Being a chemist, and a farmer, this is a long awaited video! Fantastic content! Thanks for showing people alternatives then the fancy glass chemistry set up I see all over the internet
The water that comes out with the essential oil is called a hydrosol. It has a lot of wonderful uses too! Hope people don't throw it away ☺️🥰 thanks for such a nice video on making your own essential oils. Very helpful for beginners.
@@subinitamazumder1307 Rose water and orange blossom water are good examples of commonly used hydrosol. I make ice cubes to slowly release the flavor into drinks. You can add a splash of lavender water to a bath
I've seen people putting the glass with hydrosol and oil in fridge and let the oil solidify and then extract it, it is easier and quicker and you get 100% oil
If you are purchasing essential oils, please do your research. Depending on how the oil is extracted, not all are safe to consume internally. Some can also burn the skin- like cinnamon. Super important to do research!
@@jaimeperkins733 oregano oil is definitely considered a hot oil. That's why people need to research before going in blind! Hopefully you didn't get burned to bad.
@@MIgardener you can also use those hydrosols in all kinds of things. You can add them into lotions and soaps and that kind of thing to give it a minty smell and feel without being as powerful as the oil.
Just a couple pieces of advice when using this set up. Try having the condenser rest on the edge of the pot. you are putting a lot of stress on the thin copper tube with the water weight. It will bend over time. The other thing this helps with is you want to keep the condenser level for proper flow down the coil. This will help keep it from spitting out in bursts
1st: ALL HERE FOR THE HOMEMADE PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM EPISODE!!! 2nd: Thank you for making this video about essential oils. As someone who's very new to this world it was a great introduction to the various uses as well as how to create it. 3rd: Your parents have a beautiful kitchen. Thank you again for always giving us insightful and exciting ways to expand how we use our gardens.
One of the most expensive oils to buy is lemon balm (melissa), because it yields such a small amount of oil. I have lots of it growing in my garden, though, so I might give it a try. Thanks, Luke.
It is a good idea to use cork for the small bottle cap because it will last longer than plastic or metal. The vapors of peppermint oil are quite chemically active. I learned this from a mint farmer who lived next door to me.
Here's a trick a refrigeration mechanic showed me years ago on how to cool hot cans of beer quickly and it might be make your condenser work better. If you put the beer in a cooler and pour ice over it, it will take ages to cool it. However, if you pour room temperature water over the ice, the cans or bottles of beer will get colder faster. Essentially, what we made was a heat exchanger. The water drew out a lot of the heat in the cans while, at the same time, it absorbed a lot of the cold from the ice. Also, you might collect more of the oil if you put the container of oil and water in the freezer for a while. Once the water has frozen, you should be able to pour or scrape the oil off the top.
@TombStoneHeart, are you saying add ice to around those coils, with room temperature water over the ice? If so, how long would that work for during the distilling process? The other idea you gave was 💡 genius, to put water and oil in freezer; and good chances oil wouldn't freeze, (although olive oil will freeze).. Thank You Very Much!!
Yes!! use a pressure cooker with gage removed and vent pipe installed, soft copper tubing ( looks like 3/8 or 5/16). Easy to wind around a piece of PVC to fit the cooling pan.
What Dovelady?! Are you saying you don't dye your hair, and it still stays dark with cedar oil in olive oil?! Will it also reverse grey?! Thank You for any reply!!🪔
I use a similar pot to distill oils from both plants and fruit, and for the cooling of the coils, i use a large bowl filled with both ice and water, and have a small circulating pump attached to the inlet and outlet, so cool water is always flowing around coils, the outlet drains into the sink or other container, and i add more water as needed. I also use water bottles that I fill and freeze, and put them in the condensing pot, inside the coils to make the water really cold. I find using this method, I get more oils extracted.
If you put all the distilled liquid in the refrigerator the oil should solidify as the water remains liquid. A little easier to separate. Never tried it with this, but it works for clarifying melted butter at home.
You can also use them for baking (been watching too much great British bake off). This is giving me flashbacks to my organic chemistry lab in undergrad distilling limonene and pinenes from mandarin peels. Mine are DEFINITELY not safe for use outside the lab tho since we used other solvents that's not okay. To reduce how much water vapor you get, you can also just keep the water from actually boiling. To get REALLY scientific, you can look up the boiling point of the oil that makes up the essential oil you want and keep the temperature of the pot just around/slightly higher than that temp. Also, as weird as it sounds, for the liquid-liquid extraction at the end, you can pull more water out of your oil if the water is slightly salted to increase the difference in hydrophobicity vs hydrophobicity of the two liquids. That might be getting into overly crazy mad chemist territory. 😅
Thanks for the extra input! When I take on a project, ideally I would like to do it as efficiently as I can while maximizing my results👍 The research might take a little longer but it will be worth it. 100%
@@erisheiressdupre4796 if I remember my organic chem lab properly, the higher the salinity, the more efficiently you pull water out of the oil layer. Probably closer to like maybe 10%? Whatever a 1Molar solution would be, but doesn't have to be exact. Salt it like pasta water. Lolol
@@ellenkuang8853 Interesting. I would have thought that the salt would interact with the chemical compounds of the oils. Then again I know nothing about chemistry 😅 Thanks for your help!
I’d use the distiller to make rose water. I was actually already planning on making my own, but was just going to jerry-rig a distiller pot with an upside down pot lid. This kit would work much better. Thanks for sharing! Now I know what to request for Christmas! Lol Edit to add: I’d also use it for making my own distilled water, since it seems ridiculous to me that we have to buy it in plastic jugs at the store.
Oooh, you could even distill free rainwater! But may want to have a mineral mixture set up ready to add, as drinking nothing but distilled water isn't so great. It mainly used for sanitation and in mechanical purposes to prevent microbe growth, but people need water with minerals. Good luck!
@@LaineyBug2020 Oh I definitely would not be drinking the distilled water. It’d be for anything else that calls for it, like my diffuser or my husband’s C-PAP machine.
@@boomchicaboomboom anyone who is making essential oils with just the simple of research on making essential oils would know it’s hydrosol not just water. And like essential oils a person could have a negative effect to them from the hydrosol
@@Artiefrog thank you so much for this information. I have long had an interest in making essential oils. I have watched a few videos on the process and none of them gave any names to any of the parts (?) of the outcomes of the process. None of them mentioned that anything other than the end product can be used. So, thank you for the information.
@@diannevaldez8670 welcome it takes a huge amount of what your wanting to make a essential oil from to get a tiny amount. But they hydrosol there is a lot that can be used many ways.
You can also stick your glass in the freezer and remove the oil once the water freezes. Not sure if freezing a spoon would collect essential oils like it would catching oil from gravy, lol but if it does thats another simple trick...
I cannot thank you enough for this video. It is simplistically detailed for a small, at home production. Simply explained with a very affordable distiller shown in use .Everything else I see on the internet massively complicates the learning experience. I have peppermint, spearmint, and lemon balm but O the plants I want to plant now and start my experimenting with making my own little batch of oils and perfume water.
Lavender!!! Also, I have a friend that makes and sells actual essential oils distillers where you don’t have to separate the essential oil from the water. But for your basic home gardener, your system works.
I use a LOT of essential oils in the handcrafted soaps, bath and body products I make. They "ain't" cheap. I'm going to look into this more and see if I can use it to make my own EO's. Thanks for a great video...
@Tiny Garden In South Carolina I remember when this joke was used at the start of the Coronavirus for Hand Sanitizer (making the alcohol for hand sanitizer). Lol!
@@ronniemcmaster8657 did you know that you get more methanol in wine than sprits. And you don’t add it to the alcohol it is naturally made by fermentation.
@@mikecoonhunter101 I do know this. When distilling, the methanol comes out of the line a few degrees cooler than ethanol. To test, methanol has red in the flame when burning. Ethanol is blue. I tried distilling once and found it to take more effort than it is worth. I can brew a delicious country wine without much effort. The hardest part is letting it age.
Best thing I ever bought was a massage chair.... Had to wait years before I could get it... but it fixed me. Before I was in constant pain... now it never gets that far. Love your videos also a Michigander.
for lower oil content plants you can use a soxlet extractor, that's basically like a stovetop coffee pot that drains the coffee back to the bottom when it's full, so you can use it for days without refilling. if you make a lot, you might also want to get a pair of separatory funnels (though you can also separate the oil by freezing what you separated in a tube.)
Great video. I've just finished up some of the last mint and tomorrow I'm working on the basil. Such an easy method and sure makes the house smell good! Thanks so much!
Thank you! Yes I enjoyed it. It’s amazing how much oil comes out from the plants. I love my essential oil’s and I’m learning how to make my own! Again thank you! Especially the part about in your kitchen and how you made adjustments to fit your needs.
First, very educational video. You explained the science behind the process and I found that helpful. Secondly, would you do a follow-up video showing how you extracted and stored your essential oils?
The way you have it setup will work for a lot of oils, but if you have problems with yield you might really want to consider hooking flowing water to the condenser somehow, maybe a pump and a bucket of water. Flowing water is actually way better at transfering heat than still water.
It's essential to learn how to make essential oils, and if you use excess herbs that need to come out of the garden, your ingredients are essentially free! ;-)
I Love love love essential oils and have wanted to distill my own for yrs i just never actually bought the many distillers I have viewed over the yrs. No more waiting ty for the push. :) Sending love to you and your family :)
There are also other methods besides steam distillation to extract certain aromatics that don’t yield much oil after being hydrodistilled. You can use tinctures of 190-200 proof perfumers alcohol. Very useful for natural perfumery or room sprays. You can also make an enfleurage with scentless avocado butter. The enfleurage is useful for making perfumery extraits in alcohol and also as solid perfumery. It can also be diffused in a ceramic oil warmer. Some examples of expensive enfleurages ($150 plus per 5mL) are gardenia, plumeria, carnation, lilac, honeysuckle, narcissus, Jasmine, hyacinth, peony, etc. the advantages of having your own garden grown plants is that you end up saving a ton. I plan on growing lilies, freesia, and magnolia to make tinctures, enfleurages, or extraits. Some examples of expensive essential oils that you can make on your own are neroli (orange/bitter orange flowers), petitgrain (orange twigs and leaves), Melissa, Rose otto, German or Roman chamomile, tuberose, or you can also buy certain woods for cheaper (agarwood, sandalwood) and distill those.
Luke this is amazing and so much easier than I ever thought! I would love to try many things but I use lavender and thieves the most. Such great knowledge, thank you!
I'm looking at that same model of still. I grow and forage herbs for teas, I want to start making oils for more effective remedies Thanks for the demonstration!
This was a wonderful intro for making homemade essential oils, thank you! How about using a gravy separater from a kitchen store to quickly separate the water from the oil?
Be careful about the plastic ones, even room temperature citrus oils like orange melts right through some plastics no matter how thick if given a little time.
I have tons of peppermint, some lemon balm and a smattering of lavendar, yarrow, etc. I am looking forward to doing this soon. You made it look so simple. Thanks, Luke!
Greetings from a fellow Michigander north of the bridge- great video! You have inspired me to design a large still that fits over our fire pit😍 Imagine all the possibilities!🤯🥰
Peppermint oil is also good to keep spiders away. And I also put a drop on my Christmas cards. I’d love to do some oregano and eucalyptus. Thanks for sharing!
I found that putting peppermint oil on a cotton ball and putting it in the wall by taking a cover off an outlet or light switch and tossing the cotton ball in the wall, works great to keep away mice in the walls.
Thanks Luke, I actually never even thought about this. I had an abundance of various mints and it would’ve been a fantastic project. There is very little min left now, but this sounds like a fun project for next year. Thank you again
You can make extracts. Just cover with 80 % alcohol and soak a few weeks, then drain off extract and bottle it up. Excellent flavors: peppermint, spearmint, basil's, almonds, lemon, on and on. Blessings
I'd like to extract the oils from quack grass roots. It's probably my least favorite plant in my garden, but it's definitely one of my favorite smells.
This is so awesome! Best video on yt right now! I also love peppermint oil. I would love to do peppermint as well as lavender. I use those two the most. Thank you Luke!!
Helpful video. I never knew peppermint oil helps against squash vine borer I wish I had known this before summer. I will use that tip when I plant summer squash next year! 😊thanks Luke
I often ask myself "Luke, is there a simpler way to make oil from my overgrowth of basil without buying a fragile limbic pyrex still?" Thanks Luke (you Luke, not me Luke) for the vid!
Hi! Was wondering if the temperature you showed was the exact temperature needed for the distillation process. Or if it can be hotter than that. Thanks in advance!
Anyone who's making oils should check out a separator funnel. It's a game changer for separating the oil from your water, and you wont waste unnecessary product.
I love this! I just bought the pot but I had a question. I have flowers in my lemon balm. I heard there is a difference between flowering and bolting. How do I tell? And if it is bolted, can I still use it for essential oils? Thanks!!!!
@Jess Cottrell, No one answered your question yet?! It is a Very Good question!! I hope someone will answer you soon, cause I would like to know the answer too!! Thank You for asking it!! Even if to no avail yet!!🤔💟✝️
That’s it?! That’s all it takes? I just got that distiller as a Christmas present for oil extraction and I thought it was going to be so much more complicated. Thank you thank you
When is the best time to harvest pine needles for making essential oil for a stronger fragrance & should we use fresh or dried pine needles ? Thank you.
Very informative video! I definitely plan on trying this myself. I was however wondering if there might be any other good resources on how to effectively separate the resulting oil from the water with the pipette. I felt like it was a little glossed over here/ I'm still trying to fully understand how you did that. Thanks!
A pipette will be good for separating due to its narrow body, the oil will consolidate. You will then carefully drain the water and remain with the oil.
This wonderful; I never knew it was possible to distil oils so easily at home. I do have a thought - being that many fats/oils solidify at cold temps, could you just place the water-oil in the fridge and simply pull off the cold and hopefully solid oils ( sort of like when making stock, I cool it in the fridge and then remove the solid fat off the surface)? Forgive my ignorance if this is not a feasible idea for this application. Thank you for the video!
Loved the video man, very nice and helpful, i could really learn from it! plus, it makes all the difference knowing that THAT distilling pan exists, really thankful :) !
I was looking for an essential oil distiller online and after a lot of research and understanding the exact process to get the hyrdosol and oils, i thought😮 i have 3 pressure cookers (i do a lot of cooking and canning) imagined what you have going on here... thought i deserved a Nobel prize... then came to UA-cam and realized a thousand people have already done this. 😂😂😂 great video! Thank you! You look so much like my niece's husband, it's insane. Lol. 🎉
I'm getting ready to make mugwort hydrosol/essential oil! No instructions in the kit I bought, which led me to search youtube and find this simple video. Thanks!
Mine has a little container between the pressure cooker and the curly pipe and yet to see essential oils.. Thankyou, I will try your method.. Thankyou for sharing
Great video Luke! Can't wait to try this. I've been watching some Peppermint growing along the right of way for years and wanting to make some tea, but this is even better. I also make Ginger Ale and Ginger Wine and this would help to trim up the flavor to really pop.
@@cmoniz905 It's quite easy. I grate about 8 or 10 lbs of ginger root and boil about 10 min in two gallons of water. I add another 2 gallons of water and 4 to 6 lbs of sugar and let set overnight. The rest of the reciipe is like any other wine, except that I add extra yeast nutrient. I usually use champagne yeast, but any wine yeast will do.
Lemon Balm grows like a weed in our yard, invasive like all get out. Our neighbor bought a still, so we are looking forward to making essential oil and hydrosol out of this marvelously fragrant weed.
I'd avoid using limes in this distiller with copper pipes since the acidity of limes may interact with the copper, risking contamination of the distilled product.
Great little video. You took the mystery out of the process. Luke--have you made any other oils since recording this video? Citrus is something I am interested in. Just curious how other items did.
This is the first time Ive ever heard that peppermint oil can deter the squash vine borer. Please tell me how you use it for that. Earlier this Spring, I emptied three bottles of peppermint oil around my backyard to deter raccoons. It didn't work and burned some plants, so I'm hesitant to use it on a squash vine. Also, could you refrigerate that distillate to more easily separate the oil from the water? Think of the way we refrigerate chicken broth so the fat rises to the top and hardens, making for easy removal. Very cool set up. Thanks for the demo. ~ Lisa
Perfumes also I mixed water and alcohol and Bay leaves and one is clover seeds 🤠 l had a book you can do rose's l just like the sent ! I have used sage also as House cleanings !
Get the distillation kit here: amzn.to/38uqe8W
Ordered mine today. Just wish I had it when I was harvesting my herbs! So excited
I got mine for xmas!! 💜✅🎁 gonna try lemon first, then this summer I want to try my mint and marigolds!! 🎉🥳
My wife and I love your beautiful new kitchen very nice.
Please add a new amazon affiliate link!! That doesn’t work!
Incredible, Amazing, Fantastic & Fabulous 👌 👏
Being a chemist, and a farmer, this is a long awaited video! Fantastic content! Thanks for showing people alternatives then the fancy glass chemistry set up I see all over the internet
I would love to speak with you about something relating to your profession.
The water that comes out with the essential oil is called a hydrosol. It has a lot of wonderful uses too! Hope people don't throw it away ☺️🥰 thanks for such a nice video on making your own essential oils. Very helpful for beginners.
Oh wow really? What uses does it have?
@@subinitamazumder1307 usually aromatherapy, cosmetic and perfume facial treatments
@@subinitamazumder1307 Rose water and orange blossom water are good examples of commonly used hydrosol. I make ice cubes to slowly release the flavor into drinks. You can add a splash of lavender water to a bath
I've seen people putting the glass with hydrosol and oil in fridge and let the oil solidify and then extract it, it is easier and quicker and you get 100% oil
thanks! now i dont have to ask this question!!
If you are purchasing essential oils, please do your research. Depending on how the oil is extracted, not all are safe to consume internally. Some can also burn the skin- like cinnamon. Super important to do research!
Or oregano oil. Learned the hard way with oregano oil.
@@jaimeperkins733 oh my thanks for the info.
Thank you
@@jaimeperkins733 oregano oil is definitely considered a hot oil. That's why people need to research before going in blind!
Hopefully you didn't get burned to bad.
What, doesn't everyone like oil of urushiol, oil of daffodil, oil of heracleum giganteum, and oil of castor?
Don't throw out that water! People pay for that "hydrosol" as room spray.
We used it for just that purpose!!!
@@MIgardener you can also use those hydrosols in all kinds of things. You can add them into lotions and soaps and that kind of thing to give it a minty smell and feel without being as powerful as the oil.
So like an air freshener?
M Chan and fabrics, and a facial spritzer. Loads of great uses.
I had no idea people wanted hydrosols thanks for letting me know. it seemed a waste to throw the water out
Just a couple pieces of advice when using this set up. Try having the condenser rest on the edge of the pot. you are putting a lot of stress on the thin copper tube with the water weight. It will bend over time. The other thing this helps with is you want to keep the condenser level for proper flow down the coil. This will help keep it from spitting out in bursts
1st: ALL HERE FOR THE HOMEMADE PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM EPISODE!!!
2nd: Thank you for making this video about essential oils. As someone who's very new to this world it was a great introduction to the various uses as well as how to create it.
3rd: Your parents have a beautiful kitchen.
Thank you again for always giving us insightful and exciting ways to expand how we use our gardens.
💜💜💜
One of the most expensive oils to buy is lemon balm (melissa), because it yields such a small amount of oil. I have lots of it growing in my garden, though, so I might give it a try. Thanks, Luke.
good idea!
There are varieties bred for increased oil production
@@MIgardener hi could you refrigerate the liquid and remove the oil from the top once it hardens?
@@kenycewescott1295 This has been known to be done! If you try it could you let us know?
@@clemwest4536 absolutely!
It is a good idea to use cork for the small bottle cap because it will last longer than plastic or metal. The vapors of peppermint oil are quite chemically active. I learned this from a mint farmer who lived next door to me.
Here's a trick a refrigeration mechanic showed me years ago on how to cool hot cans of beer quickly and it might be make your condenser work better. If you put the beer in a cooler and pour ice over it, it will take ages to cool it. However, if you pour room temperature water over the ice, the cans or bottles of beer will get colder faster. Essentially, what we made was a heat exchanger. The water drew out a lot of the heat in the cans while, at the same time, it absorbed a lot of the cold from the ice.
Also, you might collect more of the oil if you put the container of oil and water in the freezer for a while. Once the water has frozen, you should be able to pour or scrape the oil off the top.
@TombStoneHeart, are you saying add ice to around those coils, with room temperature water over the ice? If so, how long would that work for during the distilling process? The other idea you gave was 💡 genius, to put water and oil in freezer; and good chances oil wouldn't freeze, (although olive oil will freeze).. Thank You Very Much!!
Double smart answer. Thankyou
@@lindam.4129 just fridge it, the oil will solidify and lift right off.
So you could basically build your own distillery with some things you can pick up at a resale shop and hardware store. Saving $$$.
Thanks a bunch!!
Perfect timing... I have tons of mint in my garden
Yes!! use a pressure cooker with gage removed and vent pipe installed, soft copper tubing ( looks like 3/8 or 5/16). Easy to wind around a piece of PVC to fit the cooling pan.
@@KristiTalk Now that's an essential oil...LOL
I use cedar oil in olive oil to condition my hair. I'm 56 with very dark hair. It stays dark and the curls are salon quality. I'm a believer!
Don't throw out that water! People pay for that "hydrosol" as room spray.
What Dovelady?! Are you saying you don't dye your hair, and it still stays dark with cedar oil in olive oil?! Will it also reverse grey?! Thank You for any reply!!🪔
I use a similar pot to distill oils from both plants and fruit, and for the cooling of the coils, i use a large bowl filled with both ice and water, and have a small circulating pump attached to the inlet and outlet, so cool water is always flowing around coils, the outlet drains into the sink or other container, and i add more water as needed. I also use water bottles that I fill and freeze, and put them in the condensing pot, inside the coils to make the water really cold. I find using this method, I get more oils extracted.
When you do fruit, do you use the whole thing or just the rind off the lemons etc.?
If you put all the distilled liquid in the refrigerator the oil should solidify as the water remains liquid. A little easier to separate. Never tried it with this, but it works for clarifying melted butter at home.
I love this idea! Thank you!
this is a good idea but I think it will only work with long chain oils found in sturdy plant material, but not in herbs.
You can also use them for baking (been watching too much great British bake off). This is giving me flashbacks to my organic chemistry lab in undergrad distilling limonene and pinenes from mandarin peels. Mine are DEFINITELY not safe for use outside the lab tho since we used other solvents that's not okay. To reduce how much water vapor you get, you can also just keep the water from actually boiling. To get REALLY scientific, you can look up the boiling point of the oil that makes up the essential oil you want and keep the temperature of the pot just around/slightly higher than that temp. Also, as weird as it sounds, for the liquid-liquid extraction at the end, you can pull more water out of your oil if the water is slightly salted to increase the difference in hydrophobicity vs hydrophobicity of the two liquids. That might be getting into overly crazy mad chemist territory. 😅
Thanks for the extra input! When I take on a project, ideally I would like to do it as efficiently as I can while maximizing my results👍 The research might take a little longer but it will be worth it. 100%
Would 1% salinity be sufficient?
@@erisheiressdupre4796 if I remember my organic chem lab properly, the higher the salinity, the more efficiently you pull water out of the oil layer. Probably closer to like maybe 10%? Whatever a 1Molar solution would be, but doesn't have to be exact. Salt it like pasta water. Lolol
@@ellenkuang8853 Interesting. I would have thought that the salt would interact with the chemical compounds of the oils. Then again I know nothing about chemistry 😅 Thanks for your help!
That British Baking Show 🤣 is Fun to watch!! Kind of addictive actually!!
I’d use the distiller to make rose water. I was actually already planning on making my own, but was just going to jerry-rig a distiller pot with an upside down pot lid. This kit would work much better. Thanks for sharing! Now I know what to request for Christmas! Lol
Edit to add: I’d also use it for making my own distilled water, since it seems ridiculous to me that we have to buy it in plastic jugs at the store.
Oooh, you could even distill free rainwater! But may want to have a mineral mixture set up ready to add, as drinking nothing but distilled water isn't so great. It mainly used for sanitation and in mechanical purposes to prevent microbe growth, but people need water with minerals. Good luck!
I want this
For
Rose oil and lavender
@@LaineyBug2020 Oh I definitely would not be drinking the distilled water. It’d be for anything else that calls for it, like my diffuser or my husband’s C-PAP machine.
What you called water is referred to as hydrosol which is also very beneficial and can be used in things. .
I wouldn't have known what to call the water either. Not everyone is an expert or knows the terms for things.
@@boomchicaboomboom anyone who is making essential oils with just the simple of research on making essential oils would know it’s hydrosol not just water. And like essential oils a person could have a negative effect to them from the hydrosol
@@Artiefrog thank you so much for this information. I have long had an interest in making essential oils. I have watched a few videos on the process and none of them gave any names to any of the parts (?) of the outcomes of the process. None of them mentioned that anything other than the end product can be used. So, thank you for the information.
@@diannevaldez8670 welcome it takes a huge amount of what your wanting to make a essential oil from to get a tiny amount. But they hydrosol there is a lot that can be used many ways.
You can also stick your glass in the freezer and remove the oil once the water freezes. Not sure if freezing a spoon would collect essential oils like it would catching oil from gravy, lol but if it does thats another simple trick...
I cannot thank you enough for this video. It is simplistically detailed for a small, at home production. Simply explained with a very affordable distiller shown in use .Everything else I see on the internet massively complicates the learning experience. I have peppermint, spearmint, and lemon balm but O the plants I want to plant now and start my experimenting with making my own little batch of oils and perfume water.
Lavender!!! Also, I have a friend that makes and sells actual essential oils distillers where you don’t have to separate the essential oil from the water. But for your basic home gardener, your system works.
Link!!?
Yes, link please 😁😁
I'd love to know what she sells, link please :)
Would you mind sharing her link or website?
@leatha milone. Do you have a link to your friends distiller?
I use a LOT of essential oils in the handcrafted soaps, bath and body products I make. They "ain't" cheap. I'm going to look into this more and see if I can use it to make my own EO's. Thanks for a great video...
Please lets us know, how it goes if ever you give it a try. And its really great that you make your own soap.
No officer, it's not a moonshine still, it's an essential oils still, honest.
@Tiny Garden In South Carolina
I remember when this joke was used at the start of the Coronavirus for Hand Sanitizer (making the alcohol for hand sanitizer). Lol!
@@khione8044 Yup, and even professional breweries were caught selling products with methanol, which is poisonous.
@@ronniemcmaster8657 did you know that you get more methanol in wine than sprits. And you don’t add it to the alcohol it is naturally made by fermentation.
@@mikecoonhunter101 I do know this. When distilling, the methanol comes out of the line a few degrees cooler than ethanol. To test, methanol has red in the flame when burning. Ethanol is blue. I tried distilling once and found it to take more effort than it is worth. I can brew a delicious country wine without much effort. The hardest part is letting it age.
😂YYR 😂😂😂
Best thing I ever bought was a massage chair.... Had to wait years before I could get it... but it fixed me. Before I was in constant pain... now it never gets that far. Love your videos also a Michigander.
Out of subject, but your mother has a very beautiful kitchen.
Totally!
Lol!
Lol. I was thinking the same.
I want to try distilling oils from my garden plants! It looks fun! Thank you MIGardener!
for lower oil content plants you can use a soxlet extractor, that's basically like a stovetop coffee pot that drains the coffee back to the bottom when it's full, so you can use it for days without refilling.
if you make a lot, you might also want to get a pair of separatory funnels (though you can also separate the oil by freezing what you separated in a tube.)
We visited Lavender Hills Farm up north and watched this process...thank you for sharing an affordable way to do this at home as well!
I could sit here and watch you talk about this stuff all day!! Thank you so much, this was very helpful
Great video. I've just finished up some of the last mint and tomorrow I'm working on the basil. Such an easy method and sure makes the house smell good! Thanks so much!
I would be curious to know or see how you used the peppermint oil for squash bugs. Do you spray on the ground or on the plant?
Thank you!
Yes I enjoyed it. It’s amazing how much oil comes out from the plants.
I love my essential oil’s and I’m learning how to make my own!
Again thank you!
Especially the part about in your kitchen and how you made adjustments to fit your needs.
First, very educational video. You explained the science behind the process and I found that helpful. Secondly, would you do a follow-up video showing how you extracted and stored your essential oils?
Dandelion flower salve is amazing for sore bones and muscles, i made it this year for my arthritis, its like magic ❤
The way you have it setup will work for a lot of oils, but if you have problems with yield you might really want to consider hooking flowing water to the condenser somehow, maybe a pump and a bucket of water. Flowing water is actually way better at transfering heat than still water.
perhaps a hotplate to position the heat source next to the sink for people like us with the sink and stove on opposing walls of the kitchen.
It's essential to learn how to make essential oils, and if you use excess herbs that need to come out of the garden, your ingredients are essentially free! ;-)
I see what you did there 😁😂
Joke
Amazing! Thanks for giving me the privilege of seeing the birth of essential oils which I use a lot. Thank you kindly.
I Love love love essential oils and have wanted to distill my own for yrs i just never actually bought the many distillers I have viewed over the yrs. No more waiting ty for the push. :) Sending love to you and your family :)
There are also other methods besides steam distillation to extract certain aromatics that don’t yield much oil after being hydrodistilled. You can use tinctures of 190-200 proof perfumers alcohol. Very useful for natural perfumery or room sprays. You can also make an enfleurage with scentless avocado butter. The enfleurage is useful for making perfumery extraits in alcohol and also as solid perfumery. It can also be diffused in a ceramic oil warmer. Some examples of expensive enfleurages ($150 plus per 5mL) are gardenia, plumeria, carnation, lilac, honeysuckle, narcissus, Jasmine, hyacinth, peony, etc. the advantages of having your own garden grown plants is that you end up saving a ton. I plan on growing lilies, freesia, and magnolia to make tinctures, enfleurages, or extraits. Some examples of expensive essential oils that you can make on your own are neroli (orange/bitter orange flowers), petitgrain (orange twigs and leaves), Melissa, Rose otto, German or Roman chamomile, tuberose, or you can also buy certain woods for cheaper (agarwood, sandalwood) and distill those.
Sound interesting, but too complicated for me. I prefer distilling for dummies LOL
Luke this is amazing and so much easier than I ever thought! I would love to try many things but I use lavender and thieves the most. Such great knowledge, thank you!
Very awesome of you to continue educating us, Luke, even as your business continues to grow
I'm cultivating yarrow, white honey clover, and some local lavender because its local and sourced right here in St. Clair County!
That was great always wondered how the oils were made thank you btw beautiful kitchen thete👍👍😁💯
FANTASTIC!!! WHAT A GREAT GIFT TO YOUR VIEWERS. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Peppermint essential oil has a shelf-life of 5 years.
Nice method. Thanks for showing us.
Love this kit. I use this for my mint and lemon grass. Feel same way this is just right for the scale I am doing.
I'm looking at that same model of still. I grow and forage herbs for teas, I want to start making oils for more effective remedies Thanks for the demonstration!
This was a wonderful intro for making homemade essential oils, thank you! How about using a gravy separater from a kitchen store to quickly separate the water from the oil?
That is quite innovative of you! Thanks!
That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I saw what he was using to take the oil out 😬,
Be careful about the plastic ones, even room temperature citrus oils like orange melts right through some plastics no matter how thick if given a little time.
I bought a separator funnel for less than $30 online
@@stephenjung6582
Please give example, perhaps a link 🔗?! Thank You!!
I have tons of peppermint, some lemon balm and a smattering of lavendar, yarrow, etc. I am looking forward to doing this soon. You made it look so simple. Thanks, Luke!
Greetings from a fellow Michigander north of the bridge- great video! You have inspired me to design a large still that fits over our fire pit😍
Imagine all the possibilities!🤯🥰
Peppermint oil is also good to keep spiders away. And I also put a drop on my Christmas cards. I’d love to do some oregano and eucalyptus. Thanks for sharing!
Peppermint is great for keeping mice away, bed bugs too.
I found that putting peppermint oil on a cotton ball and putting it in the wall by taking a cover off an outlet or light switch and tossing the cotton ball in the wall, works great to keep away mice in the walls.
Lavender oil! I'd love to make my own lavender oil for beeswax candle making 🙂
That would be Amazing!!
Thanks Luke, I actually never even thought about this. I had an abundance of various mints and it would’ve been a fantastic project. There is very little min left now, but this sounds like a fun project for next year. Thank you again
You can make extracts. Just cover with 80 % alcohol and soak a few weeks, then drain off extract and bottle it up. Excellent flavors: peppermint, spearmint, basil's, almonds, lemon, on and on. Blessings
Edit: I should have said a drinking alcohol: vodka is what I use. I just gave myself a Gibbs smack. Sorry
@@justpatty7328 Thanks for clarifying...I was thinking wth is this person doing!! 🤣
100 proof vodka for tinctures
as a chemist! i am loving this!! you should look into a sep funnel ;)
If I buy this setup I will definitely make essential oils. But I can’t promise I’ll stop there
I'd like to extract the oils from quack grass roots. It's probably my least favorite plant in my garden, but it's definitely one of my favorite smells.
Cody's lab shows how to extract essential oil as well. His setup is more along the lines of a laboratory though.
Very cool! We had an abundance of mint this year - definitely going to try this!
This is so awesome! Best video on yt right now! I also love peppermint oil. I would love to do peppermint as well as lavender. I use those two the most. Thank you Luke!!
I think I would only use glass to collect the water/oil solution. I would imagine it's a bit tedious siphoning the oil off the top.
Yes, I was wondering if a taller, narrower collection vessel would make it a bit easier.
Couldn't you use an oil separator like I use when making gravy from my turkey drippings?
@@enchilada1956 Probably not fine enough.
Very amicably presented, and inovative! Thankyou, from Down under Australia!
Helpful video. I never knew peppermint oil helps against squash vine borer I wish I had known this before summer. I will use that tip when I plant summer squash next year! 😊thanks Luke
I use peppermint very often too. A couple drops in frosting and the kids are excited
I often ask myself "Luke, is there a simpler way to make oil from my overgrowth of basil without buying a fragile limbic pyrex still?" Thanks Luke (you Luke, not me Luke) for the vid!
Hi! Was wondering if the temperature you showed was the exact temperature needed for the distillation process. Or if it can be hotter than that.
Thanks in advance!
Anyone who's making oils should check out a separator funnel. It's a game changer for separating the oil from your water, and you wont waste unnecessary product.
Where do you get a separator funnel? Link please?
@@iswimthedeeps just google it. don't be lazy.
I used mint from the garden I had this year to make mint extract. I'm going to gift it to family members for Christmas who love to bake!
Luke you're a bad influence! I started on my final essay for my Psychology class then got a notification of the video lol
it would be super ironic if your essay was on procrastination. haha, good luck with your studies sunflower valley homestead
@@misterdudeable I mean if you want to get technical it could be. It is over the behaviors of middle school and high school aged children 😂
I love this! I just bought the pot but I had a question. I have flowers in my lemon balm. I heard there is a difference between flowering and bolting. How do I tell? And if it is bolted, can I still use it for essential oils? Thanks!!!!
@Jess Cottrell,
No one answered your question yet?! It is a Very Good question!! I hope someone will answer you soon, cause I would like to know the answer too!! Thank You for asking it!! Even if to no avail yet!!🤔💟✝️
That’s it?! That’s all it takes? I just got that distiller as a Christmas present for oil extraction and I thought it was going to be so much more complicated. Thank you thank you
When is the best time to harvest pine needles for making essential oil for a stronger fragrance & should we use fresh or dried pine needles ? Thank you.
Very informative video! I definitely plan on trying this myself. I was however wondering if there might be any other good resources on how to effectively separate the resulting oil from the water with the pipette. I felt like it was a little glossed over here/ I'm still trying to fully understand how you did that.
Thanks!
A pipette will be good for separating due to its narrow body, the oil will consolidate. You will then carefully drain the water and remain with the oil.
Thanks! Going to try this with fir needles!
I plan on making Mexican Marigold essential oil. I LOVE the fragrance!
Very cool video, I’m looking to buy seeds when are y’all going to be able to sale again?
Thanks for the video. I just did rosemary and lime today!
This wonderful; I never knew it was possible to distil oils so easily at home. I do have a thought - being that many fats/oils solidify at cold temps, could you just place the water-oil in the fridge and simply pull off the cold and hopefully solid oils ( sort of like when making stock, I cool it in the fridge and then remove the solid fat off the surface)? Forgive my ignorance if this is not a feasible idea for this application. Thank you for the video!
Thanks for sharing this! I don't know what I'll do this year but hopefully next year.
Loved the video man, very nice and helpful, i could really learn from it! plus, it makes all the difference knowing that THAT distilling pan exists, really thankful :) !
This was very interesting. I have mint growing in my yard. I am going to try it with limes too! Thanks Luke.
Yeah I wanted to try it with orange peels!
Rose is a very expensive oil to purchase. That may be a fun one to try too.
@@justpatty7328 I didn't even think of roses and I have a rose bush too! I see a new hobby in my future.
Thanks for showing this - I've never seen it done before!
I was looking for an essential oil distiller online and after a lot of research and understanding the exact process to get the hyrdosol and oils, i thought😮 i have 3 pressure cookers (i do a lot of cooking and canning) imagined what you have going on here... thought i deserved a Nobel prize... then came to UA-cam and realized a thousand people have already done this. 😂😂😂 great video! Thank you! You look so much like my niece's husband, it's insane. Lol. 🎉
You can use a small fountain pump or computer water pump and a cooler with water and more ice.
Would if been good to see the finished product after separation. I’m going to have a go soon. Ty!
I'm getting ready to make mugwort hydrosol/essential oil! No instructions in the kit I bought, which led me to search youtube and find this simple video. Thanks!
Mine has a little container between the pressure cooker and the curly pipe and yet to see essential oils.. Thankyou, I will try your method.. Thankyou for sharing
Peppermint oil is great for keeping some pests off your plants, and I love smelling candy canes in July.
That was interesting and informative. Did you use the stems as well as the leaves? I believe the water can be used as a hydrolate (sp?), correct?
Great video Luke! Can't wait to try this. I've been watching some Peppermint growing along the right of way for years and wanting to make some tea, but this is even better. I also make Ginger Ale and Ginger Wine and this would help to trim up the flavor to really pop.
I make ginger beer but how do you make ginger wine? That sounds amazing.
@@cmoniz905 It's quite easy. I grate about 8 or 10 lbs of ginger root and boil about 10 min in two gallons of water. I add another 2 gallons of water and 4 to 6 lbs of sugar and let set overnight. The rest of the reciipe is like any other wine, except that I add extra yeast nutrient. I usually use champagne yeast, but any wine yeast will do.
Thanks for the video instructions! I am learning about essential oils and how beneficial they. I have a new hobby.
Lemon Balm grows like a weed in our yard, invasive like all get out. Our neighbor bought a still, so we are looking forward to making essential oil and hydrosol out of this marvelously fragrant weed.
I use peppermint oil on my mosquito bites. Once the vapors kick in the itching stops. It's my best friend in the summer.
I'd avoid using limes in this distiller with copper pipes since the acidity of limes may interact with the copper, risking contamination of the distilled product.
Great little video. You took the mystery out of the process. Luke--have you made any other oils since recording this video? Citrus is something I am interested in. Just curious how other items did.
This is the first time Ive ever heard that peppermint oil can deter the squash vine borer. Please tell me how you use it for that. Earlier this Spring, I emptied three bottles of peppermint oil around my backyard to deter raccoons. It didn't work and burned some plants, so I'm hesitant to use it on a squash vine. Also, could you refrigerate that distillate to more easily separate the oil from the water? Think of the way we refrigerate chicken broth so the fat rises to the top and hardens, making for easy removal. Very cool set up. Thanks for the demo. ~ Lisa
A judge in Texas just overturned the ban on home distillation, finding it unconstitutional.
Perfumes also I mixed water and alcohol and Bay leaves and one is clover seeds 🤠 l had a book you can do rose's l just like the sent ! I have used sage also as House cleanings !
Wow! Thanks for sharing the whole process. Will be saving up to get that kit.
Perfect timing... I have tons of mint in my garden
mine became a weed so I put rubber edging around it so it kinda stays in place. love the strays when weedeating
Am I too high on my own essential oils or was there a glitch in the matrix somewhere in this video?
I said the same thing...like what?