Tincturing

[Guest guest]

Hi all.. I have been absent for awhile, tax time and all..still not

done yet, but am getting there. I am really excited about the coop

on the vanilla beans. I ordered some and can't wait until they get

here. If you can't get your hands on everclear or high proof vodka

right now, will other vodka's work? Has anyone tried other types of

alcohol? (The reason I am asking is that my daughter had left here

several bottles of all kinds of alcohol she had left over from a

going away party her friends gave her before she entered the

military. I was so glad she dropped that little bombshell on us

after she had left because if I had known about it before hand, there

might not have been much of her left for the military to use. No

wonder I am gray!...you should see all these bottles! Must have been

some kind of party.) So, I would like to use all this in tincturing,

if I can. Has anyone done anything like this before, and what other

things did you tincture? I ended up throwing the HUGE bottle of

tequila she had left hidden behind a box on our porch. Didn't know

it was there and after sitting in the heat and cold, and what all..I

didn't want to mess with it. Kids...if I ever survive all this. (I

told both my girls that what goes around comes around and multiple

births run in the family!)

 

So..I am a total dummy on this. I want to do it right with the

vanilla and may have to wait until I can get the right stuff to

tincture it in. Anyway, I hope you who are a lot more experienced in

this can give me advice.

 

Thanks in Advance..

Cherry

[Guest guest]

With alcohol tinctures the strength depends on what you are trying to

extract. For example, 25% is ok for some dried herbs to make a

herbal medicine, but will rarely give you a decent fragrance. To

get essential oils out of most plant material you must use around 90%

alcohol. If you use 45% vodka, that will be fine for many dried herbs

and will keep quiet a while. However, if you use that strength for

fresh herbs, for example melissa, the water in the plants will reduce

your finished strength by half and at that level microbes can grow.

 

If you wanted to extract ginger or any of the woody resinous

materials properly, you need 90% for sure. In the UK only herbal

extract makers can get that strength, but in some US States and

overseas you can get the real thing. The best in my opinion is neat

grape alcohol that you can buy in places like Greece and Cyprus.

 

A word of warning for those who do not know. The denatured alcohol

that some people sell, is not intended for internal consumption, it

is a cosmetic agent. It is ok for diluting essential oils in for

external use, but you can still smell the alcohol.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

 

-- In , " cherliz_1 "

<cherry_r_swartz> wrote:

>

> Hi all.. I have been absent for awhile, tax time and all..still not

> done yet, but am getting there. I am really excited about the coop

> on the vanilla beans. I ordered some and can't wait until they get

> here. If you can't get your hands on everclear or high proof vodka

> right now, will other vodka's work? Has anyone tried other types >

alcohol? (The reason I am asking is that my daughter had left here

> several bottles of all kinds of alcohol she had left over from a

> going away party her friends gave her before she entered the

> military. I was so glad she dropped that little bombshell on us of

 

> after she had left because if I had known about it before hand,

there

> might not have been much of her left for the military to use. No

> wonder I am gray!...you should see all these bottles! Must have

been

> some kind of party.) So, I would like to use all this in

tincturing,

> if I can. Has anyone done anything like this before, and what

other

> things did you tincture? I ended up throwing the HUGE bottle of

> tequila she had left hidden behind a box on our porch. Didn't know

> it was there and after sitting in the heat and cold, and what

all..I

> didn't want to mess with it. Kids...if I ever survive all this. (I

> told both my girls that what goes around comes around and multiple

> births run in the family!)

>

> So..I am a total dummy on this. I want to do it right with the

> vanilla and may have to wait until I can get the right stuff to

> tincture it in. Anyway, I hope you who are a lot more experienced

in

> this can give me advice.

>

> Thanks in Advance..

> Cherry

[Guest guest]

To

> get essential oils out of most plant material you must use around 90%

> alcohol. If you use 45% vodka, that will be fine for many dried herbs

> and will keep quiet a while.

-----

Hi Cherry, Martin and all,

 

I have found that many people don't realise that there is a difference

between % and 'proof'.

Proof is the percent by volume of alcohol. Divide by 1.75 to get proof. For

instance: 95% alcohol divided by 1.75 gives us 55.8 proof alcohol! Many

spirits are about 35 proof which makes them only 20%--not really strong

enough to extract all the contituents from herbs but will still make a good

tincture.

 

Ethanol alcohol is usually purchased as a 95% alcohol and is used, at

various dilutions, for making tinctures and astringents and for dissolving

essential oils. In Australia and Britain it's not possible to buy this

alcohol without a licence. Some pharmacists will sell small amounts if they

know you as a responsible person. If you can't find a supply it's perfectly

all right (albeit very expensive) to use the highest proof alcohol that you

can find. Vodka, brandy, gin and other similar drinks are suitable.

 

Methanol, also known as wood alcohol or methylated spirits, is

poisonous and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, cleaner and added to

ethyl alcohol to render it undrinkable because of its taste and smell.

Unfortunately this denaturating doesn't prevent some poor unfortunates from

drinking this very poisonous and terrible tasting and smelling alcohol as

the alcohol carries no tax and consequently is very cheap. Methylated

spirit is sometimes known as Meths for short.

 

Nerys

Natural Skincare on-line workshops

www.neryspurchon.com

[Guest guest]

On Jan 28, 2005, at 7:26 PM, Martin wrote:

 

> In the UK only herbal

> extract makers can get that strength, but in some US States and

> overseas you can get the real thing. The best in my opinion is neat

> grape alcohol that you can buy in places like Greece and Cyprus.

 

For those of you in the US, you can buy very nice organic grape or

organic grain spirits here in the from some very high quality sources.

The grape is also my preference in most cases for a final product

(perfume and colognes). If you are just starting experimenting and

playing mad scientist (sensualist) with various materials you want to

try to tincture for scent Everclear is likely fine to work with. It

works very nicely with Vanilla beans. Don't forget you can also make an

infused oil (or maceration) with those beans- for a lovely warm and

sensual body oil. I just made a batch of lip balm with some yesterday-

very nice.

 

If you do buy Everclear make sure it is the higher strength- there is a

weaker strength available in some states and it is not what you want

for tincturing. For lovely organic alcohols contact me privately and I

will be happy to share my source (I can't recall this list's policy on

sharing suppliers), but be warned it is expensive to ship alcohol from

state to state. These organic spirits are the way to go if you can

afford to do so. If you are new to tincturing you may want to start

with Everclear if the higher strength is sold near where you live.

 

Tincturing is loads of fun ;-)

 

Elizabeth

http://www.WholeLifeEssentials.com