Soxhlet Extraction of Essential oils for flavoring

[Canadoz]

Anyone ever tried using soxhlet extraction to pull the essences out of their flavoring ingredients/herbs?

It seems to me you could use your undiluted ethanol from a distillation run as the solvent to pull the oils and flavors out of the material you want to process. I think it would be fantastic for making your own all-natural, highly concentrated essences. I'm thinking Gin specifically, but it would certainly work with citrus peels, anise seed, wood chips, herbs like mint, pretty much anything that can be dried out and stuffed into the soxhlet extractor. Heck you could even do what the video shows with chillis and make a chilli pepper vodka :angry-extinguishflame:
Imagine making an 'apple brandy', without using an apple wash, it's possible!

Plus as an added bonus you get to act like a mad scientist and stuff. :geek:

The method is described very clearly here: (the last step of vacuum distillation to separate the oil would be uneccessary for us distillers since it's going to be used in an alcohol solution anyway)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYyDVZPaZng


And the necessary glassware is relatively cheap and easy to get here
http://www.www.5stardistilling.com.au.com/store/product ... 02826.html

What do you boys think? I'm leaning towards giving it a shot and seeing what weird and wonderful stuff I can come up with.

[db1979]

Looks awesome! Something to keep in mind to try later on after I've got on top of all the other things I want to try.

One question, what are you planning on using on the ground glass joints? Silicon vacuum grease or just plain grease? Silicon is more expensive but from what I can remember is only soluble in toluene not ethanol. Not sure about regular grease.

[bt1]

I'll just stay with Old Dog's infused gins for mine

shit I've drunk enough of em to know what tastes good

bt1

[Canadoz]

Looks awesome! Something to keep in mind to try later on after I've got on top of all the other things I want to try.

One question, what are you planning on using on the ground glass joints? Silicon vacuum grease or just plain grease? Silicon is more expensive but from what I can remember is only soluble in toluene not ethanol. Not sure about regular grease.

Not too sure, tbh I wasn't even aware the joints needed anything in order to seal.

[db1979]

Yeah it's so they can come apart easily and you can spot leaks in them. They can seal reasonably well without grease but the grease makes it a lot better. Regular grease (not sure what it's called cause I always used to use silicon high vacuum grease in the lab) may have components that dissolve in ethanol so you may want to steer clear of it. While a tube of silicon high vacuum grease will set you back a fair bit it will last for ages cause you only use a tiny amount on each joint. See the following link for a run down on how to grease a ground glass joint (no need to worry about the syringe though, just use your finger).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg9kSowuaQg

It might pay to get in touch with a local university or organic chemistry research laboratory and see if they have any old glassware they are looking at getting rid of.

[Canadoz]

Yeah it's so they can come apart easily and you can spot leaks in them. They can seal reasonably well without grease but the grease makes it a lot better. Regular grease (not sure what it's called cause I always used to use silicon high vacuum grease in the lab) may have components that dissolve in ethanol so you may want to steer clear of it. While a tube of silicon high vacuum grease will set you back a fair bit it will last for ages cause you only use a tiny amount on each joint. See the following link for a run down on how to grease a ground glass joint (no need to worry about the syringe though, just use your finger).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg9kSowuaQg

It might pay to get in touch with a local university or organic chemistry research laboratory and see if they have any old glassware they are looking at getting rid of.

I see I've found myself a real honest to goodness lab veteran. I may have questions for ya at some point. Thanks for weighing in.

[db1979]

I'll do my best, I only spent three years working in labs after graduating. I work as a chemistry teacher now and because I don't have to teach anywhere near as much stuff that I learnt while working in labs I find that I'm forgetting it over time. So any opportunity to refresh my knowledge is only a good thing.