I do a lot of drying and vacuum sealing with the herbs I grow and i'm about to venture into extracting the essential oil out of some of them. Anyone done this before??
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Essential oil making
- Thread starter Pepperjack91
- Start date
salsalady
Business Member
I've done a lot of lavender essential oil...using a friends large commercial low-temp distillation set up. They process about 6 acres of lavender a year.
I've seen some really simple home made set ups, but I think to get the most out of the plants, a small professionally made distillation set up would work a lot better.
Post Pics when you get it up and running~
I've seen some really simple home made set ups, but I think to get the most out of the plants, a small professionally made distillation set up would work a lot better.
Post Pics when you get it up and running~
hsl is bang on, it can be a lot of fun as well. ive tried it before and found it to be satisfying and enjoyable, id still be doing it if i hadnt have lost my still (it got stolen) lol
How difficult and expensive is it to make a still? I had planned on using pure grain alcohol to extract it.
Jeff H said:
Holy cow that was cool
I've, uh.... extracted "essential oil" from plant material before using a supercritical butane extraction 
don't see why it wouldn't work with herbs as well! In fact they appear to make extractors just for this purpose.
http://www.tamisiumextractors.com/
I just used stainless steel tubing with a screen
don't see why it wouldn't work with herbs as well! In fact they appear to make extractors just for this purpose.http://www.tamisiumextractors.com/
I just used stainless steel tubing with a screen
pure grain alcohol will extract the oil, but then you have to wait for the alcohol to evaporate and im the kind of guy that cant see alcohol go to waste like that, unless its like rubbing alcohol and you cant drink it lol. ive seen people use 80 proof vodka or moonshine to extract essential oils and to me that it a waste.
you can make a still fairly cheap in the u.s.a, look it up on google, there is lots of sites showing how to make them, where to buy materials, hell even sites that sell copper stills for extracting essential oils. or you can use any ol' copper still for moonshine. the part that really matters is the cup like thing that the water and essential oil drip into, it is a separator and does exactly that, oil sits on top of the water and it will drip out of one tube and into a container of your choice, the water when it gets to a certain level will just leak out and onto the ground. that is the only thing you really need, other then that, take a pressure cooker and run a copper tube from the steam valve to the collection separator cup, it dont really matter as long as you have something to boil the water and herbs and something to collect the steam and send it to the special separator cup
you can make a still fairly cheap in the u.s.a, look it up on google, there is lots of sites showing how to make them, where to buy materials, hell even sites that sell copper stills for extracting essential oils. or you can use any ol' copper still for moonshine. the part that really matters is the cup like thing that the water and essential oil drip into, it is a separator and does exactly that, oil sits on top of the water and it will drip out of one tube and into a container of your choice, the water when it gets to a certain level will just leak out and onto the ground. that is the only thing you really need, other then that, take a pressure cooker and run a copper tube from the steam valve to the collection separator cup, it dont really matter as long as you have something to boil the water and herbs and something to collect the steam and send it to the special separator cup
I'm sorry but butane extraction is GARBAGE. I hope you off gassed that shit in your freezer for about a month.illWill said:I've, uh.... extracted "essential oil" from plant material before using a supercritical butane extraction
http://www.tamisiumextractors.com/
I just used stainless steel tubing with a screen
+1 hogleg, not only is it garbage, but it is extremely dangerous and hazardous to your life!!!
Lol. In my freezer?hogleg said:
Would you care to tell me how the amount of butane left in my extraction in any way exceeded the amount of (very poor, low quality fuel) that is burnt in a bic lighting a cigarette? Weighing your input and your yield, you can easily calculate the residual butane and I can assure you it was plenty safe. 
Most clubs, at least the quality ones here in cali wont touch butane extract. Because they have it lab tested and it comes back with butane in it. I'm not saying it cant be off gassed almost all the way, it just takes some work. Like a vac oven or a month+ in your freezer with frequent stirring. Not trying to rip on ya just telling ya what i know from decades of experienceillWill said:Lol. In my freezer?
personally i was not talking about the ingesting or inhalation of it either, i was talking about the process of making the oil. and yes like hoglegs said there is residual butane left over from the process, how much i do not know. i dont have any experience with it. i have seen friends try to make oils using butane and set their house on fire, burning their selves and even blowing up the make shift pot thing they had.illWill said:Lol. In my freezer?
No this discussion is good. Please continue
Probably because butane extraction is illegal (like just about everything) in Cali. Lol. EDIT: did this not pass yet? http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1262
What do you propose a week of stirring a chemical with a boiling point of 30 degrees F in your freezer is going to do? I have never heard of that method being used, but admittedly haven't dabbled (pun?) in extractions in a few years. If you have too high of a residual, you simply do a secondary extraction using a solvent with a higher boiling point (not preferred for a few reasons, but safety isn't usually one of them)
& magic, "how much I do not know", luckily some of us are willing to take the time to do the math, and DO know! With that said, I can't really recommend butane extractions to your average Joe because, yes, people generally cut corners and do them in an unsafe manner. Which yeah, can seriously injure or kill. But if your friend(s) (multiple!?) are really lighting their homes on fire, I think it's safe to say it's probably a testament to their intelligence and research rather than to their extractions and the chemistry behind them! OKay, that sounds a little harsh, sometimes we all make bad decisions. Lol. But people have safely been doing butane extractions long before anyone ever thought of trying it on cannabis
I'm not even really any sort of advocate of extracts but I think saying "All Butane Extractions Suck!" is sort of a stretch, at best. What I want to know is how to make your own chile oil. Not like, in the cooking chilies in hot oil sense, but if there is a way to extract pure oil from the placenta of chiles.... now I have some reading to go do!!
What do you propose a week of stirring a chemical with a boiling point of 30 degrees F in your freezer is going to do? I have never heard of that method being used, but admittedly haven't dabbled (pun?) in extractions in a few years. If you have too high of a residual, you simply do a secondary extraction using a solvent with a higher boiling point (not preferred for a few reasons, but safety isn't usually one of them)
& magic, "how much I do not know", luckily some of us are willing to take the time to do the math, and DO know! With that said, I can't really recommend butane extractions to your average Joe because, yes, people generally cut corners and do them in an unsafe manner. Which yeah, can seriously injure or kill. But if your friend(s) (multiple!?) are really lighting their homes on fire, I think it's safe to say it's probably a testament to their intelligence and research rather than to their extractions and the chemistry behind them! OKay, that sounds a little harsh, sometimes we all make bad decisions. Lol. But people have safely been doing butane extractions long before anyone ever thought of trying it on cannabis
I'm not even really any sort of advocate of extracts but I think saying "All Butane Extractions Suck!" is sort of a stretch, at best. What I want to know is how to make your own chile oil. Not like, in the cooking chilies in hot oil sense, but if there is a way to extract pure oil from the placenta of chiles.... now I have some reading to go do!!
to be honest i could care less about the math for how much butane is left in my hash oil, i dont care for drugs and dont so them so i never looked it up or tried to do the math for itillWill said:Probably because butane extraction is illegal (like just about everything) in Cali. Lol. EDIT: did this not pass yet? http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1262
What do you propose a week of stirring a chemical with a boiling point of 30 degrees F in your freezer is going to do? I have never heard of that method being used, but admittedly haven't dabbled (pun?) in extractions in a few years. If you have too high of a residual, you simply do a secondary extraction using a solvent with a higher boiling point (not preferred for a few reasons, but safety isn't usually one of them)
& magic, "how much I do not know", luckily some of us are willing to take the time to do the math, and DO know! With that said, I can't really recommend butane extractions to your average Joe because, yes, people generally cut corners and do them in an unsafe manner. Which yeah, can seriously injure or kill. But if your friend(s) (multiple!?) are really lighting their homes on fire, I think it's safe to say it's probably a testament to their intelligence and research rather than to their extractions and the chemistry behind them! OKay, that sounds a little harsh, sometimes we all make bad decisions. Lol. But people have safely been doing butane extractions long before anyone ever thought of trying it on cannabis
I'm not even really any sort of advocate of extracts but I think saying "All Butane Extractions Suck!" is sort of a stretch, at best. What I want to know is how to make your own chile oil. Not like, in the cooking chilies in hot oil sense, but if there is a way to extract pure oil from the placenta of chiles.... now I have some reading to go do!!
as for extracting oils from hot peppers grain alcohol seems to be the main thing everybody uses, there are other ways of doing it, i cant remember them at this time. but chop the peppers, put them into a mason jar, fill with grain alcohol, close the lid put it in the fridge and shake every few days, once all the oils are out, pour the jar through a strainer and put the liquid into a cookie sheet and let the alcohol evaporate. that is one method i know of. there are many more and maybe even better ones. one day i will search it, but im not interested in making pure pepper oil extract personally
"Drugs." Lol what kind of capsaicin junkie are you! 
the reason it is mostly used just for cannabis, is how monetarily inefficient it is. Butane isn't cheap!
And I don't think alcohol would extract purely the oil, is the problem. That what makes any sort of extraction tough, extracting solely what you need. I use pure evil on a regular basis and if I had a vial of say, reaper oil, that would be absolutely amazing!
the reason it is mostly used just for cannabis, is how monetarily inefficient it is. Butane isn't cheap!And I don't think alcohol would extract purely the oil, is the problem. That what makes any sort of extraction tough, extracting solely what you need. I use pure evil on a regular basis and if I had a vial of say, reaper oil, that would be absolutely amazing!
salsalady
Business Member
pepperjack, if you're interested in herb oil distillation as in lavender, comfrey, sweet basil, tansy and such, This Post may be of interest to you. If you're looking for "HERB 
", can't help you.
If you're thinking of using grain alcohol with comfrey/calendula/-type herbs, that's called a tincture. Google it for lots of explicit direction.
", can't help you.If you're thinking of using grain alcohol with comfrey/calendula/-type herbs, that's called a tincture. Google it for lots of explicit direction.