My "SS" super reflux still - latest.

[Phantom]

I ran a batch of cider (made from a reduced price kit) last weekend.
The cider was "extended" so it would be about 12% ABV i.e. I just made the kit as per the instructions, then added about 5 kilo's of sugar, some additional nutrient and acid (I use a mix of 2 malic to 1 tartaric).
The "still" is still a little confusing though. Because I've tried it as per the instructions (a 25 litre batch of sugar wash takes about 6 hours to run), but I've also run it with only a handful of "ceramic saddles" (that's what they call the reflux packing), I've also run it with copper mesh instead of the ceramic saddles, etc etc etc.
The batch last weekend, had 25 of the ceramic saddles in it, but it still took the best part of 10 hours to give me about 4 litres of distillate at 79% ABV. Perhaps I should replace the ceramic saddles with glass marbles and see what happens. Weird.
Either way, I'll be adding the "cider distillate" to my bottle/DJ/Carbouy, as I'm intending to get it pretty full (plus some more oak chips - toasted ones hopefully) and then stopper it and chuck it in the shed for a couple of years and see how it works out.