Hot water? Getting out a little more from old kava

[kl.stevev]

So, tonight I was feeling bad because I was about to toss 1cups worth of melo melo after 2 strains. Why was I feeling bad? you might ask. When I nibbled on a some of the root it numbed a good amount. I decided to use some hot water to get out what I was gonna throw away. I know people have said don't use hot water on kava. I poured in the hot water and strained for about two minutes. Well, the brew turned out pretty good, not amazing and not as good as the first brew (dur). It turned out better than the second brew though. For a third brew that was only strained for two minutes, I thought it was pretty amazing.
What do you all think?

 

[krunkedout]

How hot was the water? If its not like boiling then it probably won't effect it all that much, I never do it for two reasons: I don't want to take a chance and potentially kill the goodies in the batch, and I like to be as traditional as possible, the natives never used hot water as far as I know and I figure they know best. But it's not bad to do it, that's just my opinion, but I'm glad you got good results!

 

[kl.grudge]

I have used warm water (prob about 110 degrees or so) and it does improve the extraction. However like Krunkedout, I don't go too hot due to fear of damaging the kavalactones.

 

[kl.stevev]

I don't know the degree. At first it burned. It was like the threshold that it would burn though. It cooled down pretty fast after I started straining.

I normally do it the traditional way. For the first strain I'm never going to do anything else. The reason I tried this was because I was gonna throw it out. The kava came out pretty fast, and there were yellow bubbles. I'll experiment more.

 

[krunkedout]

Hmm this is intriguing, I saved my used kava from tonights session and put it in a baggy, tomorrow sometime in the early afternoon perhaps I will squeeze it out with some warm water. Maybe this will be effective for daytime use as it will be weaker than my fresh nightly brew.

 

[Ed!]

There was a side-by-side comparison study done that someone posted here a while back. Hot water (that wasn't boiling) did better at extracting the kavalactones than cold water. That's why I started using hot tap water often in my brews. I figure straight from the tap it won't likely get hot enough to kill my babies.

 

[The Kap'n]

Purchase a non-contact infrared thermometer (cheap on newegg or amazon), or a tea thermometer. Make sure your water does not approach 140. 110-120 is ok. Yes your kava will be bitter, and yes it will be stronger. Kavalactones are like wax, the warmer the solution, the more likely they are to suspend in solution instead of being bound in the kava fibers. I wouldn't suggest this with fresh kava as everything is still pretty much in solution and you wouldn't want to ruin the delicate taste of the fresh root. Dried kava I do this for every single time, and I absolutely do notice a difference between warm and cold water extractions.

 

[krunkedout]

Well, I guess it's no more room temp water for me!

 

[kl.stevev]

kapmcrunk, thanks. Wish I knew this before, I think I've wasted a lot of kava because of cold temp. I use to freeze my kava for 2nd strainings.

There should be an ultimate kava prep guide, if there isn't already.

 

[krunkedout]

I second this ^^ somebody really should take all the beat methods on here and combine them

 

[Idgie]

Me thirds this ^^^

For hotter water extraction - it appears that you put it in the hot water and immediately start the kneading\straining.  Anybody ever tried soaking it (in hot water) then doing the extraction maybe hours later?  I usually let mine soak, but maybe that is not necessary (or doesn't do anything extra) if you start off w/ hot water to begin with...

 

[kavalover]

Me thirds this ^^^

For hotter water extraction - it appears that you put it in the hot water and immediately start the kneading\straining.  Anybody ever tried soaking it (in hot water) then doing the extraction maybe hours later?  I usually let mine soak, but maybe that is not necessary (or doesn't do anything extra) if you start off w/ hot water to begin with...


   

I use hot tap water (not hot enough to burn) and then blend immediately, then let soak for 30 min to an hour, then I knead and squeeze. My god is that a potent way to brew 1 cup of kava in 3 cups water.

 

[kl.grudge]

I use hot tap water (not hot enough to burn) and then blend immediately, then let soak for 30 min to an hour, then I knead and squeeze. My god is that a potent way to brew 1 cup of kava in 3 cups water.

Wow you are combining all of the prep techniques (except perhaps some oil/lecithin), no wonder it is so strong.  I am going have to slow down and doing a little planning ahead to get more soak and kneeding time on mine.  I definitely need to learn more kava patience.

 

[kl.stevev]

I made a really bitter brew last night. 1cup borogu (the last of it). So bitter I almost didn't drink all of it, and I normally down it no problem. Just nasty. I got over krunk too, which didn't feel amazing. Little body effect, I suspect the hot water had something to do with it. I think it'd be best to use really hot water for the second or third brew.

 

[mos3z]

I use the n@h method which suggests mixing 1 cup room temp with 1 cup boiling.

It definitely extracts more resin. My blender is stained with a thick layer of yellow resin on it. I just found out if u pour boiling water on the resin it melts it off to clean it.



I still follow their video recipe which is soak for 30min to 1hr with that warm water, strain and squeeze out water, blend pulp with kava liquid for 30 sec, put back in strainer squeeze again, clean strainer and filter one last time.

I do 1 cup to 2 cups water, makes a very strong batch. Usually only need 3 ounces to get pretty krunk.

1 tablespoon of lecithin too

 

[kl.stevev]

I made six strainings tonight. It's going really well. After the third straining I made one shell per strain. All the shells were great. I kept on thinking "this is gonna be the last one" then a good shell would be made. I used hot water/room temp until I felt comfortable with the heat. When I just used hot water it was really bitter, almost undrinkable. When I got the right amount, I got some of the best shells I've ever had. Yellow bubbles in every shell. The hot water seemed to make the oil come out, the bag looked oily, I've never had that before.

 

[mos3z]

Six? That's crazy. I tried a second and wasn't happy with the results.

Maybe because I start with hot water on the first pressing?

I get a crazy yellow resin that colors my strainer bag and forms a thick yellow layer on my blender.

I figured that was normal. The resin gets so thick on the blender you can scrape it off with your fingernail

 

[kl.stevev]

Yep, six. Last three were all one small shell each and only strained for a couple minutes. The borogu I had had lots of yellow bubbles. Didn't have a problem with resin though.

 

[krunkedout]

Yep, six. Last three were all one small shell each and only strained for a couple minutes. The borogu I had had lots of yellow bubbles. Didn't have a problem with resin though.

damn, talk about bang for for your buck!!! The more power to ya my friend