Distilling Lemongrass for Oil and Hydrosol

Just finished distilling a batch of fresh Lemongrass from Jamaica.  The resulting oil is wonderful however the yield was low at 0.2%.  For curiosity's sake, I'll have the oil tested for Citral content.  It is apparently not worth importing the raw material for distillation here in Oregon.  It will make for a very expensive oil.

Photos can be found on The Essential Oil Company's Facebook Page

Hands on Distillation Workshop 9/29/12

We were pleased to have 16 participants at our Hands on Distillation Workshop today, at the Boutique Distillery.
We discussed distillation and extraction.  Utilizing four different types of essential oil stills.
100 gallon stainless steel steam distiller, 35 gallon stainless steel water/steam distiller Rotating column 40 liter copper Alembic and a 15 gallon copper water/steam distiller.
We had an eclectic and interesting group of participants.  Some folks already had apparatus, some were thinking about getting into essential oil distillation, while others also had an interest in distilling spirits.
Photos can be found on The Essential Oil Company's Facebook Page

Western Juniper

Our most recent distillation was quite successful. Our wild crafters brought a ton of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) leaf for us to distill. We managed to obtain a final yield of 0.62%, that's not bad for Western Juniper. Previous distillations yielded less than 0.5%. Previous to distilling Western Juniper, we distilled Bay Laurel Leaf (Laurus nobilis). The oil is exquisite. The best Bay Laurel oil I've experienced (if I do say so myself!). The branches were brought to the distillery by someone here in Portland, who was pruning her fast growing tree. This is not something we will distill on a regular basis unfortunately. However, it is something I love to distill. The last time I distilled Bay Laurel was on the Island of Syros, in Greece. We did manage to produce 2 ounces of gorgeous essential oil and ten gallons of fragrant hydrosol.