Problems when making small amounts of tinctures

[Lisabeth SeverinStudent]

So I’ve been practicing making herbal tinctures. My first tincture was the folk method, but all the rest I’ve tried to stick to the ratio method.  However, I’m noticing that a lot of fresh herbs won’t be covered by the 1:2 ratio, or they will _just_ get covered but won’t really be shake-able. The only fresh herb I’ve been able to get to work at 1:2 has been Chamomile (Matricaria recutita).

I don’t have a Vitamix blender, so I usually mince/chop my herbs and after adding the alcohol I will use an immersion blender. To get my immersion blender inside a mason jar, it has to be at least a pint size jar.

If I was using a narrower jar, would the 2 parts alcohol cover my herbs better?

I’m making very small amounts, for example, 23 grams of fresh Lemon Balm leaves to 46 grams of alcohol, which had to be upped to 69 grams of alcohol.

I’ve also tried making tinctures with dehydrated herbs, and they seem easier to work with. Especially since once dried enough they can usually be crumbled without the need of an electric appliance.

However, some herbs just seem more delicate…like they’d be better made when fresh. Like pollen. I’m making Rye Pollen Tincture for my husband…which I realize Secale cereale (Cerale Rye) isn’t covered by Dr Jone’s lessons, but its in one of my husband’s supplements. So I researched it, and since I’d grown rye as a cover crop for some of my garden beds, I thought why not? My husband insisted I make the Rye Pollen Tincture in Rye Whiskey and not vodka, of course.

Of course, pollen probably just seems delicate. After all, they find pollen granules in archeology sites that are thousands of years old.

Anyway, what have the rest of you found when/if you make fresh herb tinctures? Are your herbs getting covered completely by 2 parts of alcohol?

• This topic was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Lisabeth Severin.

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Sydnia Ginger Anady

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

I dry everything. The only real way to cover some fresh herbs is to out them in a blender with the booze. Some folks also just folk tincture fresh stuff. The problem is that the concentrations then varies so much from plant to plant that figuring out dosing is much more complicated. Dry herb is vastly easier on all counts.

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

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Sydnia Ginger Anady, Lisabeth Severin

[Laura ScottStudent]

Hi Lisabeth.  I just thought I would share my tincture efforts so far as I have had similar outcomes except I am using dried herbs.  Even with the dried herbs I am having to alter the ratios of herb:menstrum quite a bit.  Crampbark ended up at 1:7 in order to be covered and shakeable; chamomile was 1:8; calendula was 1:10 !!!.

I did not blend anything, I just chopped up the herbs as small as I could.  Going forward I guess I will try maybe grinding the dried herbs first.  I wouldn’t consider blending anything at this point because I am using such small amounts.  Usually starting with 25g or so of dried herb.  Since I am just learning I figure I don’t want 2 gallons of mistake!

Actually the only time I got a ‘proper’ ratio was when I used freshly dug echinacea root.  It was the standard 1:2 with just enough room to shake!  Reflecting on that batch, I see that I made a larger volume of it than the other tinctures.  I made enough to fill a quart jar where as the others were little bitty 8 oz Cocoyo jars.

I would think that a ratio is a ratio no matter what amount one is working with but is it possible that the larger volumes just work better for some reason? I don’t know….

Anyway, just to wrap this up,  here is a personal shout out for CRAMPBARK!!!! That stuff works!  I have used it so many times for a variety of ‘crampy’ conditions.  Back spasms, gut spasms, charlie horses, etc.  Even my skeptic hubby is now asking “where is the crampbark?”!

Even with a wonky 1:7 ratio;  I just use a little more, like a tsp instead of 1/2 tsp. Actually I guess that is double but you get the idea!

Thanks for reading through a rambling reply!

Laura

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Sydnia Ginger Anady, Lisabeth Severin

[Laura ScottStudent]

This is an addendum to my previous reply.  I just made up another small batch of Calendula tincture.

This time, rather than chop the flowers, I attempted to grind them in a coffee grinder and that didn’t work.  First of all, 20 gr. of dried Calendula is pretty fluffy and it was going to take several batches and secondly it just didn’t grind.

I switched to my VitaMix which did a respectable job of pulverizing everything down to a much smaller volume of plant matter.

To this I added 100ml of 91% isopropyl alcohol (this is going to be for external use!) to make a 1:5 mixture.

Unlike my other attempts, this was enough liquid to just cover and suspend everything to be ‘shakeable’.

So, I guess grinding the plants down does make a difference in achieving the proper ratio. At least for Calendula flowers.

 

 

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Lisabeth Severin

[Laura ScottStudent]

PS  the reason I used the rubbing alcohol is because  it is cheap and available and it was strictly for experimental purposes.  Dried Calendula would typically take a 1:5 / 75:25 and I didn’t want to do the maths!

[Lisabeth SeverinStudentTopic Author]

Thanks for the answers!

I have to give cramp bark a shout out as well. When I get hiccups, usually only a small glass of milk will make my hiccups go away, but I tried cramp bark and, surprise surprise, it worked. Also works for charlie horses, unless I am really super dehydrated, then I have to chugalug water and take some cramp bark. Black cohosh is also strongly antispasmodic, though I haven’t tried it for hiccups yet. It’s in Doctor Jone’s NoMoSpazms formula.

I had to buy my cramp bark tincture from HomeGrown Herbalist as I don’t (yet) have the plant. Hopefully next year.

Dried herbs are more convenient for me only because I can use them for more than just tinctures. I live in a fairly humid area, so drying herbs on wire shelves doesn’t work so well. My dehydrator is backed up so sometimes its quicker to go straight to tincture.  Otherwise, just drying the herbs instead of making tinctures for everything is the way to go.

I finally found time to watch the Tincture lesson video all the way through, instead of just reading the PDF, and the advice to just label your jar with whatever ratio you’ve made is a good one to hear.

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