The still works great except for 2 things. The copper pipe coming out of the top is just too small to distill at more than about 50 proof, everything needs a 2ed distilling. It's not enough space for the alcohol to separate from the water. A longer pipe is as close as the local Ace Hardware for less than 10 bucks though. The thermometer attached to the top of the kettle is too short, it does not give you an accurate reading, this is also rectified at beverageelements.com for about 10 bucks also. It works fine as it but it works 5x better with the 2 modifications: higher proof on the 1st try and a more accurate temp to control the steam. I would recommend it.