How to Use the Air Still and Air Still Pro, From Start to Finish

Most people who buy an Air Still expect the distilling to be the hard part. It isn't. The still runs itself. What decides whether you end up with a clean litre of neutral spirit or a cloudy, harsh mess is the nine days before you switch it on, and about four decisions most first-timers don't know they are making.

This is how to use the Air Still from bag of sugar to bottled spirit, in order: wash, distil, filter, dilute, flavour. Real quantities, real timings, and the specific failure points that cost people a batch. It covers both machines, because the Air Still and the Air Still Pro share a boiler and a workflow but behave differently once the heat is on.

Videos if you would rather watch someone run through the Air Still instructions:

• Making the wash
  
  
• Distilling with the Air Still
  
  
• Distilling in reflux mode on the Air Still Pro
  
  
• Filtering your neutral spirit
  
  
• Using flavourings and essences
  
  

The legal position in Australia

Worth getting straight, because the rule surprises people and the Air Still sits on exactly the right side of one line and the wrong side of another.

• Owning it. The ATO is explicit that you need no licence or permission for a still of 5 litres or less that is not used to distil alcohol. Both machines hold 4 litres, which is why they can be sold freely for distilled water, hydrosols and essential oils.
• Distilling alcohol with it. That is a separate question with a different answer. A still of any capacity used to distil alcohol requires an excise manufacturer licence, and the ATO states that it does not grant licences to distil spirits for personal consumption. Severe penalties apply for distilling without one. Brewing beer, cider or wine at home is the exception and needs no licence at all.

Read that properly before you start, and check the ATO directly rather than taking a forum's word for it. Our complete guide to home distilling in Australia covers the licensing detail, and is it illegal to distil alcohol in Australia explains why the licence exists at all.

Air Still vs Air Still Pro: what each machine actually does

Same 4 L boiler, same air-cooled principle, no cooling water needed for either. The difference is what happens in the head unit.

The Air Still vs Air Still Pro decision comes down to one question, and it is not budget. If all you want is a neutral base to flavour with essences, the standard Air Still does that job perfectly well and costs a lot less. The Pro earns its price in two situations: you want gin with real botanicals, or you want a cleaner neutral without running the same wash through twice. If neither applies, save the money and spend it on ingredients.

Already own an Air Still? The Air Still Pro Head Unit Upgrade fits the existing boiler, so you can add reflux mode without buying a second machine. If you are weighing the Pro against something larger instead, our T500 vs Air Still Pro comparison is the better read.

What you need for a full run

• 10 L fermenter with a carbon cartridge in the lid, and a fresh cartridge for each ferment
• An Air Still Fermentation Kit: turbo yeast, nutrient, Turbo Carbon and Turbo Clear parts A and B
• Turbo sugar or dextrose, which the kit deliberately does not include
• Hydrometer for the wash, and an alcometer for the spirit. They are not interchangeable
• Cleaning and sanitising products
• An Air Still filter and collector, plus spare carbon cartridges
• An essence from the spirit flavours and essences range
• Air Still Pro only: Distilling Conditioner and ceramic boil enhancers. Not optional, and the reason is below

Step 1: The Air Still wash recipe

The fermentation kit gives you the biology. You supply the sugar, the water and the patience. The Air Still wash recipe below is the one Still Spirits build the sachets around, so the quantities matter more than they look.

Sanitise the fermenter first. Everything that touches the wash gets cleaned and sanitised. Replace the carbon cartridge in the fermenter lid each time, which is what stops your kitchen smelling like a brewery for a week.

1. Add 7.5 L of water at 30°C to your 10 L fermenter.
2. Add 2.2 kg of turbo sugar, or 2.4 kg of dextrose. Stir until fully dissolved. Plain white sugar works too.
3. Add the yeast and nutrient sachets.
4. Massage the Turbo Carbon sachet gently, then add it and stir well.
5. Sit the fermenter at room temperature, roughly 18 to 24°C, for 7 days or until the bubbling stops.

Confirm fermentation has finished with a hydrometer, not by looking at it. You want a specific gravity at or below 990, stable for two consecutive days. Bubbling stops before fermentation does, and distilling an unfinished wash is a wasted afternoon.

Then clear it:

6. Stir the wash vigorously to drive off dissolved CO2. Degassing properly matters, because gas in solution stops the finings dropping.
7. Add Turbo Clear part A. Stir well, stand 1 hour.
8. Add part B while stirring gently, and stop the moment it is all in. Stir hard here and you break up the floc you are trying to form, and the wash stays cloudy.
9. Stand 24 hours, then draw off the clear wash, leaving the sediment behind.

Is it an 8 litre wash or a 10 litre wash?

Both numbers are in circulation, including on our own site, so here is the resolution.

The 10 L refers to the fermenter. Once you rack the cleared wash off the sediment you are left with roughly 8 L of usable wash, and that is two full 4 L still charges either way. The sachet quantities do not change. Check what is printed on the pack you actually have, and if it disagrees with this, follow the pack.

Step 2: Distil

Three different runs depending on what you own and what you are making. Pick one.

Air Still, pot still run

Fill the boiler to the line with 4 L of cleared wash, fit the head unit, switch on. It distils at up to 60% ABV, dropping through the run. A 4 L charge gives around 700 ml at 60%, which becomes roughly 1 L once diluted to 38 to 40%. Budget about two hours per charge.

Discard the first small amount of distillate. Those are the foreshots and you do not drink them.

Air Still Pro, pot still mode

Column empty of saddles, botanical basket out unless you are doing a botanical run, and the "P" capillary tip fitted. Hold the mode selector for 3 seconds until the light turns purple and you hear two beeps.

Output starts around 80% ABV and falls steadily. You make your own cuts and shut it off yourself, which is the point of pot still mode: you keep the flavour compounds a reflux column would strip out. Good for whisky and rum bases, and for gin with the botanical basket loaded.

Air Still Pro, reflux mode

Air Still Pro reflux mode is what produces near-neutral spirit at up to 90% ABV, and it is the setup people most often get wrong. Working from the official Still Spirits Air Still Pro reflux mode instructions:

1. Add Distilling Conditioner and ceramic boil enhancers to the boiler. Skip this and you get surge boiling, foaming and temperature swings, which show up as lower ABV than expected or a run that auto-completes early. This single step accounts for most "my Pro isn't working properly" complaints.
2. Fill to the line with 4 L of wash at no more than 40% ABV.
3. Check the foreshots vial is seated securely.
4. Check the column packing: copper saddles above the stainless steel saddles, all of it below the weir. The weir is the smaller inner circle you can see looking down the column.
   
   
   
   
5. Fit the "R" reflux tip. Loosen clockwise with the spanner, tighten anti-clockwise by hand.
6. Put a collection vessel of at least 800 ml under the tip.
7. Press the mode selector once for standby, a white light, then press and release when it glows green. One beep and a pulsing green light means the run has started.
8. The boiler light goes red. It takes 60 to 90 minutes to reach temperature, then the fan and pump kick in. First drips land 60 to 90 minutes after that.
9. At around the four hour mark the unit shuts itself off. Run time varies with your wash.
10. Bin the contents of the foreshots vial. Do not taste it.
11. Let it cool at least 20 minutes before lifting the head unit off. If it feels stuck, pull the column cap to break the vacuum.

You should finish with about 500 ml at roughly 90% ABV. Check it with an alcometer rather than assuming. If you have to stop a run partway, let the boiler cool, aerate the wash by stirring or pouring it out and back, add fresh dry boil enhancers, then restart. Restarting a hot, degassed boiler is how you get a bumping, surging run.

Step 3: Filter the spirit

Carbon filtering pulls out the residual congeners that make a young neutral taste rough.

1. Run the spirit through the Air Still filter following the instructions with it. Still Spirits publish the current Air Still instructions if your paperwork has gone missing.
2. Change the cartridge after each spirit you filter. Reusing a spent cartridge does close to nothing.
3. Replace the polyethylene washers when they have flattened out and stop springing back. Flat washers leak and channel spirit past the carbon.

Step 4: Dilute, flavour and bottle

Dilution is arithmetic, and the numbers are worth knowing before you start pouring.

• Air Still: 700 ml at 60% ABV plus about 300 ml of water gives you 1 L at 40%.
• Air Still Pro, reflux: 500 ml at 90% ABV plus about 600 ml of water gives you around 1.1 L at 40%.
• Measure the actual ABV first with an alcometer and work from that, since your real figure drifts from the published one depending on the wash and the ambient temperature.
• Use good drinking water, not tap water in a hard-water area.
• One essence flavours a 1 L batch. Give it a few days in the bottle before judging it, because fresh spirit tastes sharper than the same spirit a week later.

What actually goes wrong

Most first-batch problems trace back to two things: not letting the ferment finish, and skipping the boil enhancers. Fix those and the rest is process.

How long the whole thing takes

An 8 L wash means two distillation runs, so budget two sessions on the still per ferment.

Getting your first batch right

Once you have worked out how to use the Air Still properly, the process barely changes between batches. Five things carry most of the result:

• Let the ferment finish, and prove it with a hydrometer rather than by eye.
• Clear it properly, and stir part B gently.
• Use the conditioner and boil enhancers on every Pro run.
• Discard the foreshots every single time.
• Fresh filter cartridge per spirit.

Setting up from scratch? Start with the Air Still range and add a fermentation kit plus a bag of sugar in the same order. Already running batches? The Air Still and Air Still Pro yeast and carbon page is the reorder shortcut, and the 10-pack of fermentation kits with cartridges and washers covers a year of runs including the consumables people forget. Stuck on something specific, get in touch. We run this gear ourselves.

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FAQ

Q: Do I need a licence to use an Air Still in Australia?

Owning a still of 5 litres or less needs no ATO licence or permission provided you are not distilling alcohol with it, and the Air Still's 4 litre capacity sits under that threshold. Using any still to distil alcohol does require an excise manufacturer licence, and the ATO does not issue those for personal consumption. Check the ATO's current guidance before you start.

Q: How much spirit does one Air Still run produce?

A 4 litre charge in the standard Air Still gives roughly 700 ml at 60% ABV, which becomes about 1 litre once diluted to 38 to 40%. The Air Still Pro in reflux mode gives around 500 ml at 90% ABV from the same 4 litres, which dilutes out to roughly 1.1 litres at 40%.

Q: Is my Air Still fermentation kit an 8 litre or 10 litre wash?

Both figures are in circulation. The 10 litres describes the fermenter; after clearing and racking off the sediment you are left with about 8 litres of usable wash. That is two full 4 litre still charges either way, and the sachet quantities do not change.

Q: Why is my Air Still Pro finishing early or producing weak spirit?

Almost always because Distilling Conditioner and ceramic boil enhancers were not added. Without them the wash surges and foams, the temperature swings, and the unit either drops in ABV or triggers its auto-complete before the run is really done.

Q: Can I upgrade my old Air Still instead of buying the Pro?

Yes. The Air Still Pro Head Unit Upgrade fits the existing Air Still boiler and gives you reflux mode, the botanical basket and automatic foreshots collection without replacing the whole unit.