Hi Shai,
You can definitely equal if not better commercial spirit offerings at home as you have ultimate control over the end result and you don't have to make the same kinds of compromises they often do, usually for economical purposes.
The equipment you buy will largely be set by what type of spirits you want to make, how much you want to make, how much room you have in which to make it how much time you have to do it. The biggest factor is usually budget though. Whatever you choose, there will still be a learning curve, it's not really a set and forget kind of process but most of the stills available are reasonably easy to operate.
You mentioned vodka and scotch, both are made slightly differently. For the Vodka you will need a reflux column which will strip out the flavours from the wash and leave you with a nice neutral flavoured spirit. Obviously for scotch you are looking for flavour so a reflux still is no good for that therefore a pot still or a bubbler is what is required. The difference between the pt and bubbler is that with pot still you would need to process the spirits twice (fast stripping run and slow spirit run) whereas with the bubbler you would be able to do it in a single run (which is why everybody likes and recommends them). You don't necessarily need to buy two stills either as you can also get a modular system that fits together in different configurations to achieve the different types of still.
Here are some ideas for off-the-shelf setups (all available from 5 Star of course):
- 25 litre boiler with a 2" boka with extra bits to run it as a pot still. Good if you don't have much room to run in or only want to run 20ish litre washes. Boka for vodka, pot for scotch.
- 50 litre boiler with the above 2" set up. A bit more expensive but allows you to do larger runs.
- 50 litre boiler with a 4" Neutraliser. The most expensive option but allows you to do larger runs with decreased run time compared to a 2" still and, being modular, can be configured as a pot still/4 plate bubbler/reflux column for scotch/vodka and just about any other spirit you want to make.
Hope this helps.