PicoStill puts a liquor distillery on your counter

Home craft beer brewing appliances have made a typically expensive and involved hobby a whole lot more accessible, and through its range of increasingly affordable countertop options PicoBrew is taking aim at all corners of the market. Billed as a first-of-its-kind, PicoStill is its latest offering, and it promises a safe and easy way to get creative with craft beer or distill other kinds of alcohol in the home.

PicoBrew's line of household brewing devices ranges from its top-of-the-line Zymatic (US$1999), said to be as automatic as a breadmaker, to the much more affordable Pico C ($349). These work with so-called PicoPacks, which are biodegradable packets containing all the ingredients needed to create beer recipes from craft breweries all around the world.

PicoStill is a distilling attachment that fits any of the company's Pico brewing appliances, so you'll need one of those to get started. Its copper distilling coil is designed to fit snugly over the keg that comes with the Pico C Keg, and can be used to create hop oils so owners can add their own aromas to their beer creations.

And, if they are appropriately licensed, professional owners can use the PicoStill to create a wide range of spirits. Given the device's size (the Pico C can brew 5 L of beer), the PicoStill attachment is aimed more at distillers wanting to create pilot batches for sampling, rather than commercial quantities.

Distilling alcohol at home can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and is illegal in the US, which is why PicoBrew notes that only properly permitted owners should be embarking on any moonshine-oriented adventures. It says that the device can also distill herbs, spices, grains and that water-extraction hop oils for beer can be produced in less than an hour.

The company is showing off the device at CES in Las Vegas this week, and has made it available for pre-order at a price of $249, with shipping to kick off next month.

Source: PicoBrew via CES