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I have prepared a herbal oil by heating coconut oil with a set of local herbs for quite a good amount of time. The mixture at last, consists of solid and liquid. Solid particles are burnt left overs of the herbs. Liquid is the herbal oil, which will be stored in separate containers for daily use. Upon squeezing the solid particles, the small quantity of absorbed liquid, is extracted. Manually doing this is a bit tedious as the end result might not be a 100% extraction.

Tries I already made: I used a cotton cloth to squeeze the mixture. It gave me some output, but not full. Along with, I lost some quantity of oil which sticks onto my hand and cotton cloth.

Please note: This is a home preparation, for ourselves. Quantity of prepared mixture is very much less. So please do not suggest machineries that is available in the market.

Is there a hack to extract the liquid with less manual work and less loss?

Could anyone share some idea?

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  • So are there two products: the liquid which can be poured off, and another which is squeezed from the solids, which are then discarded? Or is it more of the same that you don't want to waste?
    – Weather Vane
    May 27, 2021 at 18:17
  • @WeatherVane: No, there is only one product and it is the liquid in this case. It is the oil we require. The left over solid after extraction, may be used as a soap for 2-3 days and will be finished. And yes, I don't wish to waste the oil from solid particles too. After extracting, I will save the oil for later use in containers.
    – MANEESH MOHAN
    May 28, 2021 at 2:29
  • I assume you've tried using a sieve? Are the particles too small? You could use a cheesecloth, muslin, or coffee filter, but with all of these some of the liquid will stick to the filter (a metal sieve will soak up less than a cloth or paper filter).
    – Stuart F
    May 31, 2021 at 16:22
  • @StuartF Yes, I tried using sieve. I put the mixture on the top of sieve and had to push to extract liquid. Moreover, more push gave me more and more oil with sieve going to bad shape. I tried with larger sieve, but the force could not be applied uniformly through out everywhere to fully extract. Cheesecloth and muslin, I believe, will be the same as doing with cotton cloth(what I did). With coffee filter, I think free falling liquid would easily pass through. Apart from that, we need to exert pressure. There are also chance that filter paper might consume some oil.
    – MANEESH MOHAN
    Jun 26, 2021 at 11:57

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Consider using a garlic press. You can exert tremendous pressure on the contents to squeeze most liquid from the contents.

They are quite inexpensive, easily cleaned, and last many years.

garlic press

HACK: Use a small disk filter (made from the paper from a tea bag) to help you keep the saturated herb particles from being pushed out through the holes at the bottom of the press.

Some models have spikes that can be used to 'clean' the drainage holes when reversed.

Good luck.

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