Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Essence of Distillation

Distillation is an ancient art, bequeathed to the Western world by medieval alchemy. If someone were serious about Muslim contributions to science, I suggest starting with the alchemists.

I once wrote the blogger vbspurs a mini-lesson on coffee making using a stovetop espresso maker:
Yes. BTW, the different aesthetic designs of those things actually hide the true inner beauty: upwards steam extraction of oils and essences, a short retort, and then a gentle collection cup, shielded from direct heat. We've own[ed] several designs, but they're really all the same. link
Many substances won't distill and the technique is really only useful for liquids in a chemistry lab or at an oil refinery. I found a totally cool description of how petroleum distillation works here.

The essence of an idea can be distilled from crude thought too. All it takes is a little focused energy--just enough to set it free from context--and a little care in gathering and enjoying it.

6 comments:

  1. For my next step up from beer and wine making, I'd like to make something a little harder - rum! Googling around I see I can obtain a counter-top still that looks remarkably like a crockpot. No hillbilly-mountain-dew type stills for me! Now, all I have to do is convince my wife we need a distillery in the kitchen.

    I enjoyed the link to petroleum distillation. My father had told me about the process but I was glad to see it illustrated and spelled out in a little more detail. Simple, really.

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  2. "The essence of an idea can be distilled from crude thought too. All it takes is a little focused energy--just enough to set it free from context--and a little care in gathering and enjoying it. " --> this is my bread and butter :)

    Btw, have you ever heard of a "crack"? Its when you take something like wine, freeze it, and then chip away the mostly-water ice, melt, and then do it again (a few times), essentially distilling it. Its supposed to be illegal in our supposedly free country.

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  3. Btw, have you ever heard of a "crack"?

    Nope. But what you've "essentially" described is a purification technique called recrystallization.

    For wine, the ice crystals could be separated from the liquid part (which is called the "mother liquor"). All the lovely ethanol will concentrate in the liquid part and not in the ice crystal part. Also, I wonder about residual water and ice in the two fractions, even after many cycles. Ethanol is impossible to purify by distillation(keyword azeotrope).

    Here are some facts and precautions about freezing wine. link

    BTW, isolating caffeine from tea or coffee is a rather easy undergraduate experiment. But buying NoDoz is pretty easy too.

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  4. Why is distilling White Lightning still illegal?

    Of all the modern contributions to distilling (at home), that has to be up there toward the top of the list. When you're living in the Ozarks or anywhere in West Virginia and your cousin isn't looking as cute as she should be looking, a dram of White Lightning always cured the situation historically. (cue the banjo)

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  5. Why is distilling White Lightning still illegal?

    I suppose because it avoids taxation. If the AFTers had their way, the taxes would increase to the point of provoking more home production/distillation. That was the situation historically.
    (cue the banjo :)

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    Replies
    1. Stereotype much? I prefer veenas, uilleann pipes and djembes. Sheesh, city slickers and their narrow minds...

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