how does a Boka actually work?

[BoomTown]

OK folks, many already know, I'm known to leap in before I know how deep the water is. I did that with the first still I ever built, the design from Ian Smiley's book (bless his heart, he was an inspiration!). But I shunted the boca build immediartely, I thought it too awkward for the learning process, and dropped back and build several (shall we say 6) variations of pot stills, simply to learn what's what. Dumped a few hundred bucks down that hole first...

But I'm back. Boka here I come. I think I've finally got the whole vapor trail thing figured out, but I'm still confused about what happens in side the boka column. I'm looking for highest ABV...got that.

I'm re-building my original boka (sorry Ian) and going to follow the slanted plate designs I've seen. Got some new, better wound condenser coils, more 2" copper, and have learned how to solder. Ben pot stilling long enough to know the difference between heads and tails.

but I'm still not certain what to expect when I finally fire this boka puppy up. What's going to happen? I mean, 3 drips per second? Really? Column 'stabilization'? What's that all about? Do I really need the temperature aperture? How long should I set aside for a run?

Could someone offer a briefing on a distilling cycle, the "push the on button" to "off button" narration? I'm not sure what to expect.

thanks in advance.

Boom