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Jen
This may be in the lessons somewhere as I have been skipping around. I haven’t found anything on creating an actual formula. I see the created formulas. For example on the insomnia video, Doc lists all the goodies you can take. Well if I have a lot of those, do I just add them all to a tea/tincture or is that too much? How do I know to add 2 parts valerian and 1 part chamomile? If this is a thing, please attach a link to the lesson. If not, maybe someone can help answer this question. Thanks!
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Greg Boggs
You could definitely make the formula as described. So if you have everything, go ahead and make the tea or the tincture.
As far as creating your own formula though, if that’s what you’re asking, then it just comes down to knowing the actions of the herb and deciding on what you want in your formula. If your question is on what constitutes a “part” when you mentioned 2 parts valerian 1 part chamomile, the “part” just refers to your method of measurement. So 2 parts valerian could be 2 teaspoons of valerian, 2 ounces, 2 cups, etc…
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Thanks for replying. Not exactly what I am asking. I understand the parts. But choosing the parts is what I am asking. Why 5 parts of something and only 2 parts of another? How do we come up with the amounts in the formulas? How do we make our own “Insomnia support” blend? Do we add all the ingredients that support sleep and which one gets 3 parts and which gets 1? I hope that makes my question more clear.
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For making your own formulas, I wouldn’t let the different parts keep you back from trying out your own. For me, I almost always use equal parts for everything. The only time I might differ from that is if I have something really strong or really weak. Take for instance, Cayenne pepper. Let’s say I’m going to make an immunity support formula with 1 part Echinacea and 1 part Elderberry. Well, to really get the Echinacea to perform well, I’ll need to add in Cayenne, but I only really want Cayenne for it’s catalyst properties (and I don’t want to burn myself up when I take it!). So for this formula I would do 1 part Echinacea, 1 part Elderberry, and .25 part Cayenne. Peppermint is also a good catalyst herb but because it isn’t as strong as Cayenne, I would do an equal part.
Another time I might do more of one herb in a formula than another is if I really want the herbal actions of the larger part to shine. So for a healing (wound) formula, I might do 2 parts Comfrey to really get the wound healing going, and 1 part Lavender for it’s nervine relaxing properties, and 1 part Calendula because Calendula is my miracle herb and I put it in everything (and I would put it in specifically because of it’s antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties to kill anything bad). Since my main goal is wound healing, I want lots of comfrey and some of the rest.7 users thanked author for this post.
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Michele Crawford
I have a question about Calendula, do you make infused oil or a tincture, or both? If you do make both which one do you tend to use the most? Also, I am very new to herbalism and I purchased some dried calendula, so any recipe suggestions would be welcome and appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.
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I’ve actually never done either with Calendula. I’m really only sticking to using what I grow myself, and since my stock on calendula is running low, I’m not willing to put what little I have left into a tincture. Since I just have my dried flowers, I just eat them. Doc always says the herb is the medicine, so just get it in you! So I’ll throw them in a tea that I’m making if I want a lot of different herbs, or if I just want the benefits of calendula, I just eat a few flowers. I know it sounds super weird haha, but hey, it helps.
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Amy Cain
On this subject, something I may have missed as well, when creating formula’s to make into a tincture, I grasp the 1 part is whatever measurement you want, so say I am doing the joint formula, and want to use the 5 to 1 ratio, that is where I am getting stuck, so 1 ounce of this powder, 1 ounce of this powder etc, then what? I feel like this should be simple and my brain is just failing me but how much vodka are we using then? OR am I mixing all those herbs together, then using 1 ounce of those mixed herbs to 5 ounces of vodka. Did I just answer myself 😉
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I find the easiest way to get my ratio correct is to use a kitchen scale. However many grams of herb I put in, I multiply that by 5 grams of vodka. For your example, if I ued 1 ounce of an herb, and then 1 ounce of another herb, I would then be using 10 ounces of vodka
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Ah so you are increasing the vodka or whatever your using based on how many ounces ( or whatever amount you choose.) of herb. Thank you for that, I was thinking, and correct me please, that if you didn’t do that wouldn’t it be weaker in strength then say a single tincture of one of the herbs. Am I making sense? So if I do 1 to 5 of Ginger, then another I do a “formula” that has ginger, turmeric, yucca say, they would each be weaker in volume, if you only took one of that entire mixture versus what you said doing one of each and then the appropriate alcohol ie: 15 ounces in the case of the 3 herbs. Geez I feel like I am making this convoluted 🙂 haha. Sorry but you get what I am trying to say… hopefully.
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I think I understand what you are saying, but the the ratio stays the same. 1 ounce herb and 5 ounces vodka and 2 ounces herb and 10 ounces vodka are both a 1:5 ratio. Now if you do half an ounce of two herbs, then you can still aim for 5 ounces of vodka. You aren’t reducing the effectiveness of the tincture since as you add more herbs, they will suck up more of the vodka.
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Appreciate your response as always Greg!! Thank you!
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Sophia Nelson
I am so happy I am not the only one with these questions. But, what I’m unclear on is, so I have 1 ounce of herb on my scale and use it, do I then use 5 fluid ounces of Vodka?
Sophia N Nelson
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I use my scale and just weight it in ounces for both, not fluid ounces. So I dump in one ounce of herb, and then 5 ounces of vodka. Now getting that to be enough to cover my herb, I haven’t been entirely successful yet 🙂
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Yep! You want to keep the measurements same with whatever you use. I always keep my scale on grams when I’m measuring out my herbs and vodka
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Ok Greg, another thought comes to mind, see what you think on this subject, we are keeping you busy aren’t we 🙂 So Doc sells hes formulas in bags of powder, you buy one of those bags, how would you go about tincturing that? I guess my initial thought was 1:5 ratio but… after all these chats I am questioning that. I ask this because I am in a rattlesnake part of the country so got his venom powder to tincture up for me and the dogs just in case… but I did 1:5, it has multiple herbs in there, so thinking that was the wrong way to go? What are your thoughts?
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Haha no worries! Yeah that would be fine, the ratio method is strictly ounces to ounces, not number of herbs to vodka. with the venom powder, that should be fine to tincture, but some herbs lose some of their chemical actions when you tincture them, so I would definitely look at that before you commit to tincturing everything
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Once again appreciate your response 🙂 I see he sells it as a tincture already made so I should be good on that aspect, as long as I have the strength correct!!
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Christie Wentz
I have a question on this topic! I have done single herb tinctures and herbs together in the jar with the vodka, I tend to use equal parts (at least until I understand the measurement better) Is it best to put the herbs in a jar together with the vodka and sit or seperate each herb then combine them when the tincture is done? I am taking the July class and plant walk this year! I am super excited to get hands on as this is how I learn!
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Bumping this question in case it hasn’t been seen yet. 🙂
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I think the best thing to do is to tincture them together, as there are certain qualities of some herbs that don’t like to mix well when you add them together as single tinctures such as alkaloids and tannens can make a glue like substance slide 24. That being said, to my knowledge the only things that do that are the alkaloids and tannens, so if your herbs are low in those then you should be fine to mix and match
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Wanda Breighner
I’m about 40% thru the course in order😊. Is there a list somewhere that says what not to combine? That would be so helpful to newbies until all this info starts to stick.
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Sharon
Ooooh, I’ll second that request for what not to combine!
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I’m confused as usual. So in the slide that Greg referred to – some of Doc’s formulas combine the alkaloids and the tannins together (like in the fungal topical blend, it has Black Walnut (tannin) and Goldenseal (alkaloid) in the same formula. Maybe the “elmer’s glue” only happens if we combine simples together that are already made separate?
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So from my understanding, if you tincture the herbs together its fine. They only turn into the glue like substance if you tincture them separately and then combine them
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Alicia Henderson
I still have a question on the ratio. If I use 5 ounces of powder, then to have a one to four ratio, I would need 20 ounces of vodka. That doesn’t seem to be enough vodka. Should it be that much?
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This reply was modified 1 year ago by
Alicia Henderson.
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Yeah that would be a 1:4 ratio but the main thing is you want all the herbs to be covered by the vodka. I have never had an herb get completely covered at 1:4 and I’m usually doing like a 1:7 ratio to get everything submerged.
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OK. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong. I think some of the tinctures I’ve made may have been a little weak, but I’ll do better moving forward. ☺️
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Nancy Menezes
I have a related question. I made a tincture with powder using a scale in the 5:1 ratio and it looks like sludge. Not very runny as though the herb powder sucked up all the vodka. I considered adding more vodka but didn’t want to mess with the ratio. Any suggestions?
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A 1:5 ratio is not a hard and fast rule in my opinion, as with some herbs you’ll just never get that. If you can get it to a 1:5 ratio and still have the herbs completely covered, then cool, but don’t sweat it if you don’t. If you are going to stick with knowing your ratios, just make sure you record how much you start with and how much you add so that way at the end you know for the future. You just really want to make sure all the herbs get covered by the vodka for proper extraction and no mold
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To piggyback on what Greg said, I generally put a piece of wide painters tape (I like orange as it’s easy to read), and put the name of the herb, how many grams of herb to how many ml (basically the same as a gram) of liquid like this 60:300 (60 grams of herb to 300 ml/gr of liquor, then just for simplicity, I add 1:5 for the “finished” ratio, and the date I put it all in the jar so I know when it’s time to press them out. Obviously the numbers above will change based on how thirsty the herbs are – though I have found that powdering them nice and fine really helps keep the numbers closer to 1:5. Hope this helps.
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Rebecca Shaw
I struggle with the sludge too, no matter using powder or just dried chopped herbs. I measure exactly and the tincture is very thick so I have to add a little each day after a good stir to be sure it is covered.
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This reply was modified 1 year ago by
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My brain works like a lot of your folks. haha I need exacts. I am learning, to let that go with making tinctures and it is a much more fun process. I gather my herbs, if they are all cut and sifted I add the parts and I poor my vodka over them. I shake and add more if needed. I check the next day and add more if needed. If I have one powered herb and the rest are cut and sifted, I add those to my blender to powder them, then I measure out all my powdered herbs, add vodka and do the same thing. If I were selling tinctures I am sure I would measure more, but for my own use, this has worked perfectly. Try not to overthink it. Enjoy it!
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I agree completely with your sentiment there! I am very much that way, but the issue I have been trying to figure out is using multiple herbs in a tincture. Like Doc sells his formulas for instance in powder form. So you have say four herbs in a bag you combined, now how much of that to alcohol are you going to combine. Because it would seem that if you just do one herb, lets use Turmeric, on a 1:5 ratio, that’s easy, but the strength of that is going to change if you then take Turmeric and add it to two or three other herbs in a tincture. Does that make sense? Are you just still tossing them all in a jar and covering with your alcohol, whether one herb or multiple? Just trying to get my head around that angle of it 🙂
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I think the powder mixtures are just to take with water. If you have those, it is best to add the 1tsp to a bit of water and just drink it. To avoid that in the future, using separate herbs would be easiest.
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Sure, makes sense, and probably wasn’t the best example to use regarding multiple herb tinctures and what ratios to use. 🙂
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Yes, I believe you are overthinking it a bit. I am sure there is an exact science and maybe Doc will eventually chime in at some point. But when I add multiple herbs, I add the parts called for to the jar, and I cover with the alcohol. The end haha. He shows many videos doing this. He also says he measures for quality since he is selling. Maybe go down the Youtube rabbit hole and see if anyone else has a better explanation that may make more sense to you.
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No rabbit holes necessary 🙂 Your reply makes complete sense. I appreciate it.
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Geneva Bivens
Hi Jen,
Check out Herbal Medicine Making module https://homesteadacademy.com/courses/homegrown-herbalist/sections/herbal-medicine-making/
Then have a look at the Formulas and Formulations module https://homesteadacademy.com/courses/homegrown-herbalist/sections/formulas-formulations/
Hope that helps.
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