Monitor a distillation run with Still View

Still View is the live, position-aware view of one still — a vertical diagram of its probe positions (kettle, column, condenser, parrot) with the temperature at each, plus a record of its distillation runs. It's built for watching a run unfold: map your rig once, bind a sensor to each position, and watch the spread climb.

Still View is for distilling. Distilling spirits at home without a federal permit is prohibited by federal law. A 2024 federal court decision held that prohibition unconstitutional as to the parties in that case and is on appeal; it has not changed the law for everyone, and many states prohibit home distilling separately. Brewstiller does not decide what is legal for you — that is yours to determine, with your own counsel if needed; the screen carries a plain legality note. Brewstiller does not restrict use by location.

Open Still View

The quickest way in is the Stills entry in the navigation — under Day to day on a hobby workspace, or Production on a commercial one. It only appears when Distilling is one of your workspace's production types — turn it on under Settings → Production types and it shows up straight away. It lists every still in your workspace — choose one to open its Still View. If you haven't added a still yet, the list says so and reminds you that a still is equipment with its role set to a still. Each still's Capacity is shown in your workspace's measurement system, the same way the Equipment list shows it; if it was recorded in the other system, the size you entered is kept beside it, for example 18.9 L (stored as 5 US gal).

1. In the navigation, choose Stills (under Day to day, or Production on a commercial workspace).
2. Choose a still from the list to open its Still View.

To add a new still, choose Add a still at the top right of the Stills list. It opens the new-equipment form with Role already set to Still. Leave it as it is and give the still a name before you save — the Stills list shows only equipment saved with that role, so if you change Role to something else the new equipment won't appear there.

You can also reach a still's view from its equipment record:

1. In the navigation, choose Equipment (in Day to day on a hobby workspace, Inventory on a commercial one).
2. Open the equipment record for your still (it must be saved with its role set to a still).
3. Choose Open Still View.

A still is a piece of equipment with its role set to a still, so you create one on the Equipment form — the Stills list shows only equipment saved with that role.

The page is headed Still View, and shows the diagram of the still's positions with an Edit positions button. A still with no positions yet shows No positions yet with an Add positions button.

Map the still's positions

Positions render bottom-up in the diagram, mirroring the physical rig — the kettle or pot at the base, then column, condenser, and parrot toward the top.

1. Choose Edit positions (or Add positions on an empty still).
2. At the bottom of the editor, under New position label, enter a name — for example Upper Column.
3. Choose a Kind: Kettle, Pot still, Column, Condenser, Parrot, Thumper, or (No kind).
4. Choose Add position. Repeat for each probe point on your rig.
5. To reorder, use the up (↑) and down (↓) move controls on a position. To rename or change a kind, edit its fields in place. To remove one, choose Remove.
6. Choose Done when the diagram matches your still.

Bind a sensor to a position

A position shows a live temperature only once a sensor is bound to it. Onboard the sensor first (see Connect a sensor and log readings).

1. On an unbound position in the diagram, choose + bind a probe — or open Edit positions directly.
2. In the editor, on that position's row, open the Bound sensor list and choose a sensor. Choose (No sensor) to unbind it later.
3. Choose Done. The position now shows its bound sensor's latest temperature and a live indicator.

Beta — live temperatures. Bound positions update their temperature in real time as readings stream in. Live streaming is currently in beta and may be switched off for your workspace — when it is, a position reads live updates unavailable rather than updating as you watch, and its last known temperature still shows. You may not see live updates yet.

Get an end-of-run alert

Still View shows you the spread; an alert rule tells you when to act on it — for example when the kettle and column both cross their end-of-run temperatures. Build that as a multi-sensor alert rule over the sensors bound to your positions: see Set up reading alerts.

Record a distillation run

The Runs section below the diagram keeps this still's distillation history.

1. In the Runs section, choose Start run. A still has one open run at a time, so Start run is unavailable while a run is already in progress.
2. The run appears at the top of the history with an In progress badge.
3. When you're done, choose End run on that run.
4. To add notes to any run — in progress or finished — choose Edit, enter your Notes (for example Stripping run on the 50-gal pot — collected 6 jars), and choose Save notes.

Use the Newest first / Oldest first control to flip the history order for a chronological replay. A run that's tied to a batch or stage shows a Linked to a batch or Linked to a stage badge.