Boiling the Oil

Ialari experiments with extracting oils from fruits with philtering processes.

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 1st, 2018, 5:55 am

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20th Day of Winter in the Year 517 AV


It was late morning. A rainstorm had recently passed through although, as was almost always the case in Syka, the sun appeared shortly after. Ialari was busy wandering about the fringe jungle as well as the interior of the settlement itself, gathering various ingredients for a new experiment in philtering. The harvesting of material was really quite simple as it meant picking various types of fruit. It was the skins of the fruit however that Ialari was most interested in. As she made her way around the settlement, Ialari also made a few stops to the Mercantile to pick up some of the fruits offered there as well as some sugar and various spices. She also invested in more tools and equipment to turn her small philtering kit into a portable lab. As for fruits that she both purchased and gathered, she bought and stuffed into her backpack, several mangos, lemons, oranges, pineapples and coconuts. In total she spent 275 gm on the various purchases.

After several trips and the better part of the afternoon, Ialari was finally satisfied with the amount of material she’d acquired. Returning to her ranchero, she laid out her ingredients on every available surface of her small home. At her work table, she began putting together the full setup of her philtering lab. There was an alembic, various tubes, coiled glass, beakers, retort and numerous tools for collecting and processing philters. Putting it all together took a bit of trial and error however as she’d only ever had any experience with such a lab years ago during her studies at the Silver Tower. When she hit a snag in the setup; unsure of how some of the coils fit together, she gave up trying. Instead, she took a break and went to the Panacea.
Jansen had his own philtering setup in his somewhat small lab. While there was a bit more to it than Ialari’s, the basic principles were the same. Ialari explained her dilemma to Jansen and asked if he could help. He proceeded to explain exactly which each piece was and what it was for. While Ialari knew some of it, much of what he described was new.

“I know you probably know some of this but I’ll explain it anyway.” He pointed to each piece as he described them. “This here is the alembic. It is basically used in the process of distillation. It separates liquids. This at the top, is a venting hood. From the hood, these tubes connected to it allow vapors that have been heated to travel away from the heat source so they can cool.”
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Last edited by Ialari Pythone on March 4th, 2018, 10:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Ialari Pythone
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[Job Thread] Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 1st, 2018, 5:57 am

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Jansen pointed to the series of coiled glass tubes as he continued his explanation. “As the vapors pass through these tubes, they cool and enter this other chamber. In some distillations, such as with various types of oils, the condensed water collects at the bottom of the chamber while the oil separates to the top.”

Jansen pointed to where the various pieces connected and showed Ialari how the various pieces attached to the support structure; a series of small screw clamps and metal rods.

“Eventually you will want to work on getting establishing a kilns or larger oven for more complex philters but this small philterer’s brazier will work well enough for less involved ones.” He said as he pointed out his own brazier.

Finally, Jansen gave Ialari a word of caution. “If you plan on doing a lot of philtering, you may want to think about protective gear. The more volatile substances can be quite dangerous with burns being a frequent hazard.”

Ialari nodded, “I have an old philterer’s robe. It’s not in the best shape, a bit frayed in places with some tattering near the hem but its serviceable. I’ll probably try and get someone around here to help patch it up.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly are planning on making in the more immediate future?” Jansen asked.

Ialari had ideas and plenty of ingredients yet hadn’t fully thought out the goal of her next project. “Well, I am still working on that. I’ve collected a large amount of fruits…I figured I would distill some oils, do some mixing and blending and see what happens.”

Jensen nodded. “Not a bad start and relatively safe. You’ve obviously figured out balms as well as oil extraction without distillation. Distilling oils from fruits and other plant material can produce some potent fragrances and flavors. The real fun however comes from infusing your philters with a bit of magic or even a divine touch.”

Ialari’s face brightened at the mention. She remembered her studies at the Tower revealing the possibility of infusing such things into philters but details were reserved for those who had a little more experience with the technical process of physically creating philters.

Jansen continued. “When you’ve completed your philter, the infusion of say a bit of gnosis is relatively simple. For example, I’ve been known to brew up philters infused with gnosis from Rak'keli to aid in healing. When I do that, I focus on the philter itself, make physical contact with the contents and open up the connection with my marks; channeling the feeling I get into the philter. I’m less sure of infusing magic but I imagine it is pretty much the same concept.”

Ialari was familiar with a similar process as Jansen described as it was much like what she did when she imparted upon an object; however, Jansen’s process for philters sounded far less exhausting.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
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[Job Thread] Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 1st, 2018, 5:59 am

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When she was more confident with how to put her equipment together and had received a bit of bonus information on philtering from Jansen, Ialari said her thanks and took her leave. Returning home, she restarted the assembly. This time around, with the instructions fresh in her mind, it was much easier to put it all together. Once she’d completed the assembly, she then turned to the task of preparing the fruit. Luckily, included in the kit she’d bought, there were some basic recipes for simple philters which included extracting oils for use in foods as well as perfumes, among other things. With instructions in hand, she began preparing the fruit.

She started by peeling a few of the various fruits. The recipe called for the use of the peels as that is where the overwhelming amount of oil would be found. With her dagger, she began peeling the mangos and oranges followed by the lemons and pineapples. The coconuts she left for later as she would use those to make more coconut oil. She had roughly a half-a-dozen of each of the different types of fruit. She collected the peels of each type and put them in separate bowls. The rest of the fruit she put in a large bowl for later when she would devour it. Ever since spending time in Riverfall, Ialari had developed a strong taste for fruits of all kinds. Fresh fruits were rare in Sultros, at least the kind she had access to now and during her time in eastern Syliras, these kinds of fresh fruits were also difficult to find.

With the peels ready, Ialari filled the alembic with water and lit a fire in her philtering brazier. She then put the lemon peels in with the water and sealed the alembic. A bowl of unheated water was then placed where the distilling coils could dip into it so that the cooled vapors would condense into the lower glass chamber for separation. The whole process from there, from what Ialari understood, was relatively hands off. Distillation was one of the easier methods of making a philter. Of course she would have to monitor the brazier to make sure the flame remained constant and she would have to watch to make sure the water didn’t fully evaporate before the process was complete.

Ialari pulled her chair over the worktable and sat down. She waited and watched, periodically adding fuel to the flame. There was plenty of water as the number of peels she had weren’t all that great. She watched as steam exited the top of the alembic and traveled through the coils. As the steam passed through the coils and the cooler water, it condensed and began to drip down into the separating chamber. Time passed and mid-afternoon gave way to night.

To occupy her time, Ialari would write in her journal while enjoying one of the many fruits she’d collected. She wrote of her short time thus far in Syka and of the people she’d met. She wrote of Uta and Jansen and of Mathias. She commented on her first impressions and noted distinguishing characteristics. Of Mathias, she wrote that he was a kind, confident man who was quite open with those in the settlement. He seemed like the kind of leader who led by inspiring others to respect him and want to follow. For a human, he was quite tolerable and easy to talk to.

With Uta, Ialari wrote that the woman, while young, displayed a focus and insight that was rare in Ialari’s experience. The woman’s knowledge of plants was admirable and her desire for more knowledge was not unlike Ialari’s own.
Jansen, Ialari recorded, was somewhat of a different character when compared to other Akalak Ialari had met back in Riverfall. This one seemed a bit sadder while also seeming to genuinely want to help others. He didn’t display, at least as outwardly, the over-confidence displayed by many Akalak was nowhere near as pronounced with Jansen.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
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[Job Thread] Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 1st, 2018, 6:00 am

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As the night progressed, Ialari noticed the fluid accumulating in the separator had two distinct looks. There was a slight film floating on the top of the water that Ialari assumed was the oil. When she felt that she was probably going to get as much oil out of the lemon peels as she was going to get, she killed the fire in the brazier and removed the separator. Taking a bit of cheesecloth from her kit, she stretched it over the mouth of a beaker and proceeded to pour the contents of the separator over the cloth. The water went into the beaker while the oil, what little there was, collected in the cheesecloth. Setting the water aside; which she noted had a lemony aroma to it, she collected the oil from the cheesecloth into a small vial. The smell had a potent smell of lemon even though it only filled roughly half of the small vial. Ialari placed the stopper on the vial and put the vial in a small holder that came with the kit.

“Wow. If that is all the oil I’m going to get out of half-a-dozen fruit peels, I’m going to need a lot more fruit…” She commented to herself. “I guess if I mix the oil with another, I would get a bit more as far as quantity. The scent too would be interesting depending on what else I mixed it with.” She thought of the other fruits she had and decided the next distillation would be of the mangos. A mixture of lemon and mango oil would make for a refreshing scent. She then imagined mixing the oils with coconut oil for use in balms.

It was getting rather late by the time Ialari had collected the bit of oil and cleaned up her equipment. The left over lemon-infused water tasted pretty good but wouldn’t hold for long. If it would have been earlier in the day, she would have simply used it to start another distillation and by doing so, toy with the flavors of the next oil. Instead she disposed of what was left and readied herself for bed. She was a little sore from sitting for so long and was in need of some fresh air. She decided to sleep outside on the wraparound deck of her ranchero in the hammock for the night and hoped it wouldn’t rain. Stripping down, she stretched out on the hammock and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

When Ialari awoke the next morning, she got right to work with the next round of distillation. This time she used the peeled mango skin. As before, she filled the alembic with water, put the peelings in the water and lit up the brazier to start the water boiling. She waited and watched just as before as the steam from the boiling water rose into the glass coils before cooling and dropping back down in the separator. As was the case with the lemon oil, only a small amount seemed to form as Ialari waited for the process to complete. By the time the mango oil had been distilled as much as it was going to be, it was approaching midday. This time, as Ialari waited, she wrote in her journal about the strange lights in the sky she’d witnessed a few days prior. She described the multiple colors and strange sounds that coincided.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
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Medals: 7
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Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
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[Job Thread] Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 1st, 2018, 6:02 am

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Pouring the oil and water again over some cheesecloth, she set the water aside and collected the resulting oil into another vial. The scent was strongly fruity and concentrated, just as she’d hoped. There was roughly a similar amount of oil collected this time as the last time which further cemented the idea that she would need a lot more material if she were going to ever make enough oil to be widely available and useful.

With still a lot of time left in the day, Ialari continued the distillation process for the remaining two types of fruit; the oranges and the pineapples. Each one produced an amount similar to the previous ones and each smelled of concentrated fruit. She pondered the effects of actually consuming an entire vial of the oil but chose not to try. The scents alone were strong, she could only imagine the concentrated taste and doubted it would be that good. If diluted in coconut oil though, it may be more palatable to the tongue and the nose. It looked like a little bit of the oil would go a very long way. She could mix it with all manner of different fluids to change their tastes and even those fluids, if distilled, may produce any number of final products.

As the scents lingered in her nostrils, she began to think about how the oils could mask the smell of certain poisons or even help change their taste as to be less obvious. It could also be used to add different flavors to certain types of alcoholic beverages; something she imagined the Tidepool Bar could benefit from. The oils could be mixed with coconut oil and turned into balms, soaps and creams to help combat skin irritations caused by contact with certain poisonous plants. Another concept dawned on her that if she can distill concentrated oils from fruits, what else could she distill in order to achieve concentrated results. Indeed the possibilities were endless.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
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Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

Boiling the Oil

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 7th, 2018, 7:47 pm

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Thread Grade


Philtering: 5

Lore: Philtering: Assembling a portable Philtering Lab
Lore: Philtering: Knowlege of the different pieces of a portable Philtering Lab
Lore: Philtering: The process of Distillation in Philtering
Lore: Philtering: The importance of protective gear in Philtering
Lore: Philtering: Gnosis and Magic can be infused into philters
Lore: Philtering: Concentrated fruit oils can be distilled through Philtering
Lore: Philtering: Using fruit peels for their oil through distillation
Lore: Philtering: It takes a lot of plant material to produce comparatively small amounts of oil
Lore: Philtering: Distilling oil from the skin/peels of mangos, pineapples, lemons and oranges
Lore: Philtering: Using cheesecloth to filter plant oils from water

-275 gm for purchases

Equipment enough to complete a Portable Philtering Lab
A collection of spices
4 vials of Essential Oils (Partially filled; mange, orange, lemon and pineapple
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Remade In My Dominion!

Character Sheet

Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


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