Home Distilling 101: From Equipment to Aging Your Spirits

Creating your own spirits at home offers a rewarding challenge and a sense of pride. If you're a person who enjoys making things from scratch, this could be a great hobby to try. 

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. With the right home distilling supplies and a bit of knowledge, you’ll be well on your way to producing quality spirits you can enjoy, share with friends, and be proud to say you made yourself. Here is what you'll need to get started in this new adventure. 

A Home Distilling Kit

A home distilling kit offers a smoother, safer and more approachable way to make spirits at home. That is because it includes all the essential equipment you need to get started. Instead of searching for individual pieces, like a boiler, condenser, thermometer, and collection containers, a kit brings everything together in one convenient package. This removes a lot of the guesswork and ensures that each component is compatible, safe and ready to use. 

One great home distilling kit to consider is the" Still Spirits Air Still Mini Distillery Kit". Its user-friendly design and comprehensive components make the process straightforward, so it's an excellent choice for beginners. 

The kit includes: 

• Air Still Unit: A compact, stainless steel, air-cooled pot still that operates without the need for water cooling, simplifying setup and use.

• 10 L Fermenter with Thermometer: For preparing and fermenting your wash.

• Carbon Filter System with Spirit Collector: Ensures a cleaner, smoother final product.

• Mixing Spoon, Distilling Conditioner, and Boil Enhancers: Essential tools and additives for the distillation process.

• Fermentation Kit: Turbo Yeast with nutrients, Turbo Carbon, and Turbo Clear - everything needed to prepare a wash.

• 2 x Flavoured Essences: For flavouring your neutral spirit.

• Hydrometer: To measure the alcohol content of your distillate.

• Instruction Manual: Provides step-by-step guidance for beginners.​

The compact size of this kit makes it perfect for small spaces. It's plug-and-play operation requires no complex assembly, and the absence of water cooling systems means fewer components for you to manage. 

Cleaning and Sanitising

Once you've got your equipment, you'll need to clean and sanitise it. It's a crucial step to ensure a quality batch. If you avoid this, wild yeasts and bacteria from the air or leftover on your gear could interfere with your fermentation, potentially causing off-flavours or contaminating your wash.

Making a Wash

A wash or mash is the fermented liquid that serves as the base for distilling spirits. The type you make depends on the kind of spirit you're aiming to produce. For example, grain-based mashes are commonly used for whiskey, while sugar washes are ideal for creating neutral spirits like vodka. Choosing the right sugar source and yeast is key to achieving your desired flavour.

To make a mash, you need to soak the grains in warm water so the complex starches can break down into simple sugars. These sugars are then fermented by yeast to produce alcohol. A sugar wash, on the other hand, is a simpler mix of sugar, water, and yeast—sometimes with added carbon to help remove unwanted flavours and smells. As the yeast ferments the sugars, it produces ethanol, carbon dioxide, and compounds that influence the final taste and aroma.

Distilling the Liquid

Distillation is the process of separating alcohol from the wash by heating it until the alcohol turns into vapour, then cooling that vapour back into liquid form.

With the "Still Spirits Air Still Mini Distillery Kit", the process happens this way: once your wash (fermented liquid) is ready and cleared, you pour it into the boiler of the Air Still. This compact unit gently heats the wash. Since alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, it evaporates first. The Air Still then uses a built-in fan to cool the vapour - no external water cooling needed. As the vapour cools, it condenses back into liquid and drips into the collection container.

You'll need to discard the first 50 ml of condensed liquid because it'll contain unwanted compounds. The remaining liquid collected will be your distilled alcohol, which you can then flavour, dilute or use as a base spirit. 

Diluting and Filtering

The collected distillate will have a high alcohol percentage, meaning you'll need to dilute it to your desired ABV (alcohol by volume). This can be done using an alcometer together with a basic dilution table or online calculator. If you're planning to age your spirit on oak, you'll need to dilute it to a higher ABV - around 63%.

To improve the purity and remove any unwanted odours, especially for neutral spirits like vodka, you might also want to polish your spirit. This is often done using a gravity-fed carbon filter. However, if you're making a spirit where you want to keep the flavour, like gin, a simple paper filter will help remove fine particles while keeping the character of the drink intact.

Flavouring, Blending & Ageing

Once you've distilled and polished your spirit, you can start adding flavourings to create different types of spirits and liqueurs. For drinks like whiskey or rum, this is also the stage where you blend the portions collected during distillation to craft the flavour profile you’re aiming for before moving on to ageing.

Ageing typically takes place in oak barrels or in jars using oak chips or spirals. Oak plays a key role in developing both the taste and colour of the final spirit. The amount of oak you use will depend on your flavour preferences, but in general, using a smaller amount over a longer period tends to produce smoother, more balanced results.

Before you start to produce your home stills, it’s essential to create a dedicated space designed for both safety and efficiency. A well-planned area helps you stay organised and reduces the risk of accidents. Choose a location with good ventilation, adequate lighting, and convenient access to electricity and water - key factors for operating equipment and maintaining cleanliness.

It’s also crucial to understand and follow local laws and regulations regarding home distillation. In many places, distilling alcohol without the proper permits is restricted or illegal. Be sure to research the legal requirements in your region before getting started to ensure your setup is fully compliant.

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