Hey there!

I'm apprenticing with Uny and have made several tinctures on my own. They have turned out REALLY well and are just as strong as Uny's (b/c I use her directions).

OK-for alcohol, we use and recommend 80 to 100 proof vodka. Get the cheapest you can find. Elf made a great joke I love calling it "Cheapenov" brand. I don't have any experience with Everclear. Uny and I (plus others) buy 100 proof house brand vodka by the case and have excellent results with it. Everybody who has ever used any of Uny's tinctures say they are the best tinctures ever, so, hey- if it ain't broke... :)

On ratios- it doesn't matter what size jar you use. The thing is, you want a good seal like with a Ball or Kerr canning jar with the ring and seal. What you don't want is a lid that has that paper liner (like a mayonnaise jar has) or a plastic seal- liner thingie.

So what you do, is you take whatever herb or herbal blend you want to tincture- say Echinacea. Of course you have gotten your herbs from a trusted source, like Mountain Rose Herbs of Pacific Botanicals or Starwest Botanicals. For echinacea, Uny and the gang use a 50-50 blend of the two kinds of echinacea, mix them together in equal parts, whatever you want to use for a "part," say 1 measuring cup of each, and you put it in a jar big enough to where the herbs fill the jar half way. You: But Uny says fill 3/4 with herbs and you are saying 1/2 full???" Me: I'm way ahead of you. lol You'll see.

OK, herbs are in half way. Now you take your vodka, and you pour it onto the herbs. You want to cover the herbs and have a 2 inch (approximately- we are artists, not scientists) alcohol "float" above the herbs. You will quickly see that the herbs soak up the alcohol, expand, and you have to add more vodka. You keep repeating the process until it looks like the herbs stop expanding. This might take a few hours or even a day.

Now echinacea, in particular, expands a LOT. It just grows and grows and grows. So if you didn't have enough room in your jar, then you've got herbs in there that are compressed, can't get alcohol on some of the particles, and in three days when you need to take the wet herbs out and macerate them in the blender, they get stuck in the jar - especially if you thought you were so saving the planet by using recycled bottles with narrow necks, like Jimmy Neutron here, and then you have to get an Oompa Loompa with amazing masculine brawn to bang the bottom of the jar to get the herbs out ("my hero" and all that! 8-0).

So, yeah, you add the vodka till there's a 2 inch float above the herbs when they are done expanding.

We tincture the herbs following traditional herbal lore, by starting the tinctures on the new moon. I do not understand the "why" of that, but I do understand that the moon has a gravitational pull on the tides of the Earth, and since all living beings are about 70% water, the moon also has an effect on life here. So we respect the tradition.

Three days later, we macerate the tinctures in a blender or Vitamix, and return them to their jars. We add more alcohol if needed, and then every day we shake the jars, basically when we remember to do it. In two weeks, on the full moon, the tincture is ready to harvest. The longer you leave it in the jar, though, the stronger the tincture gets.

Now you can get a tincture press add-on to your Vitamix, which makes pressing a breeze. Otherwise you have to take a clean tea towel or some similar cloth, put some herbs in it, and twist the herbs, wringing out the tincture into a bowl or measuring cup, and you need a lot of arm strength to do that. Then you just put your tincture in a little amber glass bottle with a dropper and you are good to go.

Tincture on!

Wings

See this link for more info: //www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1404295#i


100% grain alcohol is 200 proof.

Everclear is 190 proof (almost pure alcohol).

If you have already purchased Everclear, you can add 1/2 distilled water to it, creating 95 proof (which will work fine for tincturing). I use 100 proof vodka.

Both must be stored in glass with tight fitting lids that can't "dissolve" in the alcohol.

>>>i feel this tincture bit "light" or "thin" becos of economical aspect, just my feeling<<<

I always laugh when I read Dr. Schulze saying, "Don't be chintzy on the herbs and try to save money by using less herbs!" I guess prices were different "back then". The alcohol is FAR & away the biggest expense (unless you're dealing with a VERY pricey herb).

It's always best to start a tincture on the New Moon and harvest/press it on the full...BUT tinctures will be effective if you need to start/press them at different times. (the story of Dr. Christopher's 5 day Black-Walnut hull tincture in the link above is good to read).

Tincture ON!

Unyquity

back in the day 190 proof was commonly known as "grain alcohol". Back in the day....ooooooh, way back in the mid-60s to late 70's, on campus, grain alcohol was commonly known as that stuff people poured about a 1.75 liters of into a garbage can and then added several gallons of grape punch or koolade or pop or whatever, and on friday nights this was also known as big time "par tay".

In practical terms (outside of the lab where the white coats dwell), 190 to 195 proof grain alcohol is about as close you can find to pure alcohol. Back in the day back in the woods....the back back woods, pure alcohol was (and still is) known as Moonshine.

To put this in modern commercial terms, "everclear" has become brand name of "190 proof) sold in most liquor stores still allowed to sell 190 proof, except, they don't call it grain, they call it everclear. Around these parts, no matter what it's called - grain / everclear / 190 proof, is no longer permitted, by law, to be sold.....but like fireworks, can still be bought by travelling across one of the state's borders.

Divide proof by 2 to get the actual percentage of alcohol. 190 proof is 95% alcohol. If you have a quart of 190 proof, and then added 1 quart of water to it (preferably distilled water), you now have 2 quarts of 95 proof "vodka". Yes, its true, plain 95 proof vodka is simply grain alcohol diluted with an equal part (50-50) of water. 80 proof has had a bit more water added to it compared to 95 proof.

As a general rule, many tinctures are made with vodka anywhere between 40 % and 50% AKA 80 proof to 100 proof. Around here, most bottom shelf plain vodka is 80 proof, and you generally need to look up on the top shelf to find 100 proof.