We distilled our own essential oils

Those of you reading this blog will remember I’m a big fan of the power of essential oils and have reviewed them a couple of times, notably the Young Living brand. Young Living has really opened my eyes not only to the benefits of the oils but it also really made me interested in the process of making them. Hearing the stories of how founder Gary Young welded two pressure cookers together to make his first batch had me curious as to how we could do it at home too. So it really was serendipity that I heard from Glasschem who very kindly offered to lend me their essential oil/ gin distillation apparatus so that we could have this experience.

Glasschem was started back in 1992 by glass blower Sarel Rautenbach specialising in instruments for the wine industry. They have expanded both into metalwork and glass for many items and export to many countries. Located in Stellenbosch everything is hand crafted and they are able to service any broken components. They are one of the few companies selling these distillation kits – overseas options tend to be very expensive.

This company is a family business and it was Sarel’s son Daniel (at home from vasity during lockdown) who reached out to me to try the distiller out. He decided to make himself useful at home by producing some videos on how the oils were made. He also had some useful tips on squeezing the leaves, and if you like the scent, it is worth distilling. He makes his own mint oil to help him study.

The customer service from this company is outstanding. I warned these two that I was not very mechanically minded and would need a lot of help assembling this apparatus and getting it running. Little did they anticipate how serious I was about that and how much help, videos, diagrams and phone calls I was going to need. Sarel started off by gallantly putting together a video of instructions about how to put all the pieces together, which I managed just fine.

I drove around looking for lavender to put in but it was out of season. They also very kindly offered to send me some stuff to put in to distill. So another parcel arrived with rose geranium and rosemary.

I got everything set up and then had to cross the next hurdle: how to turn on the gas.

After much trial, error and phone calls I got the thing going. After making sure that the gas is tightly screwed down you rotate that little lever anticlockwise to open and clockwise to close. In the end I achieved success by first putting the lighter in the centre with the flame on while turning the handle. So it’s not a small thing that I managed to get this whole apparatus operational and I feel quite proud that I managed to do it in the end. Once I figured out the gas, it was a piece of cake. Glasschem also sells electric versions too.

Now that everything was working, we could distill the oils.

We put the leaves that we wanted to distill in the centre biomass container. We filled the water container above the gas by one third (which was about 350ml). We inserted the pump into a bucket of water and made sure that the outflow pipe went in there as well. Sarel very kindly sent me heaps of instructions and a diagram as to where everything was to go.

Once the water was boiling we turned up the gas and things really started happening. Steam travelled through a plastic pipe to the biomass container where it travelled through the leaves. Then that steam (containing the scent of the substance we were distilling) travelled through the glass tube above through a condenser. The condenser is a ring of glass pipes where the cold water is pumped through. This is what cools the steam down into the final product which is the oil. I’ve created two videos here so you can see.

It’s a huge feeling of satisfaction to create your own oils and we set about diffusing them straight afterwards. The geranium fragrance (according to my Young Living booklet) helps with balancing emotions, lifting your spirit and giving peace and hope. So that was definitely a good aroma to have around.

The next day when we did the rosemary I had to write a story for my work requiring some concentration and that really helped to have that scent in the air. Rosemary fragrance helps overcome mental fatigue and improves mental clarity and focus.

There are so many benefits to these oils and the process of making them ourselves has been such an achievement. Nicky, my little scientist, has so enjoyed the experiment as well and it keeps him busy to watch the distillation process at work.

The prices on these kits are below. As you’ll see we tested the most economical version which was the gas heated one.

ES101 Gas heated R6 500,00
ES201 Electric 2L with small flask orifice R6 800,00
ES202 Electric 2L with flange on flask R7 500,00
ES501 Electric 5L with small flask orifice R7 900,00
ES502 Electric 5L with flange on flask R8 850,00

You can read more about it on their website here.

You can also distill alcohol with this machine and they have the following video to explain that below.

Would you like to distill your own oils at home? Read more on their website Facebook and YouTube . If you email Sarel on sarel@glasschem.co.za, mention that you read about the distiller on SA Mom Blogs and he will give you a 10% discount. He is a very helpful person and will make sure you have the right apparatus for your needs. He really went out of his way to help me so I can also recommend the customer service.

Disclaimer: I was provided with the Essential Oil/ Gin Distiller as a loan in exchange for this post.

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