Alcohol for tinctures

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

I use supermarket whiskey (40-45% alcohol) for most herbal

alcoholic extracts.

 

Vodka or brandy (40-45% alcohol) would also do, as would triple-

distilled moonshine (could be 45-75% alcohol, depending on the

moonshiner!).

 

However, as has been said, certain herbs may need 70% alcohol;

for those, lab grade alcohol is probably best.

 

Lab grade ethanol (NOT METHANOL] is 99.9% pure alcohol. If one

takes 700ml of ethanol and adds 300ml triple-distilled deionised lab

grade distilled water, one will have 1 litre of 70% pure alcohol.

 

 

Best regards,

 

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[Guest guest]

All,

 

For what it's worth, whenever I'm

in China I use sorghum wine,

from Sichuan because it makes

me melancholic, which is about

38% alcohol.

 

I do this because this is the way

that old Dr. Chen did it. He told

me to do it this way. And I do it

this way ever since.

 

And he was one of a long lineage

of boxer/bone doctors who broke

'em in the morning and set 'em in

the afternoon. It could be that his

ancestors proved scientifically

that 38% was the best concentration

to use for the specifc ingredients

he used in his formulas.

 

Lots of hong hua and tian qi

but always included some tiger

bone...yes, he had real tiger bone,

I have no idea where he got it

and have never done anything

odd or illegal in my life.

 

It's hard to find this wine outside of

China, as even most Chinese groceries

don't have it, once you get outside of

Monterey Park or SF.

 

Then I just use whatever is around.

 

I just put up some wine for my brother

in a bottle of Seagrams gin, because

he likes gin. And it's about 80 proof.

 

I've always thought that a comprehensive

survey of ancient preparation methods

would make for devilishly interesting

reading. I did a lot of research about

medicinal wines a few years back and

it seems as if winemaking was an integral

part of medicine at a relatively early

state.

 

Look at the complex character for medicine.

 

But don't expect to learn anything of any

value from doing so. Just a curiousity

which might make it possible for you

to access more scientific information.

 

Ken

 

Ken