Making chaga tincture

[SharonStudent]

So I bumbled across this article on making chaga tincture (https://birchboys.com/blogs/about-our-chaga/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-chaga) and I’m just having a hard time understanding all this double extraction stuff.  Some seem to do the hot water first, and others do it last.  If doing double, this method seems to make more sense as there would be the spent marc to use – but since there is already water in the alcohol – it seems that this double extraction would just dilute the tincture badly.  Can someone please help me understand this?  It seems like the type of alcohol is all over the map too – some use vodka, others use ever-clear…  Why not just use alcohol and put it in a very warm place – wouldn’t that do the same thing??

• This topic was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by Dr. Patrick Jones.

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

The double extraction method described is pretty pointless. If you are using Everclear (which is  190 proof or 95% ethanol) and then  add an equal amount of water or tea, you’ve basically cut the Everclear strength to exactly the strength of regular vodka. Why not just use the vodka in the first place and skip the unnecessary step?

Worse, if you start with vodka and do the same thing and add an equal amount of water or tea, you’ve now diluted the alcohol strength to below what is needed to preserve the tincture.

80 0r 100 proof vodka is basically half water and half alcohol. The water-soluble and alcohol-soluble constituents on an herb will both have someone to be friends with at that party. There’s no reason to over complicate this with unnecessary steps.

Making Herbal Medicines Lesson 4: Tinctures, Glycerites & Vinegars

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Gina Younk, Michelle Koch, Sharon

[SharonStudentTopic Author]

Thanks Doc.  I thought it seemed overly complicated too.  Would the 40% work for all mushrooms?  And perhaps a better question – is mushroom tincture (in general) as good for us as a powder in a smoothie as an example?  Are there properties that don’t extract into a tincture that we should get from the powder without tincturing?  Thanks for being so patient with all my questions – I blame my parents – they encouraged me to ask a lot of questions, and I learned the “art” of question asking well I think LOL!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lee Ann

[SharonStudentTopic Author]

Doc, isn’t the reason for the double extraction to use hot water for the chitin (the hard cell casing) that needs hot water to dissolve or whatever so we can extract what is inside the cell?  Seems that extracting mushrooms is a bit of a controversial topic – whoda-thunk-it!

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