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How to filter

jim lahey

Shamanic Herbalist
I want to filter the ever-living shit out of my kava simply because I don't want any extra material in my stomach. ATM, I put it through an alluball, then a 70 Micron bag and then through a 200 Micron bag, then finally through a simple cloth. It seems to work ok, but I want to filter it to its fullest extent. I am thinking of buying the Aeropress and trying this out but would anyone have any other suggestions
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
Unfortunately, with dry kava, a lot of it's potency is attained through the amount of particles you ingest. The more material you remove, the weaker the drink will be and the more you waste your expensive kava. There is a balance everyone needs to find where you minimize the negative side-effects of having having too much sediment, but you still have enough to reasonably effective and reasonably sized dose.

Lightweights can get away with more scrutinous filtering, since they are naturally more sensitive to smaller amounts of kava. But me for example, I need more sediment to even begin to feel the effects. The Aluball alone, to me, pushes the lower limit of fine filtering that's still fairly effective...but it's still a little too fine for me. 70 micron is about as low as I'd ever go and I rarely do 70 as it would just be too wasteful for me. I've personally settled at 100 micron as the best balance of potency and reduction of stomach discomfort. I can like the effects of an even larger micron like 150-200, since it will usually be quite potent, but the associated stomach usually makes the experience less enjoyable overall. It also increases the swiftness and severity of dermopathy kicking in and typically makes me feel worse the next day.

In your filtering example you said you run the 200 micron last. That's not necessary if you've already passed it through the Aluball and 70 micron bag. 200 micron is relatively large compared to the 70 micron bag, you should only need that one. If you want to experiment with filtering even MORE out, you need a strong 50 micron nylon bag.
 

jim lahey

Shamanic Herbalist
Unfortunately, with dry kava, a lot of it's potency is attained through the amount of particles you ingest. The more material you remove, the weaker the drink will be and the more you waste your expensive kava. There is a balance everyone needs to find where you minimize the negative side-effects of having having too much sediment, but you still have enough to reasonably effective and reasonably sized dose.

Lightweights can get away with more scrutinous filtering, since they are naturally more sensitive to smaller amounts of kava. But me for example, I need more sediment to even begin to feel the effects. The Aluball alone, to me, pushes the lower limit of fine filtering that's still fairly effective...but it's still a little too fine for me. 70 micron is about as low as I'd ever go and I rarely do 70 as it would just be too wasteful for me. I've personally settled at 100 micron as the best balance of potency and reduction of stomach discomfort. I can like the effects of an even larger micron like 150-200, since it will usually be quite potent, but the associated stomach usually makes the experience less enjoyable overall. It also increases the swiftness and severity of dermopathy kicking in and typically makes me feel worse the next day.

In your filtering example you said you run the 200 micron last. That's not necessary if you've already passed it through the Aluball and 70 micron bag. 200 micron is relatively large compared to the 70 micron bag, you should only need that one. If you want to experiment with filtering even MORE out, you need a strong 50 micron nylon bag.
Yeah I did figure the less material I have in it the less I'll feel it but for me personally and my stomach issues it's worth it for now. But thank you for telling me about the Micron bags I thought the higher number you went the finer it would be but it's the opposite
 

Zaphod

Kava Lover
Unfortunately, with dry kava, a lot of it's potency is attained through the amount of particles you ingest. The more material you remove, the weaker the drink will be and the more you waste your expensive kava. There is a balance everyone needs to find where you minimize the negative side-effects of having having too much sediment, but you still have enough to reasonably effective and reasonably sized dose.

Lightweights can get away with more scrutinous filtering, since they are naturally more sensitive to smaller amounts of kava. But me for example, I need more sediment to even begin to feel the effects. The Aluball alone, to me, pushes the lower limit of fine filtering that's still fairly effective...but it's still a little too fine for me. 70 micron is about as low as I'd ever go and I rarely do 70 as it would just be too wasteful for me. I've personally settled at 100 micron as the best balance of potency and reduction of stomach discomfort. I can like the effects of an even larger micron like 150-200, since it will usually be quite potent, but the associated stomach usually makes the experience less enjoyable overall. It also increases the swiftness and severity of dermopathy kicking in and typically makes me feel worse the next day.

In your filtering example you said you run the 200 micron last. That's not necessary if you've already passed it through the Aluball and 70 micron bag. 200 micron is relatively large compared to the 70 micron bag, you should only need that one. If you want to experiment with filtering even MORE out, you need a strong 50 micron nylon bag.
My experience matches yours. Unfortunately water extraction with kneading is not good enough (imho) to be able to then filter out all of the mid-sized particles and still get a strong grog. I do find that using a blender first and then filtering seems to help. In other words I get a stronger grog by blending and filtering through the same micron size as I do by hand kneading and filtering. However, I am not sure blending is extracting more KL from the particulate or if it is just generating smaller particles due to the act of blending.
 

jim lahey

Shamanic Herbalist
My experience matches yours. Unfortunately water extraction with kneading is not good enough (imho) to be able to then filter out all of the mid-sized particles and still get a strong grog. I do find that using a blender first and then filtering seems to help. In other words I get a stronger grog by blending and filtering through the same micron size as I do by hand kneading and filtering. However, I am not sure blending is extracting more KL from the particulate or if it is just generating smaller particles due to the act of blending.
For now 50 micron is working and trying my best to drink coconut water and regular water
 
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