Sifting squanch kava into micro?

[AvaCat]

Hey there friendly root people! Im new to these wonderful forums but I've been drinking kava for years. Recently I've been drinking Squanch kavas and anyone who has drank squanch knows the grind is very fine and fluffy.

Last night I was getting ready to knead a couple shells of waka for bed and I put a few tablespoons in my 100 micron nylon bag and shook it a little. Tons of beautifully fine powder kept pouring though so I kept going until it stopped. All that was left in the bag afterwards were the larger bits and pieces and my bowl was filled with close to about 2 tablespoons are very fine homemade "micro". It was so fine that while I was doing the shaking/sifting clouds of kava dust were forming and I could taste it in the air. Also my entire tabletop was covered in a thin layer of kava dust.

Anyway I drank this "micro" and it was fantastic actually. I was just wondering if anyone has done this before and what your thoughts are on this. Thanks!!

 

[Blacksheard90]

I do this exact thing and absolutely love it. It's perfect whenever I'm going somewhere and won't have time to make liquid kava. I just sift beforehand and bring it with me in a bag, taking a teaspoon or two whenever needed. Glad to hear someone else uses this method!

 

[Kava Wolf]

@Blacksheard90 just curious about your comment...are you using the powder by simply putting a teaspoon or two in your mouth as you would mouth tobacco or swallowing and chasing with water? Just trying to clarify. Has me really curious.

 

[Blacksheard90]

Toss and washing it. Take a teaspoon of the micro kava, a sip of water, swish around and swallow.

 

[Kava Wolf]

Thank you, @Blacksheard90

 

[Zaphod]

I am pretty sure after a lot of experimentation that this is exactly what the aluball does - it mechanically "washes" all the fine particles out and into the water leaving behind the larger particles. This leaves you with a microgrind in water mix. I don't think much real KL extraction is going on. If I take the same Kava and do a traditional prep it is a much thicker, oily, grog that is stronger - and more sedative then the equivalent from my aluball. Just to be clear, I love my aluball and it is very convenient but it is a markedly different then traditional prep.

 

[Groggy]

Hey there friendly root people! Im new to these wonderful forums but I've been drinking kava for years. Recently I've been drinking Squanch kavas and anyone who has drank squanch knows the grind is very fine and fluffy.

Last night I was getting ready to knead a couple shells of waka for bed and I put a few tablespoons in my 100 micron nylon bag and shook it a little. Tons of beautifully fine powder kept pouring though so I kept going until it stopped. All that was left in the bag afterwards were the larger bits and pieces and my bowl was filled with close to about 2 tablespoons are very fine homemade "micro". It was so fine that while I was doing the shaking/sifting clouds of kava dust were forming and I could taste it in the air. Also my entire tabletop was covered in a thin layer of kava dust.

Anyway I drank this "micro" and it was fantastic actually. I was just wondering if anyone has done this before and what your thoughts are on this. Thanks!!

I had noticed that in the past and had experimented with it. Squanch is my number 1 brew so I always have at least 2 pounds. I never tried it on a larger scale but am tempted to see what comes of it. Like you I had the same problem of trying to contain the dust, I don't want to waste that fine film all over my counters anyways, I digress.

Cactus Kava came up with that idea a long time ago and that's what gave the idea to begin with Squanch kava, here is the link
http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/how-to-prepare-grog-the-cactus-kava-way.6876/

 

[AvaCat]

Very cool krunky thank you! I recently did it on a larger scale using about 18 tablespoons of squanch waka. But this time instead of shaking in a bowl and getting kava dust everywhere I put my bag of kava in a larger clear zip-lock bag and shook inside of it, keeping all the dust contained.

Shook until it stopped producing and then poured it into an old Kalm With Kava 1/4 pound micro container filling it up all the way! I did not weigh the result but it was packed in there nicely.

I use it like regular micro and preforms just like regular micro, I've been a big fan.

I'll have to give cactus' method a shot. One more quick question for you guys. After shaking I'm left with a bag full of the larger particulates, are these still good for anything? I've saved them because well I don't want to throw away kava haha. It is darker kind of like pepper (makas?). Thanks

 

[Groggy]

Very cool krunky thank you! I recently did it on a larger scale using about 18 tablespoons of squanch waka. But this time instead of shaking in a bowl and getting kava dust everywhere I put my bag of kava in a larger clear zip-lock bag and shook inside of it, keeping all the dust contained.

Shook until it stopped producing and then poured it into an old Kalm With Kava 1/4 pound micro container filling it up all the way! I did not weigh the result but it was packed in there nicely.

I use it like regular micro and preforms just like regular micro, I've been a big fan.

I'll have to give cactus' method a shot. One more quick question for you guys. After shaking I'm left with a bag full of the larger particulates, are these still good for anything? I've saved them because well I don't want to throw away kava haha. It is darker kind of like pepper (makas?). Thanks

You can chew on them, like a natural kava candy.

 

[Blacksheard90]

Very cool krunky thank you! I recently did it on a larger scale using about 18 tablespoons of squanch waka. But this time instead of shaking in a bowl and getting kava dust everywhere I put my bag of kava in a larger clear zip-lock bag and shook inside of it, keeping all the dust contained.

Shook until it stopped producing and then poured it into an old Kalm With Kava 1/4 pound micro container filling it up all the way! I did not weigh the result but it was packed in there nicely.

I use it like regular micro and preforms just like regular micro, I've been a big fan.

I'll have to give cactus' method a shot. One more quick question for you guys. After shaking I'm left with a bag full of the larger particulates, are these still good for anything? I've saved them because well I don't want to throw away kava haha. It is darker kind of like pepper (makas?). Thanks

Yep, I'm in the same situation. Bags and bags of these makas left over after sifting. If I'm SUPER bored, I'll grind em up in the coffee grinder to make it closer to med grind again and then shake a few batches in the aluball (keeping the same water in, just repacking the ball a few times since the resulting brew is weaker than using fresh med grind). Or like krunky said just chew on em.

 

[AvaCat]

Sorry I didn't really explain the leftovers well, so far I've never had large chucks in squanches kava. What's leftover is tiny tiny pieces of shredded root with what looks like pepper mixed in making it look darker.

I do know what you mean though, I've had GHKs kavas and there some nice sized chunks in there sometimes haha.

That isn't the case for squanches kava, even after sifting/shaking there is nothing bigger than this left over.

Actual leftovers

 

[Groggy]

Sorry I didn't really explain the leftovers well, so far I've never had large chucks in squanches kava. What's leftover is tiny tiny pieces of shredded root with what looks like pepper mixed in making it look darker.

I do know what you mean though, I've had GHKs kavas and there some nice sized chunks in there sometimes haha.

That isn't the case for squanch's kava, even after sifting/shaking there is nothing bigger than this left over.

Actual leftovers

Why not use more and knead up a batch? That's what i would do but I like Squanch right out of the bag just the way it is, uncut

 

[AvaCat]

I'll give it a shot when I'm low!

 

[Blacksheard90]

Gotta give a shout-out to ol squanch! Ordered a pound yesterday and was reaaaally hoping it would arrive the next day (it always has, because it's not too far away and the squanch is on point with his shipping), but this time no tracking number when I woke up this morning. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed...but I figured people are busy ya know and 1 day delivery is asking a lot. But all of a sudden, as I'm about to leave work, I get an email from squanch! Tracking number....Click it and wow! Delivered! Once again you've done it Mr Squanch. Hat's off to you (and the folks at the post office of course). As always the quality is excellent and the grind is very fine, making for some good sifting. Thanks again!

 

[AvaCat]

Yepp he's fast to ship!

 

[superspeedkit]

I tried this just the other day with a kitchen steel mesh strainer since I use the Aluball and the Squanch grind has large bits that will break holes in it much more quickly. When I put the resulting "micro" in the Aluball, it actually didn't work - the kava powder was so fine that it clumped up and stuck to the inside of the Aluball without letting much water in or out. This had never happened to me before - I guess there are large enough bits even in a grind like Stone that let the Aluball do its thing. Glad I found this thread about it.
I'm curious if anyone who sifts Squanch (or any other kava) and uses it like micro experiences the light nausea we're used to from normal micro. Since I very rarely have time to do traditional prep, I'm thinking about ingesting grinds with larger pieces this way and chewing on the makas like @Krunʞy suggested so they're not totally wasted. I read here about people describing their grog as "oily," which I don't get from instant and only very slightly from the Aluball, so I'm guessing there's something about the kneading process that extracts something useful even from the makas.

 

[Groggy]

I tried this just the other day with a kitchen steel mesh strainer since I use the Aluball and the Squanch grind has large bits that will break holes in it much more quickly. When I put the resulting "micro" in the Aluball, it actually didn't work - the kava powder was so fine that it clumped up and stuck to the inside of the Aluball without letting much water in or out. This had never happened to me before - I guess there are large enough bits even in a grind like Stone that let the Aluball do its thing. Glad I found this thread about it.
I'm curious if anyone who sifts Squanch (or any other kava) and uses it like micro experiences the light nausea we're used to from normal micro. Since I very rarely have time to do traditional prep, I'm thinking about ingesting grinds with larger pieces this way and chewing on the makas like @Krunʞy suggested so they're not totally wasted. I read here about people describing their grog as "oily," which I don't get from instant and only very slightly from the Aluball, so I'm guessing there's something about the kneading process that extracts something useful even from the makas.

I think you get that from most kneaded medium grinds, I use warm to hot water (which is not recommended with the Aluball) and I think that helps to get all the extra goodies from it.

 

[Vice]

I pretty much sift all my med grind into micro which I than drink with almond milk. One of the few kavas that I felt I never got most of the kava from it was some Solomon that had an almost moist consistency. I need to do some research as to what to do with the chunks. I've made some extract with alcohol than evaporating it into a hard powder with them. It turned out very strong but was a lot of work. I'd like to try making a tea. I've never really used hot water to make my grog. Anyone have any info on using hot or warm water for making kava

 

[Groggy]

I pretty much sift all my med grind into micro which I than drink with almond milk. One of the few kavas that I felt I never got most of the kava from it was some Solomon that had an almost moist consistency. I need to do some research as to what to do with the chunks. I've made some extract with alcohol than evaporating it into a hard powder with them. It turned out very strong but was a lot of work. I'd like to try making a tea. I've never really used hot water to make my grog. Anyone have any info on using hot or warm water for making kava

It's how I traditionally prep my kava, use a kava strainer or knee high stockings (that you can get at a local pharmacy), put the desired amount inside, mix it with 2-4 cups of water that is hot enough that you can still massage the kava in the water without burning your hands so don't use boiling water. When you feel the kava get spongy (about 10 minutes of kneading), add some ice to cool it down rapidly and drink it.

 

[Jimmyricky]

I do this exact same thing for 90% of my grogs. I put in a strainer bag shake until there are only big particles left and then put the fine dust into a water bottle with desired amount of water and shake until mixed and then downed. I save the makas or however you spell, big chunks in the bag for later and actually strain that in water. This batch is always much less potent. I think dry straining first is the most potent way to make grog in my experience.