I read some distilling info online and everyone kept referencing this book, so I picked it up. It really doesn't have too much additional information for what you can find already, though there is a section in the back where they give tips on dealing with particular types of plants. #homesteading #diy #herbalism #witch
if you want to go distillation hardcore
@planty pick a specific herb/plant and do a search using it's Latin name looking for a #distillation 'whitepaper.'
While most of them are written for industrial essential oil production, I have found invaluable tips for optimizing temperatures and these folks primarily study how long you run the plant material to extract the most oil, which has allowed me to literally get the highest quality I can in my home set-up.
if you want to go distillation hardcore
@raye awesome, thanks for the tip! My biggest issue is trying to justify the cost of equipment for something I see myself mostly dabbling in. However, I've heard that a prickly neighbor apparently has some nice equipment...
if you want to go distillation hardcore
@planty You can do a LOT without knocking yourself out budget wise. I took a class with a guy named Robert Bartlett, he's got a book called Real Alchemy, and he talked about making stuff from kitchenware you get secondhand. His super-insider tip was to find universities science departments near you and watch for their every-few-years labware dump. Laws make them roll over equipment based on automatic timetables, the home scientist can get glassware for a fraction of the price.
I got my main glassware doing a skills trade with a perfumer who decided she really wasn't going to make her own essential oils after all, and bartered for her steam distillation rig.
