Essential Oil Distiller

DO you remember what any of them are called? I can find the main two bulbs but the other stuff has been problematic.

 

p

Pretty good memory for an antique alchemist.

 

ooooww thank you @BTPost just what I was looking for!

 

You can do it with a pressure cooker!
1)Put your chopped stuff into pressure cooker and add water.
2)Attach a heat resistant radiator hose over the steam outlet and clamp it tight with a hose clamp.
3) Insert coiled copper pipe (fill with water and freeze then bend around PVC or whatever or, you can fill it with sand and taped the ends) insert one end of copper, into the the other end of hose at pressure cooker, and clamp tight.
4) Place coils in cold water and other end in a one gallon glass jar.
5) Run pressure cook and add ice as needed to cool copper.
6) Oils will float, skim off oil with turkey baster or whatever and heat at low temp to remove any remaining water.
This guys is kinda sloppy but it works well, a little more effort- time, and he'd have nailed it!

 

Direct rip off of Dr.Jeckle I see a patent suit coming!

 

shush go back in your hole @Gopherman i know you have passion fruit to eat!

 

@Ganado

After looking around a bit, here's a suggestion for a cheap & easy essential oil distiller:

The Pot:
Buy a used Stainless Steel pressure cooker from a thrift store or yard sale. (About $5.00) Don't get an Aluminum one.
Buy a Speedaire 30E584 304 Stainless Steel Quick Coupler Plug (400 psi) from Walmart ($6.96).
Drill (or drill out) a hole in the lid of the pressure cooker to just fit the smooth diameter of the Plug.
Cut the plug off at the groove in the smooth diameter. (Easy w/ vise & hacksaw,)
Drive the Plug into the lid (threads outside) and take it down to the local welding shop. Have them tig weld the plug to the lid, putting the weld bead on the inside of the lid. (That's the way that looks neatest.) If you tell them you're making a still, they may laugh and weld it for free because you just made their day. Otherwise, it should be less than $10.00, because you already did all the prep work.

Getting good seals on the pot is typically the hardest step in building a homemade distiller. The pressure cooker makes that easy, and the welding makes it permanent.

Condenser:
You'll need some 1/4" copper tubing if you use a simple condenser coil. Buy it from a scrap yard if you can--it'll be about ten times cheaper. Then you'll need a compression reducer and a gland nut to connect the copper tubing directly to the pot. (Walmart. Cheapish.) Brass is ok--there'll be almost no exposure of the brass parts to the distillate. So no worries about lead.

Crimp one end of the tube and fill it with salt. Tap it down/ram it solid, then crimp the other end. Wrap it around a piece of large PVC pipe, or maybe a gallon glass jar. Make it whatever size you like. Leave some length at the top to reach the pot, and a little at the bottom to reach the drip jar. Cut the crimped ends off and tap/blow/wash the salt out.

Mount the coil in a water bucket. Drill a hole for the bottom end, cut a notch for the top end. Insert coil. Epoxy the hole to seal the bucket, and the notch to stabilize the coil.

Then yer good to go.

If you prefer a water jacket condenser, you'll need some straight copper tube and a few fittings. Look up the design on the Web, They're super-easy to make with just a little soldering. No fancy bending required.

Have fun!

 

Hey @UncleMorgan thanks for the suggestion, it never occured to me to go to the local welding shop and tell them I was making a still lol really appreciate the time and thought you put into your post.

 

To build your own still is no problem, even with kitchen staff you can get a good result. A laboratory flask is not a good idea because the flask is too narrow, parts of the steam will condense on the inside wall, resulting in losses of quality and amount. Distilling app. 500 g lavender you get 10 ml essential oil.

The best book for distilling essential oils at home:
The Essential Oil Maker's Handbook, Spikehorn Press.

 

Thanks! @DFSSchmickl really appreciate the lead on the book and the advice on flasks

 

Awesome thread ... subscribed. Thanks!

Been wanting to do something like this with all the bushels of extra rosemary we've got around here at the end of each season. Save it for soaps and colognes and such.

 

Thanks.... i'll try and review in next week

 

I highly recommend a safety valve , something you can set to 10-20 lbs. even a pressure gage and thermometer.
I have an aluminum pressure cooker I've dedicated to a distiller.
I was just thinking ,since it's making steam it would be cool do use it to drive turbine,or steam engine, for making DC power.
recover the spent steam in a condenser expansion chamber and get the most from the effort.
Just thinking out loud so to speak.

 

THis might work
Ingredients & Supplies for DIY Essential Oils

• a crock pot with a lid
• distilled water
• enough fresh plant material to fill the crockpot about half full (at least 3-4 cups, chopped)
• time

Process

1. Place the plant material in the crock pot and cover with water. The water shouldn’t fill more than ¾ of the volume of the crockpot. Put the lid on upside down. (The concave structure will allow any steam that forms to condense and fall back into the pot. If you don’t have a lid, you can use a plate.)
2. Turn the crock pot on high to heat the water. Once the water is hot, turn down to low. Simmer on low for 3-4 hours.
3. After the plant material is cooked down, turn off and let cool. When it is cool, place the inside of the crock pot into the refrigerator. If your crockpot doesn’t come apart, you can place the whole unit in there, or transfer the liquid into another container. Leave it in overnight.
4. The next day, pull the crock pot out of the refrigerator. A thin film of oil will form on the top and will be hard after cooling. (These are your DIY essential oils!) Carefully lift the oil off of the water. Work fast – it will start to melt quickly!
5. Place this into a bottle and cap. Label contents well. There may be a small amount of water-based liquid on the bottom. You can gently heat the oil to turn the liquid to steam and release it from the oil. Don’t heat the oil for too long as it can lose its potency.
6. Store in a colored glass container