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Trying to piece together a boiler with attachable basket for making essential oil.

I drilled a hole in the bottom of a small keg using a circular saw, then welded a triclamp spool on top of the hole so it would attach above the boiler and serve as a basket through which steam will pass. The spoolcontains an ss scrubber to keep things like lavender from falling out of the basket and into the boiler.

I havent tried using it yet but will give it a go in the coming days.

Unless you're dedicating that to certain oils I would make sure you can get into the keg to clean it well between oil runs.
T.

That’s a good point. I do not have a manway. I have used this small keg for infusing neutral with juniper etc where i just used a water vac to suck out the plant matter. Now for essential oil, i suppose your comment makes me ask if that would be enough. I would want to reuse the boiler keg again for gin. As for the basket it will ideally be used for many different oils but nothing else.

As for the condenser, it would be not so ideal to have to rerun a vinegar clean when needed for spirits.

You could run some old feints thru to wash out the oils. A Liebig type of condenser would be easier to clean.
T

Damn that sounds like good advice. I’ll switch it out. Danke Tōtōtchtin.

I don’t like the balancing act. Are you going to add some support around the outside?

Personally, I would choose a vessel with a removable lid to make it possible to pack branches into it. Keep an eye on scrapyards for something. I’ve got two and have seen more.

Good points, thanks. Have been looking but might try this in the meanwhile. Might not.