"All that sounds normal -- remember vapor is hot gas and will indeed heat your cooling water, so you do indeed have to keep up with it. Try a bigger holding tank for your condenser water, that might help. I use a 13 gallon igloo cooler and have to add ice to that too since it takes me 5-7 hours to cook all I want out of my still. You on the right track so keep at it ---
The temp at the top is good way to keep track of your cooking temp area in degrees if you see what I'm saying. Other than that the temp comes into play at the end of the run moreso than the beginning. When you get upwards of 210F you know that water coming next ----get it? With my setup 200F is where I'm turning it off and starting my cleanup. So good luck and hope this helps."