Re: Alcohol and Extraction Madness

[Guest guest]

I am no expert on alcohol so if you

> want more info, look at the files-- they are very

> informative. Also the legal issues if you are

> planning to sell perfumes are something to look into

> in your state.

> By the way, your experiment sounds exciting! And

> scary!

>

Thanks - of course I should look through the files - I guess it is lazy and bad

etiquette to

expect the members of this group to rehash old discussions (though I don't feel

like you

are calling be a newb or anything - I appreciate the suggestion).

As far as the experiment goes, I don't think it is really all that dangerous if

done outside

and if there are openings to vent pressure in the chamber where the plant

material is

placed. I repeated the experiment (!) with a bit more sandalwood and managed to

collect

maybe 1/4 ml of oil - enough to get a good look at, anyway. A little division

reveals the

yield to be about 1.5 - 2% right now... and this is from really high oil content

sandalwood,

so this technique is not practical except for entertainment value. I also went

through more

than a whole can of the compressed gas, adding to the cost of the process.

The oil came out thick - like vetivert - a caramel color when held up to the

light, but with

greenish/yellow coloration when thinned out. A little bit of water condensed on

the oil

during the process because it was a warm, humid day and the extract comes out

unbelieveably cold - frost forms on the vitamin bottle and I had to be careful

where I held

it to avoid freezing my fingers.

I suspect extraction would be more efficient if the process occurred closer to

room

temperature and if I could get the liquid to stay in contact with the sandalwood

powder for

more than a few seconds at a time. Of course, to achieve this I would need some

kind of

metal pressure-proof container, not a plastic vitamin bottle.

Still, it made me think it would be a pretty minor task to produce an apparatus

for

florasol-type extraction. I just can't believe how rich/complex the aroma is,

though. It

captures aspects of the wood I have not experienced in distilled oils or CO2

extracts,

though the aroma is more like one of the good CO2 extracts I smelled once than a

distilled

oil. I guess the heat of distillation really changes the chemistry.

Now I have to decide how to make my drops of extract last... perhaps dilution in

regular

sandalwood oil or alcohol.

I think my next extraction will be of some agarwood powder I have had sitting

around for

a while - it is from decent quality wood and should have a good oil content.

Just hope it

extracts well with the air duster! I have a jasmine sambac in bloom - if more

flowers open

up, this may be my third test material. )

Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. )