Hi Scotty, my wife really likes Lavender so we grow some ourselves, 6 plants in our back yard. We also have some friends with a loooong driveway that is lined with Lavender. So our supply is pretty good. For other plant materials I've used this website for ordering. If find a better place let me know.

http://www.mountainroseh...om/bulkherb/bulkherb.php

BTW good price on the biomass flask.

Hey Scotty I use an essential oil seperator. You can see it on the e-bay site listed below. This guy has quite a bit of lab glass at resonable prices.
I'm converting my old pressure cooker pot still into an essential oil still. I'm useing a 10Qt pot for the boiler and an 8Qt pot for the bio mass pot. A friend of mine gave me a 2 1/2' X 2 1/2' x 1/16" sheet of stainless with 3/32" holes all over it that I'm useing to make the bio mass basket to go in the bio pot. The old lab set up I have is just tooo small for what I need to do. But I am useing the same seperator as it works really well.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/...&_trksid=p4340.l2562

Hope this helps.

Have Fun

Hey Scotty you'll have to put a SS screen in the bottom of your bio flask to keep everything from falling down. With a 500ml boiler and a 1000ml bio I would start with a full boiler and a half full bio flask. If you are collecting in a erlinmyer flask or beaker you need to keep an eye on the oil level floating on top of the hydrosol as the plants become depleated the oil level will slow and then stop gaining depth. You'll also need to keep track of the water level in your boiler so you don't run dry, also if you have a lot of water left you can add more plant material next run. With my old lab glass I used a larger 2000ml boiler with a 1000ml bio flask packed full with something like lavender. If it was Lemon Balm I chop the leaves up into about quarters and then I will pack it looser because it will pack itself down pretty well.
As far as books go I really can't recommend one, I have'nt found one that's worth while. The web site I gave you is pretty good. You have to skim through it and find the parts you are interested in. For me they are scattered all through it.
For example Hydrodistillation is around pg 40-49 and also 140-155, I think. But basically hydrostillin is just like running a wash. The hardest part is figuring out which plants do well with water and which ones want a water alcohol mix, and then which ones won't work with either. I wanted to still some tuberose for my wife then found out it is collected by placing on a bed of fat, etc, etc.
I learn best through doing things. This hobby has been a hit or miss kind of process. Fortunatly more hits than misses. I pay attention to what I do so it can be replicated next time----or not.
Any way hope this helps you get started and if you do come across a GOOD book let me know.

Have Fun.

Hi Scotty, have you recieved your new bio flask yet, and more to the point have you run anything in it yet?
I've just about finished converting the pressuer cooker into the essential oil still. A few more holes to drill and make the basket then I'll be ready to put it together. Starting to get excited about this project. It's a different design I came up with due to materials and size contraints.
Let me know how the new flask works.
Have Fun.

Hey Scotty, I;ve heard of returning from the condenser back to the middle of the tower and have seen some stills that have that on them but I don't understand why that's done. The only thing I can think of is it would work like a thumper on a pot still, but I don't see the advantage on a reflux tower.
So tell me what I'm missing please.

Please be more specific. I dont know what you are referring to.
I know that I rambled a bit in my post.:)

Sorry i edited your post with my reply-- im still not great at this.


Here is a basic idea. I will however stagger the height of the fingers to allow more steam to pass and also groove the fingers a bit