GETTING THE BEST FROM AN AIR STILL

[Wellsy]

An airstill is a still and should never be left unattended.

Lack of cooling water is not the only reason things go wrong.

For your own sake never leave a still unattended.

[robtes]

AS unfrocked.
Its very simple. The boiler (originally for water purifier) holds 4 Litre to mark and has ca 5L full for head space (foaming - try to avoid puking - it messes the tube condenser. If bubbling is a problem - a few drops of Olive Oil helps reduce foam.

It has a run dry cutout button - crude bimetallic over heat cut out - shouldnt every be a problem for wash distilling DONT LEAVE A STILL UNATTENDED. I dont suggest ever running it dry.

Its easy to take the hood off the head unit - 3 screws. There is just a fan, a finned 8mm SS tube coiled twice. Note this can collect fluff and must not be obstructed.

the coil takes vapour from the dome and air cools it for discharge as liquid out of the spout. Thats it.

Note the separate mains lead which will accept a std IEC kettle lead and powered continuously. The boiler has a kettle lead which can be run thru a dimmer is desired (for future experiments)
Overall it well made - nothing mickey mouse - should last for years. I have many more pix on details if needed

[robtes]

Hi guys, here is a shock
An identical table top 4L water distiller 1/4 RRP of an AS and twice the power for a stripping fast 750 W boiler

I am tempted here for one which I can hack about an drill holes in it for temperature probes using those cheap NTC digital controllers as above. Ive ordered 4 of these on offer - ca £4 each - what a bargain - accurate +/- 1C to 110C - way to go.

Interesting think is the the kettle has looks like a sight glass down the side to see how much water remains - now thats a big plus

average hillbilly pot still doesnt have that :teasing-neener:

I have fired up my AS with a J thermo couple poked thru the dome. Thats workwell and topped out at 100C on just distilling water - so thats a result. I will post some graphs of the temp profile - its instructive.

I have a cunning plan to make a collar ca 150-200 mm to support the condensor head on top of the boiler - easy job. I can poke temp probes into the space/wash liquid space and control energy input. I could also fit a mini packed column can inside for reflux etc I need to figure controlling ratio - but I see a way with a gadget to count drips KISS :))

What do you think guys

BTW I spent some years mingling with chemical engineers (super clever guys) and my job was to translate there PEFDs into real working hardware. Most of them were in the head in the clouds. I had to distill the essence of their creative chemistry for the industrial level. We had a lot of spirited discussions :))

[Professor Green]

What you are planning sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. I wouldn’t be drilling holes in the boiler, only takes a small leak to create an explosive situation. You're better off running your still by ABV rather than by temperature anyway. Can you even use a temperature controller on an airstill?

Not trying to be a arse here, just have some safety concerns.

[robtes]

the thermo couple wire is ca 2mm poked in a similar hole dia and the pressure inside the boiler is atmospheric - IMO leakage is negligible but I could put some epoxy around it. However Leaking Stills should be avoided (I wonder how much vapour is lost from the collection beaker?). I see peeps swill 90% final product around on all these vids - Look how careless hairy Jessy gets with his fooling around on his vids.

It always scared me walking around with a gallon of 90% in a plastic water bladder. Get that on your skin you feel the evaporative cooling straight away. I always made a point of diluting asap to 50% abv. AFAIK methylated spirit is ca 70% abv though some say 90%. Hand sanitiser is 60%

Can you tell me if meths can be distilled? (not that I am suggesting such a practice) Clearly meths has methanol and foul tasting chems added to make it undrinkable. I would be surprised if a simple pot still could retrieve a pure Ethanol - surely there must be more to it - just curious maybe the colour remains 8-}

[robtes]

You're better off running your still by ABV rather than by temperature anyway. Can you even use a temperature controller on an airstill?

On your other point when cruising along the hearts temp level you only have a 1C difference 77.5 to 78.5% (the absolute temp value is difficult to calibrate without specialist laboratory kit and knowledge). I think I will only get a relative level for repeatability purposes from the digital indicator I showed above. IMO those dial gauges are a poor temperature indicator and wouldnt resolve to 1C even the large 80mm ones not much better - just telling your when approaching 60C

Perhaps reflux users may comment on how they measure temperatures.

[robtes]

Yee haaa I finally got my act together and did a small run - truck me it worked and ran me around for about 15mins. I only did a Litre of hb red wine (welsh's) ca 12abv a naive domestic piece of arab's feet plonk - kerriste but its not what we are here for :angry-banghead:
So I loaded up a litre and lit the blue paper and hid under my Cleaner (Treasure was scrubbing my kitchen floor - bless.)

My much derided thermocouple pot temp worked a treat - OMG you need one IMHO. When you get on the home run 78C you have to move quickly to get your cuts. No time to doing sniffing tests etc cos the whole thing is over in 7 mins from foreplay :romance-kisscheek: to tails :dance: .

I have a set of 10 x 50ml pet pots coming so I can get my brigade of numbered ducks in a row. I fixed and extension silicon 8mm tube on the fiddly spout sucker. I shall move along at 1 min intervals on a kitchen timer like a regular shuffler. Thats getting a wiggle on guys . Little beauty

I have to recommend this method for noobs as a simple (low cost - if you use a water distiller version) way of getting a handle on the magical science. I would recommend using a cheap thyristor dimmer ca £5 to control boiler (not the head unit fan - keep that on mains). The 750W element is twice the AS size (there is probably a good reason for that.

IMO when you get on the magic carpet level 75C to 80C I think slow down and cruise quietly for half hour. :greetings-waveyellow:

ok thats my pot boiling over :violin:

[Professor Green]

Methylated spirits cannot be re-distilled to extract the ethanol, that's the whole point of denatured alcohol and the reason it does not attract excise duties.

I would not be putting epoxy resin anywhere near the vapour path of a still and it is unwise to be recommending doing so to anybody.

Take anything you see on YouTube and especially Moonshiners, with a grain of a salt.

High proof alcohol has no business being in anything plastic, let alone a bag.

:law-policered: :law-policered: :law-policered:

[The Stig]

Where have you recommended this method may I ask ???