Aluball and the mongrel grog

[Donwanagan]

One of my favourite kavas now is made possible by the Aluball, although you don't make it with the Aluball.

There are many nifty uses and strategies that the Aluball makes possible. For one thing, if like me, you knead up large batches of grog at a time, using a cup or more of grind, you often end up with dribs and drabs left over in the bag, and there's always the question of what to do. A TBS or two here or then in an Aluball of course makes a nice little single serve for when that's all you want or need. Or you can do a variety in a row or odd one-off blends, an around the islands sampler for a sesh, which is even nicer than it sounds.

But what I really really like is that freezer grog, the mongrel grog. When you're just doing one or two servings from the Aluball and you dump the makas in a container in the freezer, like an 8 oz little container. And then when it's full, you thaw it out and stick it in a bag with anywhere from 2 to 3 cups of water and knead it all up. It could be anything, several different grinds from all over the Pacific. And yet, it always tastes great, thick and rich and satisfying, if anything an even better wash than those first washes were, although they do usually have that nice fresh headiness of a first wash, while the mongrel grog has a deeper vibe.

And of course, each one is slightly different, and usually irrepeatable, unless you are anal retentive and remember exactly what went into each mongrel grog.

I think what I like is that the taste balances everything out to a really nice generic grog flavour, the micronised stuff went in the first wash so you have this really even balanced grog and finally, you get probably a broader spectrum of kavalactones, so there is a sort of otherworldly quality to it, hitting all the notes in the orchestra.

Anyway, it's just something new and special, to me, anyway, and I've been enjoying it once or twice a week. Makes for a nice little sesh, very special, even something you can really look forward to. Kind of thing maybe to make a mid-week sesh a little special event.

PS @Ibbygirl would pre-approve this message if she knew.

This seems appealing to me. I hate the idea that i could be wasting kava. I know there is Good kavalactone content left in my spent root, im just currently going through the phase where one begins to want to figure out the most efficient way to extract it all, how it works, etc.
I like this mongrel idea, and i saw the post in my thread mentioning it as well in relation to freezing process possibly breaking up the cellular walls of the root and making whatever inner kavalactone content more easily available.
Im definitely going to try this next couple batches. Thanks for sharing

 

[Capitán Bastos]

I never tried this. I feel like Ive been throwing cash or even worse, kava in the bin. For a couple of years!

 

[Capitán Bastos]

Cant believe I never tried this. I feel like Ive been throwing cash or even worse, kava in the bin. For a couple of years!

 

[Krunkaroo]

Lately my mongrel grogs have not been effecting me, I feel no discernable effect. Maybe my aluballin has gotten so good that there are no KLs left to extract.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Lately my mongrel grogs have not been effecting me, I feel no discernable effect. Maybe my aluballin has gotten so good that there are no KLs left to extract.

could be the grind. I've nticed there are a few grinds where it mostly all goes in the first wash, like nangol noble. Then there's the question of prep. If your first wash of nambawan is trad prepped in a bag, there's plenty more in the second wash, but if your first wash of nambawan is done with the AluBall tere is a lot less left for the second wash.

I find dumping a variety of grinds in that container in the freezer for that mongrel grog tends to average those things out, though. And I like a mix of heavy and heady in there, too, now that I mention it. So I tend to have two or three different containers in the freezer on the go at any given time so I can orchestrate that....

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

This seems appealing to me. I hate the idea that i could be wasting kava. I know there is Good kavalactone content left in my spent root, im just currently going through the phase where one begins to want to figure out the most efficient way to extract it all, how it works, etc.
I like this mongrel idea, and i saw the post in my thread mentioning it as well in relation to freezing process possibly breaking up the cellular walls of the root and making whatever inner kavalactone content more easily available.
Im definitely going to try this next couple batches. Thanks for sharing

I never tried this. I feel like Ive been throwing cash or even worse, kava in the bin. For a couple of years!

See the pseudo candy thread for how this gets even worse.... http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/krunkies-pseudo-kandy.12696/#post-144269

I go 5 washes and all the time save the sediments for powder. And still use the final spent makas for treating athlete's foot when I get it. The rest goes composted.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Just one final point about the AluBall for mongrel grog purposes: after you pour the grog out of the AluBall, do a little clackety clackety clak clack clack shake with the ball at the bottom of the bottle then pour the bit of highly kavalactone concentrated liquid into your shell on the top. Do this four or five times till no more liquid comes out. You get stronger grog this way and the makas in the ball becomes a more concentrated, dryer lump that is easier to manage when putting into a container for the freezer and later when putting in a strainer bag. Cheers.

 

[Lil' Krunkette]

One of my favourite kavas now is made possible by the Aluball, although you don't make it with the Aluball.

But what I really really like is that freezer grog, the mongrel grog. When you're just doing one or two servings from the Aluball and you dump the makas in a container in the freezer, like an 8 oz little container. And then when it's full, you thaw it out and stick it in a bag with anywhere from 2 to 3 cups of water and knead it all up..

Way to go, Krunkie! I like the money-saving aspects of this, just getting ready to place that first big order to last me through the month. It also sounds like a kava twist on a "party mixer."
Lil K

 

[Lil' Krunkette]

sometimes you just have to mix a bucket up and get whoever's around you to join....strangers, friends, coworkers lol. Eventually they'll come it's the intangible power of kava. I've showed up to a lot of random places with this bucket full of kava in the past....frat parties, meetings, concerts, airplanes, tour buses, locker rooms...pretty much anywhere and have met a lot random new people doing so

If you mix it, they will come.

 

[Kavafied]

If you mix it, they will come.

Kava must have a social electromagnetic field that just attracts all walks of life to it when you are mixing lol

 

[Kavafied]

or it may just be the vibe you give off when mixing that makes people around you want in on whatever has you in that kava mood

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Follow up: ten zillion AluBalls of makas later: I find the bigger the amount of makas and the bigger the bag, the better the mongrel grog. Don't worry about waste, you just go for more washes. Ideally you use what was about 2 cups of dry grind (but is now about 3 cups or so of wet makas) in one big bag with 8 cups hot water, let it soak till room temperature. Knead as usual. Do 4 cups on the next wash, then 2 then 1. Yield is 6 washes on your grind. And that stuff is good, love it. And the wider the variety that went into it, the better, IMO.

 

[GussWest]

I always felt that I was throwing away good kava when just aluballin' the medium grind.

I tried freezing makas a couple of times, but never reached the critical mass necessary for a good mongrel grog. The past couple of weeks I've been focused on getting this right.

Mongrel grog is the main event. Aluballin' is just the appetizer.
So, a genuine heart-felt thank you to Krunkie for bringing this to light and bonking me over the head with it.

I'd love to see more discussion on this and related topics. If you're not mongrel groggin' yer missin' out!

Let's talk more about the 70% of KL we are still not getting from the root.
Let's talk more about the botany and cell biology of KL distribution in the root structures.

 

[Pauluk]

Yes, it works great. You can get a lot more out of alluball left overs.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

I think it's like a cold brew almost because you don't have the heat to it. So those cell walls don't crack and release more kls... you just extract what's freed up from the grinding process .
I grind all kava to the finest powder I can if I use the alluball.. kava like borogu from kalm with kava is a joke if you buy it as is and put it in the allubal... if you grind it tho..
Or make a bomb traditional prep out of it it is my favorite kava

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

This seems appealing to me. I hate the idea that i could be wasting kava. I know there is Good kavalactone content left in my spent root, im just currently going through the phase where one begins to want to figure out the most efficient way to extract it all, how it works, etc.
I like this mongrel idea, and i saw the post in my thread mentioning it as well in relation to freezing process possibly breaking up the cellular walls of the root and making whatever inner kavalactone content more easily available.
Im definitely going to try this next couple batches. Thanks for sharing

to be totally honest it never would have occurred to me that somehow the combo of AluBall and kneading is what would do the trick, greater than the sum of the parts, but there it is. And I can sometimes take it to 7 or even 8 washes. That is a lot of grog. One way is, if the kava is strong, you do a third wash with the AluBall, only 200ml or maybe 250ml, and then put the makas in the freezer. Another way is by making 8 cups on the 3rd was, 2.5 on the 4th, 1.5 on the 5th and 1 cup on the 7th. If you have over the 2 dry cups/3 wet makas cups for kneading you can often push to 7 or 8 washes.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I always felt that I was throwing away good kava when just aluballin' the medium grind.

I tried freezing makas a couple of times, but never reached the critical mass necessary for a good mongrel grog. The past couple of weeks I've been focused on getting this right.

Mongrel grog is the main event. Aluballin' is just the appetizer.
So, a genuine heart-felt thank you to Krunkie for bringing this to light and bonking me over the head with it.

I'd love to see more discussion on this and related topics. If you're not mongrel groggin' yer missin' out!

Let's talk more about the 70% of KL we are still not getting from the root.
Let's talk more about the botany and cell biology of KL distribution in the root structures.

well, to a certain extent, we are doomed to NEVER get all the kavalactones, no matter what we might desire or ordain

but we can get as much as we can, no? As long as the price is not too high, like drinking soggy slimy grog that makes you puke.....

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I think it's like a cold brew almost because you don't have the heat to it. So those cell walls don't crack and release more kls... you just extract what's freed up from the grinding process .
I grind all kava to the finest powder I can if I use the alluball.. kava like borogu from kalm with kava is a joke if you buy it as is and put it in the allubal... if you grind it tho..
Or make a bomb traditional prep out of it it is my favorite kava

what I do with borogu in an AluBall is blend it 1:1 with my dry mongrel grind, aka, stuff from the jar where I pour all my bits of what is left at the bottom of medium grind that isn't enough to make a proper grog with. Otherwise, yeah, it doesn't work out so productive in the AlBall. Although relax, what you miss in the AluBall gets recovered in the mongrel grog. You don't "lose" anything by drinking straight borogu from an AluBall, but as you say it does not make a very impressive grog that way, compared to just straight kneading. But it does make the mongrel grog that much stronger. Or, you can just mix it with any dry grind 1:1, even make a blend with another blend.

Yes, in case you are curious: I have blended grog made with my dry mongrel grind with actual prepared mongrel grog to make mongrel mongrel grog. Just on the principle that if I can ever take anything to a higher level of abstraction, I do.

For example, when we were young, my family was too poor to take us to see the real Beatlemania show, so my mom took us to see a local production of Beatlemaniamania at the high school. It wasn't the real Beatlemania, but an amazing simulation. It was just like really seeing real people really pretend to be the Beatles. It was called Beatlemaniamania

 

[StinkWeed]

I used to use a hydraulic press to try get everything out quickly for bigger batches. If you weigh the liquid before you actually notice that it weighs more than it did pre-processing, afterwards, and the leftovers are pretty much bone dry. I tried freezing the med grind in water for a night and a day, based on making other edible extracts (breaking down the cell walls and what-not). Honestly if you're already good at your prep the extra kick is pretty negligible. Maybe need a shell or 2 less, but if your root is good, you're good. Still do a second wash or a third if everything still feels greasy but I always just mix that into the main grog and sift and prep traditional.

Never tried an aluball though! Are they pretty worth it for a quick session? Just the idea of saving up and getting a mixed grog kinda makes me want to grab one.

 

[xbobmarle]

I think so. Just got an aluball finally and love the convenience but I was weary about it not getting everything out. Sounds like this solves my problems! Thanks!