Today at Santa Rita Hills Lavender Farm we decided it was the right to set up a fresh flower distillation outside by the farmstand, here’s how we get started!
The first thing that we do is set up the Still in such a way as to keep the wind from putting out the hotplate.
Next we pack in fresh lavender into the column of the Still.
The buds need to packed tightly in, so we use a giant pestle to really squish the buds in there!
Once you have filled the column till you can't fit anymore lavender in, you reattach the column to the pot of the still.
Now, we put on the hat, and use rye flour mixed with water to seal the connections between the column and the pot and the column and the hat.
Finally we turn on the electric pump that we use to recirculate the water into the condenser and turn on the propane burner to start heating up the pot. Once the hat says 100°C oil will begin to come out of the condenser!
And now we play the waiting game…
Once it starts to heat up the first notes will begin to drip out of the condenser, dripping down into the seperator.
Once the separator fills with hydrosol you turn the know to let the hydrosol drip down into the jar below, leaving the essential oil on top to collect in another jar.
We let this go for about an hour, then we are finished with the fresh lavender distillation! Seems like alot of steps but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy, and also a ton of fun!
