DistilCalc — Verified Distilling Calculators, Guides and Tools

Distilling calculators you can check

Every formula on this site is computed from a named primary source, and every page tells you which one. Here is one, working, right now.

I have L at % and I want %.

5.14L of water

Finishing at 15.0 L

OIML R 22 mass balance, contraction included

A pro-rata guess would under-dose the water by 0.14 L. Full calculator →

Follow the run

Four stages, in the order they happen at the still.

01 Ferment Build the wash, track gravity, feed the yeast 02 Distill Plan the run, size the jars, make the cuts 03 Dilute Proof down, blend, count the bottles 04 Convert Proof, gravity scales, temperature correction

Heads

Hearts

Tails

Foreshots · discard Heads 10% · recycle Hearts 62% · keep Tails 27.5% · feints

How a pot still run divides, to scale. Foreshots are sized from the charge, not from what you collect: 2.5 mL per litre, 25 mL minimum. Size yours →

Most used

Each one names the source its constants come from.

ABV Dilution Calculator Water to add for a target strength, with the contraction that a pro-rata sum misses. OIML R 22 Spirit Cuts Calculator Foreshots, heads, hearts and tails volumes sized from your charge. Charge-based discard rule ABV from Gravity Original and final gravity to alcohol, simple factor and Balling side by side. De Clerk · Balling Temperature Correction What a warm or cold sample is really reading on the alcoholmeter. NBS Circular 19 Yeast Nutrient Calculator DAP and Fermaid additions for a wash, staggered across the ferment. YAN mass balance Proof Converter ABV to US and UK proof and back, including the Sikes scale. TTB 27 CFR 30.11

Distillation Run Planner · Jar Planner · Distillation Simulator · Cheat sheets

Why these numbers and not someone else's

The source is named

OIML R 22 for alcoholometry, NBS Circular 19 for temperature correction, TTB 27 CFR 30.11 for proof. Not a forum post that cited a forum post.

The method is shown

Each page states its formula and where it stops being accurate. A calculator that hides its assumptions is asking to be trusted blindly.

One set of constants

The site, the offline app and the printed guide are generated from the same formula library, so two DistilCalc tools never disagree.

Read the methodology · How other calculators tested against NIST

Who builds DistilCalc

I'm Cameron Liefsoens, a home distiller and chemistry student in Belgium.

I built DistilCalc because the free calculators I could find were either too simplified to rely on or too cluttered to use at the still. Every page lists the sources behind its numbers, so you can check the working instead of taking it on trust.

There are no equipment or ingredient sponsors, and the calculators are free.

More about the project How the formulas are verified Books and journals

Take it off the screen

The same formula library, in the places a laptop will not go.

DistilCalc Pocket 33 calculators in one file that installs on your phone and runs with no signal, no account and wet hands. €9.95 Distiller's Field Guide 22 printable pages of tables and pencil-ready run sheets. Metric and US editions, both included. €7.95 Distillation Run Planner Jar the run, assign the cuts, total them against plan and bottle at exactly 40%. €12.95

Everything in the toolkit · the five together are €34.95 · instant download, free updates

Learn the technique

Forty guides written for people who actually run a still.

How to Make Spirit Cuts Foreshots, heads, hearts and tails, and when to switch the jar. How to Read a Hydrometer SG, Brix and Plato, and the corrections most people skip. Home Distilling Myths The claims that fill forums, checked against the literature. How to Dilute Spirits to Proof Why the pro-rata sum under-doses, and how to add water in stages. Safe Distilling Practices Fire, vapour and foreshots: the risks that are actually real. Sugar Wash Guide Ratios, nutrients and the temperatures that keep a wash clean. TOSNA & YAN Nutrients Staggered additions, and why honey musts stall without them. Off-Flavours, Diagnosed Solvent, sulphur, cloudy or harsh: symptom to cause to fix.

All guides · Worked answers · Glossary