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Equipment checklist

  • Fermenter (wash vessel)
  • Airlock
  • Yeast
  • Still with a cube
  • Heating element or stove
  • Samovar controller and sensors
  • Column or dephlegmator
  • Wash hydrometer
  • Spirit hydrometer
  • pH meter or strips
  • Thermometer
  • Measuring cylinder
  • Kitchen scale
  • Vessels for fractions
  • Activated carbon or oak chips

Learning path

  1. Sugar wash

    Sugar dissolves completely and ferments in days, so mistakes show up before the next batch. Most dry yeast stalls above 16% ABV, so this is also where you learn to read a hydrometer.

    Required: Fermenter (wash vessel), Airlock, Yeast, Wash hydrometer, Kitchen scale

    Open related recipes or guidance: Sugar wash

  2. Stripping run

    The first pass only concentrates alcohol, with no cuts: boil the wash down to a low-proof spirit and set the stillage aside. It also teaches loading the cube to no more than three quarters full.

    Required: Still with a cube, Heating element or stove, Samovar controller and sensors, Vessels for fractions

    Open related recipes or guidance: Stripping run

  3. Spirit run

    The second pass decides quality: heads run about 8-11% of the absolute alcohol, hearts usually end around 55-65% ABV in the stream. Dilute the stripped spirit to 18-20% ABV first — a weaker charge separates fractions more cleanly.

    Required: Still with a cube, Column or dephlegmator, Spirit hydrometer, Measuring cylinder, Vessels for fractions

    Open related recipes or guidance: Spirit run

  4. Grain wash

    A malted-grain mash adds a starch conversion step and a lower sugar ceiling than a sugar wash, closer to whisky and vodka bases. Keep the mash pH around 4.0-4.5 and follow the wash hydrometer, not just the clock.

    Required: Fermenter (wash vessel), Airlock, Heating element or stove, Thermometer, Wash hydrometer, pH meter or strips

    Open related recipes or guidance: Grain wash

  5. Fruit wash

    Fruit brings its own sugar, acid and pectin, plus a methanol risk sugar washes do not have — always discard the first few millilitres of any run made from it. Track pH the same way as a grain wash.

    Required: Fermenter (wash vessel), Airlock, Kitchen scale, Wash hydrometer, pH meter or strips

    Open related recipes or guidance: Fruit wash

  6. Column run (NDRF)

    A packed column run under continuous reflux, with an automatic cut, gets you closer to a lab-grade spirit — home distillers call this near-rectificate quality NDRF (95-96% ABV).

    Required: Column or dephlegmator, Samovar controller and sensors, Spirit hydrometer

    Open related recipes or guidance: Column run (NDRF)

  7. Rest, oak chips, barrel

    Raw spirit tastes sharp until it rests for a week or two. Oak chips are capped at 10 g/L and 28 days; a barrel fill sits at 55-62% ABV so the wood works without the angels taking too much too fast.

    Required: Vessels for fractions, Activated carbon or oak chips, Measuring cylinder

    Open related recipes or guidance: Rest, oak chips, barrel