Distilling Lavender

Instructions I've found for Extracting the Oils of Lavender" 1) Harvest the lavender plant in the morning and allow it to dry for a few hours. This should ideally be done on a dry, sunny day just as the flowers are approaching full bloom.

2) Load the plants into a distillation vessel. This is typically a large, food-grade stainless steel pot used only for distilling lavender. The pot is filled with the lavender plants and sealed.

3) Introduce low-pressure steam into the bottom of the vessel to boil the essential oil from the plant. Allow the steam to exit through the lid of the vessel and feed it through a condenser. The steam is cooled into a liquid by cold water that runs through coils in the condenser.

4)Feed the condensate into a separator. This liquid is divided into two parts: lavender water on the bottom and the lighter essential oil on top. The lavender water is drained off through an opening in the separator situated below the level of the essential oil.

5)Collect the essential oil in a beaker on top of the separator.

I've also found a different way of Exracting the oils which contains using a brick. I'd like to try it out.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6566496_extract-lavender-oil-lavender-plant.html

Some things I would need to get would be the Heat Proof Measuring Cup, Separatory Funnel (which I think is the same as a oil seperator), and I need to check if I have a pot similar to a "dutch oven".

This process does seem much more simple in comparison to creating an actual Distiller, but I'm not sure if the resulting quality of the oils will different. It might be an interesting to compare the two types of methods.