SARMAST (Assam x Maluku) Distillation
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MaxFromHolland
True Ouddict
Not sure if it is inappropriate to ask. But i wonder if i sense correctly that you are not chilling the condenser really cold, even though this is the first fraction?
Apologies for my curiosity if such question is not to be asked.
mesOUD
Resident Artisan
To determine what is “a little” or “a lot,” I think we first need to agree on what “normal” is.
What would you consider normal?
MaxFromHolland
True Ouddict
I thought it to be 'normal' to aim for 15-20 degrees, although i know of one distiller (with a traditional alembic), packing the condenser full of ice for the first fraction.
I think there may be benefits in keeping things a bit warmer, around 25-30 degrees to get part condensate, part vapor into the receiver. I think botanicals release more than just volatile oil that add to the richness of the end product..
mesOUD
Resident Artisan
To put it simply, I think there are two main things we’re trying to achieve with condenser temperature:
Minimize the loss of volatile compounds.
Maintain good oil/water separation.
Oud is also quite different from lighter essential oils such as citrus oils or even frankincense. It isn’t a typical monoterpene heavy oil,a large part of its character comes from sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenoids.
The setup itself matters just as much. Condenser design, surface area, flow rate, geometry, and the overall construction of the still all affect what is happening inside the system. So hydrosol leaving two different setups at 30°C does not necessarily mean those two systems are behaving in the same way.
On my own setup, I monitor the hydrosol outlet temperature quite closely and usually aim for somewhere around 28–35°C. On another still, that range could certainly shift a little.
For oud specifically, though, I don’t find 15–20°C to be a particularly realistic or useful target.
I’m not saying the oil is being damaged or “shocked” at those temperatures. The problem is more about its physical behaviour. Oud oil becomes less cooperative in terms of separation when it is kept too cold.
And if you had a transparent condenser and could actually see what was happening inside, I’d be willing to bet you would find quite a bit of oil sticking to the condenser walls rather than travelling cleanly through into the receiver.
So for me, the goal isn’t simply to make the condenser as cold as possible. It’s to find the temperature range where you still capture the volatile fraction efficiently while allowing the oud oil to flow and separate properly.
MaxFromHolland
True Ouddict
Thank you for sharing that. It will guide my future experiments towards better results.
mesOUD
Resident Artisan
Hi Steve
Since this question comes from someone who is genuinely curious about the craft and wants to understand what happens behind the still, I think it deserves a proper answer rather than just a number.
Enough to make a few people happy, not enough to make everyone happy 😂
I’m distilling around 9 kg of wood, and for this particular Assam/Maluku material, I would consider a final yield somewhere around 35–40 grams to be a very good result.
But yield numbers only mean something when you know the wood behind them.
What I’m referring to here is genuine incense grade material; it would be misleading to apply the same expectations to every type of agarwood.
Species alone can change the picture dramatically. Merauke, for example, behaves very differently: with exceptional material you may see something around 1 ml from 1 kg of wood, while with more standard material it can take 5–6 kg to obtain 1 ml.
Then malaccensis, sinensis, crassna and others each have their own character and yield behavior.
So I never look at yield as a number in isolation. A bigger yield does not automatically mean a better distillation, and squeezing every possible drop from the wood has never been my objective.
For me, the real question is always: how much of the character and soul of that wood made it into the oil?
If I finish this distillation somewhere around 35–40 grams and the oil remains where it is now in terms of quality, I’ll be very happy.
SteveE
Oud to Joy
Thanks for correctly understanding the aim of my question. I was an organic chemist by training, and so yield was very important to me. Each step of the process led to loss. Certainly not opening up my own distillation process, just more of an intellectual curiosity …. also helps us all understand why these materials are so expensive in the final product form.
mesOUD
Resident Artisan
You are very welcome
mesOUD
Resident Artisan
There is also a point where the numbers themselves begin to lose their meaning. That is where quality and soul enter the conversation.
Let me give another example using Indian oud.
From shavings that cost around $100 per kilogram, it may be possible to obtain roughly 2–3 grams of oil from 1 kg of wood. Yet from wood costing $1,500–2,000 per kilogram, you may obtain around 4–5 grams.
So the price of the wood may increase twentyfold, while the oil yield increases by only around 50%. If we try to explain that purely through numbers, we simply cannot 😂😂😂
That is where quality begins to matter.
But to be completely honest, I would say the quality of the wood itself is perhaps only 30% of the art.
To create a truly exceptional dish, you need exceptional ingredients, properly designed equipment, and the touch of a skilled chef.
Distillation, in my eyes, is no different.
