen dont even mention making any cuts bar a small fores cut.

spook100

Many thanks for the reply. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something because I couldn't find any mention of diluting down that far on the other threads.

rubberduck71

You CAN make good stuff with an AirStill.  Just takes time & patience.
From my experience, you'll get ~0.5L of hearts on spirit runs, but I was using the 1.5 technique.There are two times of year:  FOOTBALL SEASON and... Waiting For Football Season

spook100

I have a T500 reflux still too that I will be doing most of my distilling on that. I came across the air still at a decent price (2nd hand) and thought I could use it for small batches. I am mainly interested in gin so will make the neutral spirit and cuts on the T500 and then re-distill with the air still to test out recipes. However, I have done a couple of stripping runs through the air still, to test it, so thought I would complete the process by doing a spirit run and see how it comes out. Thanks for your help!

tjsc5f

If you have the pot still head for the T500 boiler, the volumes work out pretty well to do a single 5gal strip in the T500 (use the air still as the collection vessel) followed by a single spirit run in the air still.