Distilling an essential oil/hydrosol

LaurieLovesLearning

If you've wondered about using a still to make an essential oil, here is a good video explaining the process.

https://youtu.be/mMr-Ux5S8vY

I'd love to get one, but the price is high. The best ones are reported to come from Turkey and a couple other countries. This one is made in Ukraine.

You want one that is well made with no lead content. It seems that copper is what is most recommended.

gardneto76

We looked into one of these years ago, but the laws on distillers are so restrictive here! You have to give proof that you are only using it for distilling EO’s and they can come check on it at any time. If you are doing anything else with it, they confiscate everything you have used with it and made with it for testing. So worried about people making moonshine with them. I made some by soaking the lavendar in Everclear but you get such a tiny amount of oil from a large amount of flowers & alcohol that it didn’t seem cost effective to me.

LaurieLovesLearning

@gardneto76 That's too bad that it's so restrictive. :( That is frustrating!

Here you can make moonshine for yourself as long as it is not being transported. It's not a huge or common issue. Not many people make it. My son in law & his family make it and so he said he asked someone in the RCMP about all of the regulations surrounding it.

Which brings up this question for me...could you use a still for both without "contaminating" the other? 🤔 That could come in handy for tincture making. I'm not sure that I want to get into making it though. I'm just curious.

I'm going back to fix the spell check issues in my first post. You'd think I didn't know how to speak, or type. 🙄 I found a word that didn't fit in any way. Strange things, those spell check fixes.

gardneto76

@LaurieLovesLearning you have to clean it between each batch to ensure nothing gets mixed, even when just switching to a different media for a different EO. That would lead me to think you could use it for both extractions, if you had the right kind of still. We were hoping to be able to do both as well, which is where the legal issue came in. I do not know of anyone here that makes their own moonshine, but we have a ton of old laws on the books they refuse to do anything about and will uphold if they can get anything out of it.

water2world

@LaurieLovesLearning I agree, the stills I have looked at are out of my price range. I have see some "DIY" ones, but wonder what kind of job they do.

LaurieLovesLearning

@water2world I really don't know. Maybe @torey would have an opinion on those based on hearsay or something.

Torey

I'm not all that sure about this. I have read that if you are going to use a still for both purposes it should be stainless steel due to its ease of cleaning. If I were to invest in a still it would probably be one for making alcohol, although I know enough people with equipment, that I can barter for my needs.

It takes so much plant material to make such a little bit of EO, I would have a hard time with the sacrifice of all that material for so little. I do love the evergreen scents, though, and in my part of the world that would be easy to gather in quantity making it a more sustainable project. So a small copper still would do for that purpose.

I guess I am saying if I were to do both projects myself, I would probably have two units.

As to the DIY ones, I've heard stories about those exploding if they aren't properly sealed or if they aren't made with a strong enough grade of metal. I've heard about people using pressure canners but I certainly don't think that is safe. I'd want a store bought one from a reputable company.

LaurieLovesLearning

@torey Thank you. I kept hearing about good/top quality and how important it is. I guess it's not just about the lead in the still itself. When I watched rhetoric video, I did get a sense of potential issues if certain things weren't done properly, so your comments confirm that quite clearly.