Reply To: Medicine Making | Internal Preparations
Hi Michele,
When considering diluting alcohol with water in tincture making, much of this depends on what stage of preparation you are referring to, what type of plant you are working with and whether it is fresh or dried.
When actually preparing the maceration (alcohol/water/plant in the extraction phase) the alcohol strength needs to be at least 25% to extract and to preserve. For some plant constituents to be extracted, the overall alcohol strength needs to be at least 45%-95%, (e.g. the anti-fungal resins in calendula need to be extracted in 90% alcohol to create the most effective medicine, and echinacea root is best dual extracted at 45%). In other words it is not only the ratio that is important to keep in mind but also the overall strength of the alcohol in the maceration.
When using a fresh plant material, higher alcohol strength is needed due to the amount of water already present in the plant. If you use less than 45% alcohol strength, you risk creating a tincture that will have very low preservation value. Generally speaking, often no water (outside of the alcohol that you start with) is added in these macerations.
You can certainly add water to the tincture at the time of taking/consuming a herbal tincture dose to dilute it, but would have to take into consideration the dose as well.
If you are concerned about the alcohol strength in a tincture, creating glycerites, honeys, vinegars, decoctions and infusions wherever possible is a great option. The other thing you can do is pour boiling water over top of the tincture dose when taking it. This evaporates some of the alcohol off (not all but some :). However you do also want to consider whether there are essential oils in the tincture you are using and whether you need to retain those.
Another little note to consider. A standard shot of spirits is about 43 mL, and often the dose for a tincture is anywhere between 2mL- 10 mL, which is much less than one shot of alcohol if your tincture strength is around 40-50%.
For glycerites: I would say the best practice would be to use distilled water, just to limit microbes and whatever minerals or chlorine etc. might be present in your water, but I generally use filtered water (we are on a well) and have yet to have any issues. Your idea of boiling the water could also work fine. 🙂
I hope that helps clarify things a little bit. The art and chemistry of medicine making is expansive, so don’t be afraid to continue to look up information and ask questions about the process, including specific information about each plant. Good sources are James Green’s Herbal Medicine Making Handbook, or Lisa Ganora’s Herbal Constituents (for more detailed phytochemistry info) and many more, some of which are included in the resources section from this course.
Wishing you fabulous medicine making!
Warmly,
Benna