Thanks cyclopath, I realize it’s hard to understand, but a temperature controller does not reduce the wattage of the heater.
The standard Megahome water distiller has a 565 watt heater (the fan’s another 15 watts,) while the Megahome alcohol distiller has a 305 watt heater( the fan’s again another 15 watts) - much better but still could use a variable control on it - 150 watts is all it takes with one these to distill alcohol at a nice drop to two drop per second rate.
Links to the two Megahome distillers specs for reference:
https://www.nutriteam.com/water-distillers/stainless-water-distiller-glass-collection.html
All the inexpensive Chinese countertop distillers whether identified for water or alcohol have 750 watt heaters. Adding a temperature only limiting controller does not reduce the wattage, to reduce the wattage you need what is referred to as a power regulator, be it a Variac, light dimmer, fan/motor controller, or the most precise I’ve found, a rotary encoder power regulator. For detailed info on the facts about Distillation controllers please read through my thread dedicated to the subject, the info applies to all distillations, water to cannabinoids - there is major misinformation out there, PID control alone is the wrong way to control a distillation heater or mantle, this even applies to $50,000+ wiped film units.
So, how use an inexpensive a countertop distiller to boil off alcohol? Get a Megahome alcohol distiller, or get an inexpensive Chinese water distiller (~$50,) and get a second appliance cord so you can plug the fan in separately, then you can plug the base unit into a power regulator of your choice as itemized above (a 10 amp Variac goes for ~$40, and is plug and play with excellent control.)