• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

EQUIPMENT

This is a severely simple still that you can put together using kitchen paraphernalia. Subsequently, if you get hooked on distillation, you will undoubtedly want to contrive, acquire, and assemble a more sophisticated apparatus. The rustic design illustrated in this chapter works reasonably well, belonging to the same league as the funky skateboards I used to build as a kid by separating the two halves of the old metal-wheeled roller skates and nailing them to the front and back of the bottom of a 2 × 6 piece of wood; they got me down the road … eventually. And damn it, this still will get you some aromatic hydrosol!

The Still

The still is a common enameled 20.4 L (21.5 quart) canning pot that is designed to can fruit and vegetables. It’s normally dark blue or black with white flecks all over it. It can be purchased in most department stores.

The Condenser

The condenser is the lid of the canning pot placed upside down on the pot. At the appropriate time, a mass of ice is placed on top of this.

The Receiver

The receiver is a bowl that is placed inside the pot. It, in turn, is sitting on a metal veggie steamer basket which has had its center post removed and is standing in the center of the pot. This elevates the receiver bowl, so that it is not jostled around by the rumbling action of the boiling water and herbs during distillation.

TO MAKE AN AROMATIC HYDROSOL

1. Clean all the equipment.

2. Place approximately 3 liters (3 quarts) of water in the pot.

3. With the water, mix approximately 200 Gm (10 oz. or so) of the selected plant or the parts of the plant containing volatile oil. When appropriate, it is certainly okay to use more plant material than suggested here; follow your judgment; weigh it out and make notes.

4. Let this macerate for a couple hours.

5. Remove the center post from the metal veggie steamer basket and stand the steamer, spread fully opened, in the center of the pot.

6. Place the receiver bowl on the center of the steamer.

7. Put the lid right side up on the pot.

8. Put all this on the heat and bring it to a boil; keep watching!

9. As soon as the water begins to simmer, turn the lid upside down on the pot.

10. Lay a thick plastic bag full of ice on the lid. (This way, when the ice melts, the ensuing bag of water can be easily removed and dealt with.) This step is semi-optional; the steam will condense on the condenser lid without using the ice, but the hydrosol seems to have a little more “something” when you cool the lid with ice.

11. Adjust the heat to a moderate level. Keep the heat just high enough to maintain the vaporization of the liquids.

12. Inside the pot, the water/aromatic oil vapor will rise to the cooler lid, condense back to liquid, flow down to the low point of the lid, and drip into the receiver which will collect the hydrosol and volatile oil. Beware of steam whenever lifting the lid of the pot. Escaping steam enjoys hot-licking unsuspecting finger skin.

13. Place a wetted filter paper in a funnel.

14. Place the funnel into a jar or bottle that has a lid.

15. When the hydrosol is cool, pour it through the filter paper. The hydrosol will pass through; if any appreciable volatile oil is present, it will collect in the bottom of the filter paper cone. You can collect this volatile oil with a dropper bottle pipette.

16. Cap the jar and refrigerate.

For best results, harvest the plant to be used at the time of year and the time of the day when it is highest in volatile oils.

Using this system, as the steam makes it to the lid, much of it escapes out of the pot. Most of the volatile oil probably escapes with this portion of the vapor. When you use a more sophisticated still that is sealed, you avoid this loss of vapor and the volatile oil ends up floating on top of the hydrosol which has been deposited in the receiver vessel. In other words, don’t expect to collect much volatile oil using this method. Aromatic hydrosol, however, you will get, and I suspect you will be delighted with it. You will probably want to make more, and soon