Stillage

A stillage is like a pallet or skid but with a cage or sides or some form of support specifically tailored to the material it is intended to carry. Some are designed to be stackable.

Stillages are mainly used to transport goods without the need to load and unload the product being carried, which saves time and decreases the chance of damage. An example is the use of stillages in the glass industry, where they are shaped like an upright "A"; the glass leans inward and is strapped to the stillage ready for transport.

Beverage/alcohol industry

A stillage is any device on which a cask of ale is placed for service.

Unlike kegs, which can be simply stood upright on the floor, casks are used lying on their sides. This allows the beer to run from the tap under gravity, with room in the "belly" of the cask below the outlet for the finings to collect. The shive with the spile will then be the highest point on the cask. As the beer clears (see finings), the inside of the cask becomes coated with sediment. It is important that the stillage holds the cask absolutely still with no rocking or shaking, otherwise the sediment will be shaken into suspension and the beer will be cloudy.