Best way to make eau de vie?

[Fahrenheit173]

Hello All,

I am looking for information on making quality eau de vie. I am a huge fan of good eau de vie and in particular I have been enjoying the stuff that Saint George Spirits is putting out. In addition, I know that they are using a Bavarian Holstein still.

I have been working with a pot still and a fractionating still. In addition I have been reading “The Complete Distiller” by Michael Nixon and Michael McCaw. After playing with these two stills and reading this book several times I can't figure out how to make a top quality eau de vie. Don't get me wrong I have made some tasty stuff but nothing like the commercially produced eau de vie's on the market.

My questions are:

What type of home made still is best suited to make a top quality eau de vie?

My guess to the question above would be to build a compound still. But my next question comes from viewing the Bavarian Holstein website the maker of the still that St. George Spirits uses. Their website talks about plates that are used in the still. From reading “The Complete Distiller” this brings up a question wouldn't this produce a similar results to a compound still with the elements separating at the plates?

This leads me to, what is the best way to make a fractionating still with plates that best represents what they are using?

Thank you all for any help