Essential Equipment Checklist for Home Distillers

A food-grade bucket or demijohn to ferment your wash in. For most home distillers, a 25–30 litre food-grade plastic bucket with a lid is the practical starting point — cheap, easy to clean, and large enough for a standard batch. Glass demijohns (carboys) are a popular alternative and have no absorption risk, but they are heavier and more fragile. Whatever you use, it must be food-grade: never ferment in containers not rated for food contact.

An airlock allows CO₂ to escape during fermentation while preventing outside air (and wild yeast or bacteria) from entering. The standard 3-piece plastic airlock is reliable and easy to clean. A bung (stopper) seals it into the lid or neck of your vessel. Buy several — they are inexpensive and easy to lose or crack.

A hydrometer measures the specific gravity (SG) of your wash before and after fermentation, letting you calculate the alcohol content of your wash. Take an original gravity (OG) reading before pitching yeast, and a final gravity (FG) reading when fermentation is complete — the difference tells you the wash ABV and confirms fermentation is done. A triple-scale hydrometer reads SG, Brix, and potential ABV simultaneously, which is more convenient than a single-scale instrument. Use the Fermentation ABV Calculator to convert your readings.

A tall, narrow graduated cylinder to float your hydrometer in. You cannot get an accurate reading in a wide vessel — the hydrometer needs to float freely without touching the sides. A 250–500 mL plastic or glass test cylinder is all you need. Plastic is more forgiving; glass is easier to read.

The still is your primary piece of equipment and the decision with the most impact on what you can make. There are two main types for home use:

• Pot still: Simple, produces flavourful spirit at lower ABV (60–75%). Requires two runs (stripping + spirit run) for best results. Ideal for whisky, rum, and brandy. Easier to operate and understand for beginners.
• Reflux (column) still: Produces high-ABV, neutral spirit (85–95%) in a single run. Better for vodka and gin base. More complex to operate. Column packing material (copper mesh) is key to output quality.

For beginners, a copper pot still is the recommended starting point. It is more forgiving, produces more character, and teaches the fundamentals of distillation more clearly. A well-made 10–25 litre copper pot still is sufficient for most home use.

Consistent, controllable heat is critical. You need to maintain a steady temperature rise through the run — too fast and you lose separation between fractions; too slow and the run takes all day. The best options for home use are:

• Electric induction hob: Precise power control, no open flame, easy to regulate. The best choice for most home setups. An 1800–2000W induction plate handles a 20-litre still comfortably.
• Electric hot plate: Works well, but less precise than induction. Ensure it is rated for the power you need.
• Gas burner: Fast and powerful, but harder to control precisely and introduces an open-flame risk near alcohol vapour. Outdoors only.

A thermometer in the vapour path of your still is essential for monitoring where you are in the run. Vapour temperature rises as the run progresses and ABV falls — monitoring this gives you a secondary indicator to complement sensory evaluation for cuts. A digital probe thermometer with a long stem works well. The reading in the vapour path corresponds to a specific approximate distillate ABV — use the Vapor Temp → ABV Calculator to convert readings.

Collecting your distillate in small, labelled jars — rather than directly into one large vessel — is the single biggest practical improvement a new distiller can make to their cuts process. Use 100–250 mL glass jars (mason jars work perfectly). Collect 10–15 jars per spirit run and number them in sequence, noting the thermometer reading and parrot ABV at each jar. Evaluate them by smell and taste after the run, when you can compare side by side. Read more in the cuts guide.

A parrot is a small vessel that fits in the outlet of your still and holds a floating alcoholmeter (spirit hydrometer). As distillate flows through it, the alcoholmeter gives a continuous real-time ABV reading. This tells you where you are in the run without interrupting flow or stopping to take samples. Combined with the thermometer, it gives you two independent indicators for making cuts. The glass alcoholmeter (0–100% ABV) is also essential for post-run dilution measurements — a brewing hydrometer cannot do this job.

A glass alcoholmeter calibrated for 0–100% ABV is the only tool that gives you an accurate final ABV reading of your distillate. This is not the same as a brewing hydrometer — it is designed specifically for measuring pure spirit, not fermented wash. Use it at 20°C in a test cylinder to confirm your spirit strength before and after dilution. If you use a parrot, the alcoholmeter floats in it continuously during the run. Use the ABV Dilution Calculator to calculate exactly how much water to add to hit your target.

A 500 mL–1,000 mL graduated measuring cylinder for measuring water additions during dilution. Volume accuracy matters when you are trying to hit a specific bottling ABV — use a proper graduated vessel, not a kitchen jug. Plastic is fine for dilution work; glass is more accurate for spirit measurement.

750 mL glass spirit bottles with screw caps or corks. Use proper glass bottles — plastic is permeable to alcohol over time and imparts off-flavours. Standard 700 mL or 750 mL clear or amber glass bottles are widely available. Cork-finish swing-tops look premium but are harder to reseal cleanly; screw caps are more practical for repeated opening.

For distillers who want to work by mass rather than volume — which is more accurate — a precision scale rated to at least 0.1 g and 5 kg capacity is useful for measuring water additions and spirit volumes. Mass-based dilution eliminates the temperature-and-contraction errors that affect volume measurements entirely.

A refractometer lets you take an original gravity (OG) reading with just 2–3 drops of wash — no test cylinder, no temperature adjustment, results in 10 seconds. Extremely useful for checking gravity during the mash or early fermentation. Important caveat: refractometers cannot accurately measure gravity once fermentation has started (alcohol distorts the reading). For final gravity (FG) readings, you still need a standard hydrometer.

Yeast performs best in a slightly acidic environment (pH 5.0–5.5). In washes with little natural buffering — particularly sugar washes — the pH can drop too low during fermentation, stressing the yeast and producing more off-flavours. A digital pH meter lets you monitor and adjust with food-grade citric acid (to lower) or calcium carbonate (to raise). A worthwhile tool once you have the basics running smoothly.

Sugar washes and simple grain washes are nutritionally deficient for yeast. Without added nutrients, fermentations run slowly, produce more hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell), and are more likely to stall before reaching the target gravity. DAP (diammonium phosphate) is the entry-level option; Fermaid-K or Fermaid-O provide a broader nutrient profile. Use the Yeast Nutrients Calculator to calculate the correct dosing for your batch size.