Alembic and potions
Potions are timed buffs, never items you keep. The alembic does not exist to produce a rare item, it exists to produce a lot, ahead of time, and unattended.
In short
The station where the batch matters more than the recipe.
This is the station where the batch matters more than the recipe. A brew occupies a vat for the same time whether you put 5 units in it or 100 : raising the alembic turns the same wait into far more potions.
The level moves two axes only, but they multiply. It gives one to four vats running in parallel, and it raises the maximum batch from 5 to 100. An alembic at level 15 therefore produces up to 80 times what a new alembic produces over the same period.
It is also the one forgiving station : a cancellation returns 50 % of the resources committed. You can pick the wrong potion without losing everything.
Mastery applies here like everywhere else, per output : it is described in detail on the Crafting page and has no rule specific to the alembic.
The workbench
The vats of >alembic view at level 12 : three open, the fourth waiting for the next level. Each vat carries its own batch and its own countdown.
The two axes do not rise together : the third vat arrives at level 8, the fourth at level 13. In between, levels only grow the batch.
The catalogue
40 recipes across three grades, minor, medium and great, laid on the same families. A higher grade is not a better potion, it is a longer and costlier one to brew.
Job potions open at level 1 and brew in one minute : the alembic is useful as soon as it is built. Area families only appear later, once the player has somewhere to use them.
The commands
Manage your Alembic: brew potions and elixirs
brewcancelclaimmasteryupgradeview