Your favorite Fijian Strainer?

[Monkava'd]

Well Im cool with it that's for sure.. Much love. Roaddog....

I think that's the sediment we drink every time kava is made, but it's so fine that it can be taken by itself with no noticeable grit.
W/e the clay is, I'm attempting to dry it out and see what happens.
Edit-Sorry I replied...to the wrong reply, hahaha, but you know what I mean.

 

[Roaddog]

Got ya. @Monkava'd . . Much love, Roaddog....

 

[Monkava'd]

Update! This stuff is amazing and I think I've made a new kava product possibly composed of pure kavalactones.
I'm likely jumping to conclusions but when I broke off a piece of this "clay like" substance and preceded to let it dissolve (it dissolves almost completely) in my mouth, my tongue became numb and the effects are rather good.
Check this ball of mystery out, it was so malleable that I was able to roll it up like this.

Yes I'm aware it looks strange but who cares, this kava ball is .
@Roaddog what do you make of this "kava ball"?
Edit-You can see where I broke off a chunk to the left, I'm very interested to see what happens once it's finished drying.
And to be more descriptive, this ball has a bit of 'bounce', like it's fluffy or spongy.
One thing to note: I made this ball of kava from Hanakapi ai if it makes any difference for some reason.
This is all too strange...

 

[Roaddog]

Nice, very nice. Much love. Roaddog....

 

[violet]

Along with another anomaly I'm confused by...can anyone confirm if this is instant kava?

Is that leftovers from straining, or is it from squeezed/strained grog? Instant dissolves really well into water, making almost a solution which I'm not sure could be strained. It's very smooth in water. I think very fine micronized could appear to do the same when mixed, but you can definitely feel the difference in the grit when you drink it.

 

[kavadude]

Instant is made by preparing kava traditionally and then evaporating the water. I think Kapm made a setup to do that.

 

[Monkava'd]

Is that leftovers from straining, or did you make a paste out of instant powder? Instant dissolves really well into water, making almost a solution which I'm not sure could be strained. It's very smooth in water. I think very fine micronized could appear to do the same when mixed, but you can definitely feel the difference in the grit when you drink it.

Honestly violet I'm not sure why this happened, and It was not my intention to make this strange "clay kava ball" in the first place but that's what happened. This is leftovers from straining med grind Hanakapi ai and I guess it would help to explain the process better.

First I took a nylon stocking and scooped in 8tbsp of Hanakapi ai.

Then I proceeded to strain it with 1 cup of water for 10 minutes, 1/2 a cup of water for 10 minutes and a 1/4'th cup of water for 10 minutes all separately.

I poured each portion into a water bottle after each 10 minute period and once that was done I put a separate nylon stocking/legging over the water bottle and squeezed out the grog into a stainless steel mug. What was left over in the second strainer is what you see before you, though a couple hours into the drying process.

There is *no* grit whatsoever and that is the most confusing part of it all.
Nonetheless I'm going to experiment more with this stuff to confirm what I'm thinking right now.
Monkava'd patented "Clay kava extract" ™
In a couple more hours I'll know what I'm dealing with if it begins to turn to powder.

Edit- Violet check my previous post in this thread if you've yet to see it.
On one side of the picture there is the normal strained root and on the other side there's the clay immediately after dumping it out of the strainer.

Also, I apologize if I'm hi-jacking your thread @kavadude but I guess this applies to strainers, hahaha.

 

[Monkava'd]

Instant is made by preparing kava traditionally and then evaporating the water. I think Kapm made a setup to do that.

Check my above post, I'd been aware that the process you're referring to was the only way to make instant kava. So what could this possibly be?
Do you think I've found a "middle ground" of sorts?
So many questions left unanswered.

 

[kavadude]

It's just kava root man. The multiple straining steps you took caused it to take on an odd texture.

 

[HeadHodge]

It's just kava root man. The multiple straining steps you took caused it to take on an odd texture.

Well I think he said it was strong and made his mouth numb. Would you think the kava wasn't prepared enough to remove the kavatones?

 

[violet]

I think @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava has a post somewhere where he measured the amount of lactones removed with a number of repeated washes, and that there is always going to be some amount left in the root when extracting with water. Water can only take so much out, so there is probably still plenty left in the spent root. I've put bigger pieces of spent root in my mouth after squeezing and they are still potent despite making a strong brew.

 

[Monkava'd]

It's just kava root man. The multiple straining steps you took caused it to take on an odd texture.

No your prob right kavadude, but I've never had it happen before and that's the only reason it piqued my interest.
Maybe it's what they call "Delusions of Grandeur", I'm glad you're honest and not letting my hype get too out of hand.
Thanks for the input kavadude!

@HeadHodge It does happen to make my mouth numb and I can't exactly call it normal kava root because why does it dissolve so well?
Improper straining can be ruled out because the preparation didn't diverge much from how others prepare their kava with these nylon stockings; maybe not quite step by step but it's generally the same.

The grog itself is also very potent, but w/e it is, it's more about the fun of seeing it dry than anything else and I'm not expecting much more out of it; explicitly for fun and nothing otherwise.

Sorry for my over-emphasizing of everything and unless I can reproduce these results every time, take all i've said with a grain of salt.

 

[kavadude]

Well I think he said it was strong and made his mouth numb. Would you think the kava wasn't prepared enough to remove the kavatones?

Water extractions of kava are pretty inefficient, it wouldn't surprise me if there is enough left to numb your mouth.

 

[HeadHodge]

...Sorry for my over-emphasizing of everything and unless I can reproduce these results every time, take all i've said with a grain of salt.

But if you can I'll take it with dried out kava ball.

 

[Monkava'd]

@kavadude While what you've said is scientifically correct, I use to be a big advocater for grog and coconut oil extractions/emulsion but since switching from coco oil and water to water based alone; I can attest to feeling no noticeable differences between the two.

Maybe this's due to my preparations constant development or something unbeknownst to me, and though I can't tell you without a shadow of a doubt; all I know is that I've personally noticed no obvious change.

@HeadHodge If I'm lucky it'll break up into a very fine powder that's as interchangeable as micro, but one can only dream for such a thing.

@violet This happens to be the very reason I've taught my self '3 strains and 4 is just a pain', haha.
It seems that no matter how many times kava is strained there's still kavalactones hiding in some nook and cranny. This in and of itself will cause anxiety if you can't convince yourself to just let it go and keep the number reasonable. On the very last knead it's minimal water and lots of elbow grease, so to an extent it helps ease my concern that I may be diluting the grog.

 

[The Kap'n]

@Monkava'd yes, what you have there is 2nd strain instant kava. Full strength instant is taking the strained kava, and drying that out. That's the easy part, drying it out efficiently is the difficult part. I've I'm not mistaken Vanuatu uses vacuum drying cabinets to dry it out and then ball mills it to it's final consistency. I was drying mine on an evaporator plate made from a discarded ice machine. Ran hot water through the refrigerant lines to keep the plate at right around 90°F. I would have kept going with it, but 4 hours for a batch of 20g instant kava was tedious, then all the grinding and milling caused me to scrap it.

Oh, and when it's finished drying you'll have a kava brick. The fibers in kava re-lock themselves when dried out, which is why I ended up with what looked more like fish food than kava at the end of the drying process.

 

[Roaddog]

Maybe this's due to my preparations constant development or something unbeknownst to me, and though I can't tell you without a shadow of a doubt; all I know is that I've personally noticed no obvious change. :D

Well I would tend to agree. Coconut oil dose nothing extra, but I believe it helps in different ways other than potency. First off it is good tasting. A good spoon full in a strained grog, just gose down easer. Also I believe it helps settle my stomach, it helps with digestion. I all around love the stuff. I think you and @violet ,Were the ones who turned me onto the stuff. I also use it too cook with. Makes an awesome stir fry, in my wok. Speaking of which I made A kick ass stir fry Friday night. I was going to fire your want to see your grub thread back up. But the site kept giving me a download too large icon. Much love, Roaddog....

 

[Roaddog]

@kavadude While what you've said is scientifically correct, I use to be a big advocater for grog and coconut oil extractions/emulsion but since switching from coco oil and water to water based alone; I can attest to feeling no noticeable differences between the two.

Maybe this's due to my preparations constant development or something unbeknownst to me, and though I can't tell you without a shadow of a doubt; all I know is that I've personally noticed no obvious change.

This site is messing with me today. This is what I meant to quote, and I did not mean to underline anything. There's just no editing that mess. . But as usual, Much love. Roaddog.... Help @Kapmcrunk .

 

[Monkava'd]

This site is messing with me today. This is what I meant to quote, and I did not mean to underline anything. There's just no editing that mess. . But as usual, Much love. Roaddog.... Help @Kapmcrunk .

No issue Roaddog, remember I quoted your wrong post too, so I guess we're even.
I was getting the download file thing when I'd go to click on a forum link, but only during the recent website overhaul so who knows what's happening on your end.

Anyways I know what you mean about the coconut oil, it has 1000s of uses and likely more then's even known, but I stopped using it in my kava because of the extra oily factor; that's only because I personally make my kava so concentrated though.

In other news thanks for clearing everything up! @Kapmcrunk ! I'm glad you explained the process thoroughly and though mine differs from yours in that I physically squeeze all of the water out as grog, then remove the instant from the strainer to dry, it's pretty much the same substance.

And guess what?....It turns out I was able to reproduce the results with an even better turn out, but sorry @HeadHodge ....you can't have the ball of instant kava hahahah. I'm planning to use it in a revitalized brownie recipe and this time it looks to be full proof.
Check out these lovely pics.

Yesterdays kava ball to the left and todays to the right.
I think the one to the left is much darker because it's pretty close to being dry and the other instant kava is fresh but as I look over the previous picture in this thread; yesterdays kava ball was already quite a bit darker....I wonder what the difference is.

 

[kavadude]

Well I'm not sure about the latest kule'a strainer. Doesn't LOOK coarse but man it feels like I'm drinking mud here.