Compared to a traditional still, the Air Still offers a more gentle distillation; this means that the methanol formation is considerably less.
There is no need to discard the first 50ml, however, we have found that any impurities that may be in the wash tend to be distilled over in the first 50-100 ml. To obtain the best quality distillate, we would recommend that the first 100 ml is set aside, and used in subsequent distillations.
The air still doesn't concentrate the components as well as the T500 and/or alembic pot still.
However, if you distill other washes (apart from sugar washes), such as fruit washes or competitors yeast, there could be some methanol produced so its best in this case to discard the first 50 to 100ml.