Air Stills

Air Still benchtop distilling

An Air Still is a 10 litre benchtop distillery that runs off a standard power point and cools with a fan instead of running water. No plumbing, no drain, no hose in the laundry sink. It takes up about as much bench as a kettle, which is why it works in apartments and kitchens where a full size still never would.

That is the whole appeal. It removes the reasons people never start, without removing the result at the end of it. You are producing your own spirit from a benchtop appliance. If you have never run one, how a still works covers what is happening inside it.

Air Still or Air Still Pro?

• Air Still. The original. Fan cooled, 10 litre boiler, straightforward operation. Everything you need to produce clean spirit for essences and liqueurs.
• Air Still Pro. The one we recommend more than any other still we sell. It keeps everything people love about the original, air cooled and benchtop friendly, and adds selectable pot and reflux distillation modes. Run it in reflux mode for clean neutral spirit for essences, or pot mode when you want character to carry through. Built-in temperature control and a refined condenser give noticeably more consistent runs than the classic. It also includes a gin basket.

If you are choosing your first still and can stretch to it, the Pro is the better long-term buy. The two modes are the reason. A classic Air Still makes clean spirit for essences and does it well. The Pro does that and lets you run for character too, which is the thing most people eventually want and would otherwise need a second still to get.

Two walkthroughs on the Pro specifically: How to Make Vodka in an Air Still Pro and How to Make Gin in an Air Still Pro.

Kits and how they differ

• Air Still Essentials Distillation Kit. The lowest entry point, for testing whether the hobby suits you.
• Air Still Complete Distillery Kit. The classic Air Still with the fermentation and filtration gear to actually run it.
• Air Still System 25L with essences. Adds a larger fermentation capacity and a starting set of essences.
• Air Still Pro Complete Distillery Kit. The Pro with the full supporting kit. The most complete package in the range.
• Air Still Pro Head Unit. The Pro head on its own, for anyone already holding the rest of the gear.

Consumables and spares

The parts people reorder, because an Air Still is used rather than admired:

• Carbon cartridges. In packs of 10, 50 and 80. Carbon filtration is what polishes the spirit, and cartridges are consumed rather than cleaned. The larger packs are the cheaper way to buy them.
• Carbon Filter and Collector Set. The filtration housing itself.
• Fermentation kits. Available singly or in packs of 3, 6, 10 and 12. If you run regularly, the multipacks make sense.
• Production packs. Dextrose with Turbo Pure and Turbo Carbon bundled, so a wash can go on without a separate shopping list.
• Infusement basket. For running botanicals through the vapour, which is how you make gin rather than flavouring after the fact.
• Seals and small parts. Silicone ring, washers, filter nut and ceramic boil enhancers. Cheap, and the usual cause of a run behaving oddly.
• Copper parrot head and alcometer. For reading strength as the spirit comes off rather than testing afterwards.

Everything ships Australia-wide from our Melbourne store. We have supplied Australian home producers since 1968, so if you are weighing the classic against the Pro, or working out which carbon pack size actually suits how often you run, ask us.

Check your local laws regarding home distilling before purchase.