Thank you so much for explaining this.I just got a vevor distiller and I definitely needed more ice when I tried making essential oils today.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Ай бұрын

I have been there! Ive even blown through all my ice! Instead, try to get your condensing pot to drain faster. If the water doesn't drain or refill fast enough, the coils just blows steam, cause the condensing pot isn't staying cold enough. When the ice melts, your back with the same problem again. Ice helps, but it's definitely not the solution, it's just a temporary bandaid. So if you cycle the water in your condensing pot fast enough, you can avoid the nessesaity and extra leg work of adding ice. I hope this helps, and best of luck to ya!

You should be filling the coil tank up from the bottom tube and drain from the top tube. This way you'll never not have vapors condensing. Looks like you have a valve on the bottom tube which would be used to slow down the fill rate and prevent the tank from overflowing. A cooler with ice water and an aquarium pump is an easy way to circulate. I don't think your oil will be more or less pure based on amount of water. More water will have more hydrosol. Your main pot isn't creating pressure, at least not enough to be a bomb. The only way it would be any amount of pressure is if the vapor tube gets clogged. If it's not clogged then you're distillate output tube is what releases pressure therefore no explosions. It's not the same as a pressure cooker. Like someone else said, a separately funnel is best for separating oil from hydrosol. If you don't want that you can get a tall cylindrical beaker (graduated cylinder) with a small diameter, then use a pipette to extract

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Ай бұрын

Yes, I have been told many times to switch the tubes around, which would have been nice to know, 4 years ago when I started making these videos. Unfortunately, the instructions on my unit said to run the tubes this way, and since I had no other reference point, I followed the instructions. All anyone can ask is that you do the best you can, with the knowledge and tools you have. I have aquired pipets and beakers, but I still find myself using this method, as it works for me. As for water: you are correct. Water has no effect on the oil yield, as they do not mix. But how much water you run through your pot can absolutely affect the saturation, quality, and your final yield from your hydrosol. For instance, if you have 1 table spoon of ground coffee, and you decide to run 8 cups of water through it, your finished coffee is going to taste watered down because your water to coffee ground ratio was too high. You might have 8 cups of coffee but it won't be very good. If you take that same 1 table spoon of coffee, and run one cut of water through it, it might be strong enough to punch you in the face. You can always dilute it down, and get 8 cups of no good coffee, or you can water it down and get 3 cups of strong coffee, just as you like it. Making a high-quality hudrosol is basically the same. I'm not trying to get a bunch of hydrosol, by starting with too much water, or by diluting the hydrosol down after I made it. I want the highly saturated stuff that's just right. Anyone can water it down and get more, but not everyone can make a consentrated hydrosol out of the spout, and that's what I enjoy most. I can always dilute it later if i want to, and having the option to do so, is nice. The higher the concentration, the higher the quality, especially if you can get crystal clear in the meantime. You can always correct the concentration if it's too strong, but you can really fix it, if it's not strong enough. As for the still being a bomb... ya, if the plant mater starts to burn, it builds smoke and pressure inside the can very fast, and it doesn't escape out the coils. Because of this, it's bowed the bottom of my pot a couple times. You might not realize it, but many stills have exploded over the years because of similar events. I appreciate your comments on my video! I like to learn from others who are more experienced than I am! I am sure I have a lot to learn as I am still new at this!

@g-lurk

Ай бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 i misunderstood about the yield thing - i didn't know you were keeping the hydrosol, i thought you were talking about the oil. My bad. I'm still not sold on the exploding thing though!

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Ай бұрын

Ya ya, no worries! I do keep my hydrosols! It works to remove smoke damage and pet odors in the house. It's the best deodorizer I've ever used, and when the scent goes away, your house just smells clean and fresh. Many people use my hydrosol as a facial tonars or as an after shower refreshing body mist. The hydrosol is fantastic stuff to use, and most of the hydrosols have medicinal properties and uses! Rose hydrosol and lavender hydrosol are great for soothing summer sunburns. Helps ease the burning, and sooths the skin. But like I tell everyone, please always do your own research before blindly trusting someone's word as an unverified source. As for stills exploding, that's OK if you don't believe me. Im not offended by it in the least, and its wise to be a little skeptical of any unverified sources of information. I'm still learning and growing, so my answers to questions may change over time. Just cause I say something works for me, in my situation, doesn't mean it will work for someone else. So I applaud you for not blindly trusting others on social media! I wish more people did this. But if you want answers "can moon shine stills explode" I suggest you spend some time resurching it. The verified answers you may find may suprise you! After all, nobody can know everything about everything. Thanks again for your comments on my channel! I will definitely look into the supplies you mentioned. Maybe it will work better than the way I've been doing things. I'm not optimistic that it would work better, but I'll definitely keep an open mind about it. I'll never know if I never try! Please have a fantastic day, and thanks again for your response! It is appreciated!

Monitoring volume out is a reasonable way to gauge the volume left in the boiler. If you had a lid with a fill port, you could replenish on the fly. Good video, thanks!

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

3 ай бұрын

Good tip!

Great stuff!!

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

I'm glad you approve! Hopefully this gives you information you need to make your own essential oils.

instead of wasting all that water, just use ice in the water. with ice, you will cool better and lose less in steam as well. also, instead of a sauce pan, use a separation funnel ($25) which enables you to get the oil separated.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

26 күн бұрын

The ice melts incredibly fast and heats up from the coils. You have to keep cycling the water out, in order to keep the coil pot a constant temperater, with out it overflowing. I still use my sauce pan to collect my distillutes, as I can approximately measure how much fluids remain in my pot. This method works for me, so I dont accidentally run my pot dry. My distilutes I poor into a larger 2 gallon pot, to settle and seperate. When that's done, I drain off the hydrosol, so extracting the oil is much easier. I use dropper bottles to help remove every drop of water from my oils, for the last finishing work. This method worked for me, especially since I had to use the tools I had on hand at the time.

@AlsanPine

26 күн бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 yes with your setup. you really should not have the condenser on top of the pot. putting a metal condenser on top of a metal steam chamber is inefficient. it is not just the steam that heats it, the metal conducts heat as well. this is why i do not use these setups. but you have purchased it so now you need to optimize it. the condenser should be moved a couple of feet away for proper cooling of your steam. then you will find ice in water woks quite well. yes you will have to babysit it but you will get better results. for anyone who has not already bought one of these, save your money. you can make a still that is efficient and far more useful. yes it will cost more than $60 but it will allow you to be much more efficient and get better quality and quantity of oil from diverse plants without having to watch it every second. here, you cannot run the steam chamber dry which will allow you to let the setup simmer for hours and walk away safely because the water condenses back in the steam chamber continuously. the main expense will be 3 must have parts for your still: vigreux separating column (~300mm) with a clevenger (no valve necessary) above it and a water jacket condenser (~300mm) above that (when you order glass, make sure the flanges of all your pieces match). they are the only expensive parts of the setup (about $100). for the steam chamber, best bet is to take an old pressure cooker (as long as it does not leak steam from seal) and remove gauge and release valve and put in a hose to a chemisty flange. now the 3 part column we talked above is placed in that flange and your distilling column is done. if your hot plate is close to your sink, you can use your sink as a cooling reservoir or you could use a regular bucket or a pot of anything that holds water. use a little fountain pump(make sure it has enough head rating to pump up to your column) to pump water to the water jacket condenser and you are ready to go. fill the pressure cooker to just above the steamer platform, bring it to a boil, then place your plant material above (do not pack it in too much, you want space between branches and leaves and leave a couple inches gap to the lid), put the lid on, your column on, turn on the pump. you want to simmer consistently. altogether this should cost around $150 if you have to buy everything but now you have a real distilling setup very much like we use in most chemistry labs. you can get a lab heating plate with more accurate temperature regulation but that is not necessary for most essential oil work. the column can also be modified a bit to separate material with different boiling points. the clevenger allows very efficient oil separation without fiddling.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

23 күн бұрын

You stated that I should not put the condenser on top of my pot. First of all, I didn't build this, it came this way, and for me, it works fine. You sated that just cause I bought it, now I have to use it. This statement is untrue, because I will use whatever tool I decided works best for me in my situation, not because I bought it, but because I find it useful. frankly, I like my distiller, and enjoy it immensely. There may be a better one, but I have not found resources to make this possible, so I use it, because its useful to me, and I enjoy it. Regardless of what your opinion or personal preference is, you can share your knowledge without being condescending and rude. Dictating what others should and should not do with their resources is not your job. You can share information you find is helpful, but telling others what they should not do, because you say so, is very off putting. I'm happy to take your sugestions, but I will be unable to utilize it right now, which is nothing I should be ashamed of, or discouraged from doing simplebecausei found something I can use something else that works in the mean time. There is a better way to communicate your sugestions,, with out putting others down, when they don't do things you're way. Simply being able to do it with the tools I have, is enough for me, for right now, and im ok with that. Knowledge comes by experience, and I have little of that, but I'm willing to share what I know, with out chastizing others for doing it differently than I do. There is more than 1 way to distill lavender essential oil, this way works for me, and I'm happy with it, so I'll continue to use it, my way. Thank you for your comments. When I am able, a d have resources, I'll look into your methods more. Right now, it's just not something I'm able to do.

@AlsanPine

23 күн бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 learning is not condescension. you have two stated issues with your setup and i have the solution. as a research chemist of many years i know a few things about distilling things. the equipment is readily available on ebay. you do not need a phd to work one. you do, however, need to be willing to learn and not take instruction as order. this says much more about you than me. as a professor, i give instruction. it is not opinion. it is how it is done. if you are attached to your own wasteful way, then by all means continue to use what you have. my help is for those who are interested in improvement.

Great stuff thankyou for the Video :) one suggestion -- in the condensation pot; keeping the cooling water In-let at bottom and out-let at top may work better.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! I plan on trying that next time.

buy a laboratory grade separatory funnel, it will make separating the oil and water a sinch.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

9 ай бұрын

Thank you for your reply! I haven't found one yet, that I like, but I have been looking into this.

Would keeping ice cubes in the top pot help keep the chill in the line? Just replenish as needed during the process?

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

I tried that, but the coil pot gets so hot, you easily burn through ice, and in a matter of minutes. Because of this reason, cold water is really the best. It's why many moonshiners back in the day relayed upon a river or a steady trickling stream to supply the line with cold water. For this distilling set up, you really do need cold water, and any cold water will do.

Nice video Eli

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

love your video. Do you add anything to your essential bottles to preserve the oil? I see you do not add anything to your hydrosols. Do you need to keep them in the frig? How long do they last? Thank you

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

11 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, if you add anything to a pure essential oil, it makes it no longer pure. I make sure my oil is free of any water and debris, and then I keep all my essentials oils in dark tinted glass, and store them in a cool dark place. Light and heat can destroy pure essential oils, so storing them in dark glass, in a cool dark place, is the best way to care for them, after you bottle the clean and pure essential oil. My essentials oils have lasted me several years! This is going on the 3rd year that I've made oils, and they haven't gone bad yet! I'm not exactly sure how long most essential oils last, but if stored correctly, some essential oils can last as long as a 10 years or more!

@carolshill6861

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for responding. I appreciate it. @@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

10 ай бұрын

You are most welcome!

I think you should put a separating flask that would catch condensed liquid... at least, you would have controlled environment on the output rather than an open tube... moreover, you could have an indicator on the output side, how much water you have left in the pot.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

6 ай бұрын

I don't leave much water in the bottom of the pot. Any left over water, I collect, and run through my still again. In the lavender water, or tea that is left over, still has extractable hydrosol and essential oil in it, so I run it till there is almost nothing left to extract, with out burning my pot, which sometimes I'm not always successful at doing. My left over tea water run, I save for the very last, that way nothing truly extractable gets wasted.

Little tip from my gin and absinth making experiences: Absinth in particular has a lot of plant matter in the pot that can burn. What I do, is have the distillate dripping into a Pyrex measuring jug. I am sure plastic would be fine, just not for alcohol. After running it a couple of times, I know how much distillate I can collect to the last drop for every pint of liquid I started-with before it will burn.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

As do I. In addition, I found I will get less than expected, if my coil pot doesn't cool the coils as well as it should. I learned that sometimes my water pressure changes, so I'm always having to adjust to keep a constant flow of water in it. If the water is cycling too slow, (in and out) my coils don't cool down, so it vaporizes instead of condensing. It's fascinating what you learn, from experience. Experience is a fascinating teacher, most of the time, lol.

@TheBaconWizard

Жыл бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 Yeah, your still isn't one I have used but lots of people say how tricky they are to dial-in the water-flow. Not helped of course by having the cooling sat right on top of the hot lid. Forgive me if I am way wrong on this, but surely you would want the water coming-in on the lower tube, and out via the top? That should make it much easier to regulate.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

The water in and out is hard to regulate no mater what you do. I found that putting the water in the top is best. The coil pot works by gravity. Water density is at its strongest, when it's at the bottom. With this unit, if you feed a water in line on the bottom, it will start to fight with it self. Gravity and water density pushes downward, while a water pressure line pushes upwards. If there is a problem at any point, and the water pressure can't fill the coil pot, and you can't drain it, your water in the coil pot can't go anywhere, and it will overheat. The water level will stay the same, and your tube will stay full of water, so you won't see the problem, till your pot is blowing steam. You cant fix the problem, with out dumping all the water out of the top, or over flow the pot, with cold water, but once this happens, there is no quick fix to undo the problem. Water in the top, is the best way. If you water stops flowing, you can see it. Just turn the water back on, and problems is fixed. If the drain is draining to fast, the water level drops, easy fix, add more water. If too much water is filling the top, plug the line, let it drain, and the problem is fixed. If the water gets too hot, let it drain and fill faster so the cold water stays cold all the time. With the drain gravity fed, and the water top fed, you can easily fix problems, with out having to take your whole unit apart or remove it from the heat. Any time there is a problem, you can hear it, and see it, before the problem starts to effect your process, and treat the issue with out a huge mess.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

Every distillery set is different. There is space under my unit, so it's not really sitting directly on top of the lid, which does help. Some units have 3 pots, (stock pot, thumper, and coil pot) and others are like mine. Some coil pots have legs on them so they sit higher off the lid than mine. Personally, I like the lower profile, as it stays better balanced with out being top heavy. When your stock pot steams off, it gets lighter in weight, while your coil pot does not. The taller your coil pot is, the more chance it has to become top heavy, and flip your whole unit off the stove. I used to not fill my pot up as high as I do now, but when it flipped over one time, I learned to keep my pot full, so my stock pot always outweigh my coil pot. With the lower profile, it definitely helped center my pot. I have limited space, so low profile was better for my situation. I wish I knew about the valves for the water in and out. If I had known, I would have gotten a pot with that already built in. As it is, it's not hard to add a valve in a hose line, that could be replaced if it broke. Harder to do with a valves built into a still. So maybe it was a blessing I hadn't known prior to finding this unit.

@TheBaconWizard

Жыл бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 I can see you have a relationship with your still in which there is much water under the bridge, feelings have been hurt and then healed, and now it is a member of the family even if a little dysfunctional at times XD

How much water do you put in the pot with the plant matter?

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

11 ай бұрын

I use about 2 inches of water, (about 3 cups) to my 3 gallon stock pot, and pack the rest with herbs.

Thanks for the info! What temperature should the pot be?

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

I don't have a thermometer that reads heat temperature. I put a pot of water on the stove, and waited till my pot of water started to simmer. Not a rolling boil, but a constant simmer. If you can achieve a consistent simmer, with a good flow of steam, this should be all you need. On my stove, the setting is 7 to 8. Just a little hotter than medium heat, but I'm not much higher than sea level elevation. Hope this helps.

@miah5561

Жыл бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 Thanks!!

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

It's not much, but I really hope this helps!

Can I suggest you feed cold water in bottom pipe and then the hottest water will overflow naturally out the top pipe to you sink. It should be more efficient to cool as well. Mark

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, I appreciate that. I had a few other folks mention that over the last year. I'm sure in future videos, I'll try that arrangement instead.

@FloatingIdeasonanarrowboat

4 ай бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 thanks. I've found similar stills on eBay in different sizes. Hope to try this some day. Not much room living on a narrowboat though.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

4 ай бұрын

@FloatingIdeasonanarrowboat I hear ya! Just a little FYI, some states it's not legal to own a still for some things, with out a license, so just be careful in case you live in one of those wanky donkey states, lol.

@FloatingIdeasonanarrowboat

4 ай бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 UK. Not sure. I think it's what comes out that's policed 😀

@wa-kentaurians3050

4 ай бұрын

Some states in the USA it's illegal to own a still with out a license, never mind what you make with it. In my state, I can own a still for the soul purpose of making EOs and hydrosols, but anything else, a license is required. Pretty crazy to be told that you can and can't do inbyour own home.

You have your cooling hoses backwards

@kennethhart3904

3 ай бұрын

I've been running a whiskey still for a long time (same concept)

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

2 ай бұрын

Yes, I have ben told this by some of my viewers. However, my user manual for my distiller told me to run my lines with this configuration, so that's what I did. I didn't have a teacher to tell me any different, at the time of filming. Unfortunately, I can't edit the videos to reflect the knew knowledge after I've already uploaded it to KZread. If a little switch of the line is the only thing I got wrong (when the user manual says I did it correctly), then I suppose I'm doing better than I thought! At least the end result was the same. Thanks for your feedback, though. Maybe in a year or two, I'll make a follow-up video to include that new information.

Эфирный праздник !!!

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

3 ай бұрын

Yes!

@user-cl8kl2ss9i

3 ай бұрын

@@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699 Я тоже выгоняю эфирные масла для настроения !!! П.С. г. Волгоград .

So in 2 years you did not understand how to run a cooling coil? Just run it the other way around. fill it in from the bottom and let it drain off from the top, so easy.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Жыл бұрын

Of course I do! I knew how to do this in grade school! Truth is, it has nothing to do with the direction you run your line, and everything to do with the speed you run them at. 1. If you fill your pot, faster than it can drain it will overflow. 2. If your pot drains faster than it fills, it will run empty. 3. If you don't drain or fill your pot fast enough, the coil pot will cause your cool water to heat up. You have to run your pot fast enough to keep the cool water from heating up, and ballance the draining line, and the filling line, so the pot doesn't go dry, or over flow. You could stick a garden hose on top of the coils to fill it, and drain from the 2 coil pot valves, and over flow your coil pot. You could fill your coil pot from both sides valves and use a garden hose out of the top of the coils, and run your pot dry. You could plug both side valves and run 2 different sized garden hoses out from the top of the coils and have it run perfectly. The direction of filling and draining the coil pot, doesn't really have anything to do with how the coil pot runs, but it has everything to do with the speed at which you run it. As long as you run the water through the pot fast enough, it won't over heat, and as long as you ballance speed at how fast it drains, with how fast it fills up, your coil pot won't run dry or overflow. It's like that game you play as a kid, where you punch holes in a plastic bottle, and fill it with water, so the bottle stays full of water as it's draining out. Running a coil pot is easy, and it doesn't matter which direction you run your line, as long as you can ballance the speed ratios appropriately. Depending on how you are set up, balancing those ratios could be tricky at first.

@jonross377

Жыл бұрын

I’m gonna say a little more friendly than the first guy but it absolutely doesn’t matter which way you run those lines and you were doing it incorrectly that’s why you’re having so much problem you run the fill line at the bottom and it will drain through the top yes it matters how much water goes in you don’t want to overfill it but the top line needs to be the drain not the fill and remove the valve that’s creating a bottleneck and you can run less water with the valve then without it.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

11 ай бұрын

Ah, ok! I appreciate your feedback! I live in eastern Washington. Nobody uses a distiller in my town, which is a shame, and unfortunately I haven't found any videos talking about how to run the water lines. It's great to learn from others who have more experience and knowledge about such things than I do, otherwise, I'm just winging it. Sometimes in order to learn you gotta try, fail, and succeed a few times, and hope someone can teach ya something new along the way. I appreciate your feedback, and thank you! I will try this next time I distill my herbs, and see what happens.

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

10 ай бұрын

If I had a bunch of fresh cut cedar, I would totally give that a try!

Just unnecesarly expanding time

@basichomesteadingandsurviv3699

Ай бұрын

I'm sorry. I did my very best when making this video. I shall try to keep my videos shorter in the future. Thank you for your comments. Have a great day.