Distilling Essential Oils With A Moonshine Still

The majority of people believe that essential oils have wonderful healing properties and they have also been used for a long time in aromatherapy. Perfect for extracting essential oils, we feature Brewhaus Moonshine Stills are made from stainless steel and unlike copper stills, it does not react with the oils you use. The stainless steel is inactive and does not react with the distillate’s other compounds leading to production of oil that has a higher quality compared to others.

Extracting Essential Oils Using Steam Distillation

Steam distillation and dry heat are the two techniques used for distilling essential oils. Being a simple method, steam distillation is more used than dry heat either at home or commercially. It works by passing steam via your material and forcing the essential oils’ pocket to open because of the heat thus releasing the oils which then evaporates.

Together, the essential oils with the water vapor rise in the distillation column till they go into the condenser where they re-liquefy. The purest essential oils are gathered since the water and oil separate in the container used for collection.

Distilling Essential Oils from a Moonshine Still

Also known as the traditional technique, Pot Distillation is the main method applied in essential oils distilling. Beginners can use organic materials that are fresh like mint, lavender and rosemary.  Here's a sample method you can use to distill essential oils.

1. Pour 10 liters of distilled water in the kettle you will use.
    
2. Filling the kettle very tightly, add the material to use for extracting the essential oils.
    
3. The pot’s head should be attached still to the kettle. Only the top part of the column should be attached straight to the kettle if the Essential Extractor Pro Series II is being used. Water lines should then be linked with the condenser.
    
4. Ensure your collection hoses are routed to the collecting container.
    
5. Next, place your kettle on your heat source.
    
6. Begin pouring cooling water to the condenser slowly as soon as the kettle begins boiling.
    
7. To ensure full condensing of the vapors, monitor the flow of cooling water as soon as the essential oils begin to come out of the condenser. Collecting the oils in small portions, replace the collection containers after every 500ml or about 8 oz. This ensures that you collect the high-quality oils first since the quality drops faster as the distillation comes to an end.
    
8. Remove your still from the heat source as soon as you note the essential oils dropping in quality (or after collecting a maximum of 8 liters).
    
9. The Essential oils in the collection containers should then be combined (excluding the last collection) and then allowed to sit in a container that is covered. At the beginning, the distillate will look cloudy but a clear liquid will appear in a few hours after the oils have separated from the water.
    
10. Clean the kettle and the whole unit as you wait for your Moonshine Still to cool down and the essential oils to separate. Thorough cleaning should be done to clear the strong and potentially lingering flavors of the essential oils from your still.
     
11. A separating measuring cup should be used to separate the oil and the water.
     
12. To store your essential oils, glass bottles that are airtight and dark-colored should be used. Label them with the date of distillation and the oil type.

What Are Essential Oils Used For?  

Aromatherapy is not the only way you can use essential oils. You can also use them to:

• Create cleaning products that are natural like grout scrub, disinfecting cleaners and window cleaner.
• Make home remedies for problems like stomach upsets, cold and flu, headaches, arthritis, insect bites, blisters and many more.
• Craft all natural essences to add flavor to personal distilled neutral spirits with essences of lemon, orange gin, oak, anise and many more.