"I have the Essential Extractor II with the kettle and diffuser plate and I'm really so happy with it. My only disappointment was that the submersible pump could not be pressed into service to power a cascading recirculating liquor fountain (with liquor I made in the still!) at our recent party because it wouldn't run on our cheap power inverter (we're off the grid-- 12v batteries only). But since cascading liquor fountains were not advertised, I really can't complain!

Anyway, I've been running a fermented sugar wash reflux-style in the Essential Extractor II with copper packing on top of one of those propane turkey pot burners, with the diffuser plate, using cool water from our spring to condense. I got a final alcohol content of a little over 80%. I'd like to shoot for higher, especially since a friend of mine said he was getting 85-90 with the same unit over an open wood fire.

As near as I can tell, the two main adjustable variables while you're distilling are the amount of heat below, and the speed of the cooling water. And the two ""gauges"" to keep an eye on are the temperature at the top, and the rate at which the distillate is coming out. Is this correct?

I've been running the burner pretty hot to get it up to boiling, and not turning it down too much until near the end of the run. I've been able to get the temp stable just by adjusting the speed of the cooling water. Unfortunately it seems to want to stabilize at around 80-81c instead of the optimal 78.4, but sometimes I can get it pretty close. The distillate comes out really hot at first, but quickly cools down. I think it might be coming out too fast, at least in the first half of the run.

I guess if I had to distill (haha) my confusion down to one question, it would be: What if your temperature is right on, but the distillate is coming out too fast? Collecting too fast can give you lower purity, but if I turn the water up higher, the temperature drops too low. I could increase the heat to compensate, but I've already got it blazing, and someone on the forums said that you can usually turn the heat way down once you start collecting.

Anybody have any pointers?"