Distillation at EYWINEO
The quality of the plants is very important, but only the hand and attitude of the distiller make them a superior essential oil.
How we distill
without a steam generator
steam, aqueous and extended distillations
with clean spring water
copper capacitor and a boiler cap
we choose special days of the year
We teach distillery
group demonstrations
workshops
lectures by visiting distillers
individual demonstrations
individual advice about equipment
We distil for you
from your homegrown herbs
in our place and with our equipment
on agreed time
bottled in your packaging or in ours
with plain or spring water
How we distill
We distil in the same way that our ancestors distilled for centuries. We decided not to use modern methods such as steam generator distillation, pressurised distillation, extraction with solvents, etc. We respect tradition and let the alchemical process in separating aromatic molecules from the plant material happen in the natural way. We believe that only essential oils and hydrosols obtained in that way retain the primal power of nature.
Most of our herbs and twigs of conifers picked or collected in nature are distilled in the steam distillation process. The time of distillation is adapted to plants. Gentle plants do not require particularly long distillation whereas longer distillation is needed with stronger plants and herbs due to special herbal substances, for example in the case of yarrow.
The distiller, which was adapted according to our instructions, is made of two types of material – the boiler is made from stainless steel, the cap and the capacitor are made of copper. Glass as material for more demanding distillation is of course not suitable since it is too fragile. Copper is more plant-friendly than stainless steel, destroys bacteria and gives a pleasant aroma. The ancient Romans already knew that and treated their herbs with copper tools. Probably nobody wants oil and hydrosols picking up the ‘note of the boiler’, which is unpleasant and occurs in many distillations using stainless steel equipment. Sometimes it takes quite a long time for this note to disappear.
Our distillations are not just common and typical. We are aware of the importance of the healing energy which enriches plants and essential oils with additional power. We distil on specially selected energy potent sites in our local area. Whenever possible we use clean spring water. In this way, the energy value of oils and hydrosols increases, which is very important for therapeutic use.
Our speciality are extended distillations and distillations on special days. These apply to oils that are to be distilled for at least 3 hours. The chemical composition of such oils is different from those from conventional distillations. Preferably they are distilled on special days (solstice) when the planetary energy is the strongest. The quantities of such essential oils are usually very limited.
We teach distillery
We remember very well the time when we started distilling. We had so many questions and wishes and so few answers. There wasn’t anybody around who could teach us to distil. Therefore, in 2017 we were the first in Slovenia to organise the seminar ‘Professional distillation of essential oils’ with Dr. Marco Valussi. Marco was great in providing us with theoretical and practical basics for distilling herbs, thus helping us to lay the foundations for our further development.
Since then we distil tirelessly and make 30 to 50 distillations a year, our knowledge of distilling is thus expanding rapidly.
On our website under Events we publish dates of workshops and seminars on the topic of distillation of different plants.
We distil for you
You grow herbs yourself but you don’t have the equipment or the necessary knowledge to distil?
We can help you by distilling your herbs with our equipment. You will thus obtain essential oils and hydrosols containing also your energy.
We can put 20 to 25 kilograms of herbs into our 70-litre boiler, depending on the type of the herb. The input with gentle plants, such as lemon balm, is bigger, and smaller with more compact ones, such as fir or spruce. For each herb we will give you instructions on how to prepare for distillation, knowing that a more compact plant material needs to be cut in smaller pieces prior to distillation.
The entire distillation lasts about three hours. It takes us about half an hour to fill the boiler, an hour and a half to two hours to distil and another half an hour to empty the boiler, fill up the bottles and filter the essential oil.