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.