It can't be that hard or expensive, since my dopey neighbors freshman year managed to distill some incredibly vile hooch in their dorm room.

OK, that wasn't very helpful, but maybe this link will be :-).

Here is a link that might be useful: distillation apparatus directions

I once lived near a university that had a salvage or recycling facility where used and surplus equipment could be purchased. Glass distillation equipment was much cheaper there than from catalogues and local chemical supply houses.

Thanks, Alfie! That is just the info for which I have been searching. We will start building and I will pop the Vetiver roots out of the ground tomorrow so they can get throughly dry. I am anxious to start experimenting with the supposed insecticidal qualities of this grass. I know it is effective on termites, but has anyone tried it on mole crickets?

Be careful, because it may have propeties that are toxic to mammals as well, just as rotenone and pyrethrin (yes, pyrethrin; they don't tell you that) do.

I built a mini-still at home last year to distill mint extract from my peppermint plants. I'll do a separate post on it.

FROM LONG AGO SCHOOL MEMORIES...
YOU'LL PROBABLY NEED TO DO SOME RESEARCH FIRST ON WHAT IS THE MAIN ACTIVE INGREDIENT YOU WANT TO DISTILL OUT OF YOUR PLANTS, EG PEPPERMINT OIL. THEN FIND OUT ITS BOILING PT RELATIVE TO THAT OF WATER (210o). ETHANOL BOILS OUT ~170o, SO IT IS WATER DISTILLED; SOME EXTRACTS HAVE TO BE DISTILLED IN NON-WATER SOLVENTS & HENCE MIGHT NOT BE VERY EDIBLE... DISTILLATION IS QUITE INVOLVED, SO THAT IS WHY MANY HERBAL EXTRACTS ARE STEEPED/BREWED AS TEAS INSTEAD. GOOD LUCK, K.

i make basil oil to repel mosquitos, but i just put the basil in a 500ml. erlemeyer flask (about $6.00) with some grapeseed oil and heat it on an old lava lamp base. dont deep fry the basil, but it works fine after you heat/cool it a few times. smells nice too. thats my $.02 ~Ryan
also check www.sciplus.com for cheap lab glass (i love that site almost as much as GW)

Here is a link that might be useful: cheap lab glass

I have extracted scents from roses & oriental lillies using a method from Rodales Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. The method I use is extracting oil with oil. From memory:

Put the herbs or flowers in a non-metal, glass or ceramic prefered, bowl. Cover your herbs with olive oil (I've also used alond oil)or some other vegetable oil. Let soak for 24 hours. Drain & sqeeze out as much oil as you can. Repeat this process 5 or 6 times,adding fresh herbs to the oil each time.

I just want to repeat the warning given earlier. Some of the plant extracts and distaltes you may get may not be so people friendly when concentrated and purified. At the very least they can be irritants and the most they can be deadly.

Also... using copper distilation set up might decompose some compounds. Copper is a good catalyst for many oxidation reactions.

I've modified a pressure cooker with copper tubing for distillation and got a good yield of oil of one of the more camphoric lavanders. I've also prepared oil from mint and catnip.

The copper shouldn't be a problem at all - it's a traditional material for many different types of still.

The best set up is to have water in the bottom of the still and something like a steamer basket in there to hold the plant material off the bottom. Many essential oils have a boiling point above that of water but they do enter the steam in quite high quantities.

The condensate is a milky liquid that if left to settle will develop a layer of oil on the top that can be collected. The remainder I add absolute ethanol to until it clarifies and use it for addition to baths etc - they ethanol is just there as a presevative.

One side effect I noticed - by the time you've got your oil you'll be so sick of the smell that you won't want to use it - the lavender got into everything, catnip was just cruel on the moggies...

Absent

Talk about reviving ancient history! This thread is an old one!

My research into this subject has revealed that the alcohol producing still is different from the oil producing still. The car racing business has generated some interest in distilling pure alcohol for dragsters. The moonshine still looks pretty much like the fuel still with some slight mods. But the oil producing still is much, MUCH more primative. It is a pot still.

The oil producing still is like Absent described. It is called a steam distiller. It is basically water boiled under shreds of the plant you wish to extract oils from. The steam collects the oils going out the top. A pipe then leads immediately down to a condenser which drips into a collection bucket. If the pipe goes up before going down, you'll get different qualities of oil output as the steam condenses half way out and recycles itself back into the batch. The oil floats on top of the scented condensed water in the bucket. People used to throw the water away but now have started to market fragrant waters too under the name, hydrosols. Pressure cookers are not wildly accepted in the distillation groups. Aluminum pits easily and the pressure relief valve always leaks.

Basically any technique you can use to get steam underneath your shreded plant is a good one. After that you're condensing and collecting.

The crudest oil producing still I've seen on the web was made from a huge flat pan that looked like an oversized turkey roasting pan. Unfortunately I cannot find the link. It was large enough to hold most of the wood chipped from a juniper tree. The fire was made from the rest of the juniper tree with rocks piled up around it to hold the pan and protect the fire from wind. I believe they said they could make about a quart of oil from a large juniper tree. This was all done out on the range where the trees were growing.

I can't find Benzalco's website listed anymore, but check out this website. kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: distilled scents

First figure out what equipment you need. Don't forget stands, tubing, clamps, and Oh yes - Safety equipment. Draw the setup and if possible have a chemist review it. Don't know a chemist? Ask at a local high school or university, or, from my experience, (& I don't know why) ask at a bonsai club meeting. For some reason it is the horticultural addition of choice among chemist. Go to LABX.COM. Check out the auction site, and consider posting a wanted ad. There are also suppliers of secondhand equipment. The process described by some of the members is infursion, not distilation. It is easier and safer, but does not give a concentrated pure product. Hope this helps. Think about using a heating mantle rather than a burner if you are inexperienced. You will break less glassware, it is safer, and it is easier to control. Just make sure the mantle fits your flask.