Your distillery is already 80% of an RTD plant.
Here’s the other 20%.
If you’re running a distillery in Australia and looking to produce your own RTD on site, the gap between where you are and where you want to be is smaller than you think. You already hold the licence. You already make the spirit. You already understand flavour at a serious level. The only thing standing between you and the RTD category is a corner of your shed, about twenty grand of secondhand equipment, and us.
1,200L jacketed cold liquor tank: the kind of unit available right now on Australian secondhand marketplaces for $3,000–$8,000.
The opportunity
Why this matters right now
RTDs (spirits-based seltzers, canned cocktails, spritzes, hard sodas) are a meaningful growth story in Australian beverages right now. Consumers want spirit-quality liquid, in a can, at a sensible ABV, with a flavour profile that doesn’t taste like it came out of a chemistry set.
That’s a distillery’s home turf.
There’s also a potential financial upside: producing your RTDs on-site might mean your ATO excise producer rebate can be applied to 100% of your RTD stock — not just your bottled spirit. For many operations, that alone makes the numbers compelling.
“The only thing standing between you and the RTD category is a corner of your shed and about twenty grand of secondhand equipment.”
RTD consumption in Australia continues to grow year-on-year and distilleries are uniquely placed to lead the category.
The kit list
What you actually need
Here’s every piece of equipment you need to blend, chill, carbonate and transfer an RTD batch ready for filling. No catalogue-speak.
Your workhorse. You’ll combine spirit, water, flavour, acid and sweetener in here, then chill it down so the liquid holds carbonation. The “jacket” is a double wall: cold glycol flows through it and pulls the temperature down. Look for ex-brewery cold liquor tanks, brite tanks, or unitanks on the secondhand market.
Budget: $3,000–$8,000 used
This is what makes the jacket cold. Sizing matters a 5HP unit handles a 1,500L tank without breaking a sweat; smaller setups can run on 3HP. These are often sold in the same auction lot as tanks, which keeps freight costs down. Worth shopping carefully.
Budget: $4,000–$10,000 used
You almost certainly already have one. Cleaning runs hot caustic cycles require it. Nothing to buy here.
Budget: Nil
An IBC or a 200L food-safe poly drum works fine. You’ll mix caustic for de-soiling and peracetic acid for sanitising. Simple, cheap, essential.
Budget: Under $500
The plumbing. This is how liquid moves into the tank, circulates during blending, and transfers out to the filler. Food-grade throughout. No shortcuts here.
Budget: $1,500–$3,000
For purging the tank, holding head pressure during transfers, and carbonating your blend. Most major Australian gas suppliers (BOC, Supagas, Air Liquide) will set you up on a swap-and-go account with G-size bottles.
Budget: ~$300 regulator + gas account
When you’re ready to grow
The nice-to-haves
You can run a solid RTD program without these. You’ll want them once the wheels are turning.
- A carbonation stone (~$400) A porous stainless diffuser that drops into the tank. Gives you finer, more stable carbonation than sparging CO₂ through a dip tube.
- A CIP cart A wheeled trolley with a pump and a chem tank. Makes cleaning faster, safer, and more consistent. You’ll thank yourself the first time you run two batches back-to-back.
- A dissolved oxygen meter & Brix refractometer Quality control tools. Day one, you can get by without them. Day one hundred, they become non-negotiable.
All-in, for a 1,500L batch setup:
$25,000
$150,000
Sourcing
Where to find the gear
The market is mostly informal. Here’s where to look:
- Facebook Marketplace search nationally. Freight comes from anywhere and is often cheaper than you’d expect.
- Pickles: brewery liquidation auctions. Updated regularly and well-photographed.
- Independent Brewers Association classifieds: community-driven and often the best value.
- Direct outreach to closed or downsizing breweries every brewer still trading knows two that aren’t.
- Equipment broker email lists a few good ones around. Get in touch and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Brewery liquidation auctions on Pickles are updated regularly. The secondhand market is well-stocked right now.
The final 20%
So you’ve blended and carbonated. Now what?
You’ve got the liquid sorted. You need to get it into a can with your branding on it without spending half a million dollars on a canning line or committing to a six-figure print run.
This is where we come in.
Our mobile filling rigs roll up to your shed on a date you choose. Our digital can printer produces short-run printed cans with minimum order quantities of just a few hundred units. You can put 2,000 cans of a new flavour into market to test it, without committing to a pallet of 100,000.
No filling line capex. No print run anxiety. Your liquid, your label, your margin.
East Coast Canning & Printing mobile filling your liquid, canned and branded, without the capex.
Ready to talk?
If you’ve been watching RTDs from the sidelines, this is your in.
Want a hand sizing it up for your shed? We’ll walk it through with you. No pressure, just a practical conversation about what’s possible.
Book a call with our team Or send us a message