Planning a distillery equipment setup

If you are making gin from purchased neutral spirit, your starting workflow is base storage, botanical preparation, distillation or formulation, proofing, storage and bottling. You can focus your early investment on a suitable hybrid still, extraction where required and small-scale recipe development.

If you are making whisky from grain, add raw-material handling, mashing, fermentation and the transfer of the chosen wash or mash. After distillation, you also need a cask and maturation plan. Fermentation and the time spirit spends in wood change both the vessel schedule and the capital you need.

Think of the iStill range as equipment for the different jobs in your production day. NextGen, iMasher, iFermenter, iPump and iMini each have a role. Choose which processes can share a vessel and which need dedicated equipment to keep production moving.

Start with your portfolio and the route each product takes. A grain-to-glass whisky needs mashing and fermentation before distillation; a gin made from purchased neutral spirit begins elsewhere. Fruit introduces seasonal handling and storage. These are different workflows, even if the final still has the same nominal capacity.

Sketch the movement of ingredients, vessels, product and operators. Include charging, transfer, cleaning and collection. Look for places where a batch waits for another task to finish. Dedicated mashing and fermentation vessels can keep work moving while the still handles distillation.

Gross volume is the vessel’s total internal space. Net working capacity is the intended usable charge under specified conditions. The current iStill production range states net capacity. Still confirm how your actual foam, solids and recipe affect the operating fill, rather than applying one generic filling percentage to every material.

The broad flush-square vessel supports circulation with the agitator and reduces deep vortex formation. Its geometry, heating and column are parts of one process. That matters when your plan includes mashing or on-grain distillation alongside clear botanical charges.

Choose heating around the feedstock you want to process. iStill offers direct electric, indirect electric and steam options, with heat-transfer elements inside the wash. Explore the available options for the model you are considering. The packed, liquid-managed hybrid column gives you a separation range for different recipes on the same production platform.

Fermentation occupies a vessel for much longer than a transfer. Distillation includes heat-up and cleaning as well as collection. The number of batches your team can finish depends on these relationships, available operating days and the time needed to prepare the next charge.

Soligny pairs one 2,000-liter masher with four fermenters and a distilling iStill to support its cask-filling rhythm. Pegasus took a development-led route: iMini trials, then a 500 and two 2,000-liter production hybrids for its vodka, gin and liqueurs. Both businesses use the iStill platform to give each stage the capacity and flexibility it needs.

10,000 bottles is not a still size. At 700 ml and 40% ABV, that target contains 2,800 liters of pure alcohol in accepted finished product. The worked still-sizing example shows how to turn it into a requirement per production day.

Available electrical power, cooling, drainage, access and working space affect the equipment choice. Confirm them before finalizing the layout. Include how equipment arrives, where operators work and how materials move without blocking other tasks.

Use the equipment dimensions and utility requirements when comparing models. Leave room to charge the vessel, move material, collect spirit and clean comfortably. Storage, proofing and bottling also need their place in your distillery, even on days when the still is busy.

Your operators need to understand the recipe, the variables that shape it, the checks that define a good batch and the cleaning and maintenance work that keeps the equipment ready. Build that understanding as you develop your process.

Develop documented recipes and an operating calendar alongside the equipment. Training helps the team understand why a setting matters instead of simply copying it. University offers a shared foundation in fermentation, distillation and flavor; practical training connects that knowledge to the installation.