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Kava Preparation How I get the highest possible yield of grog from my medium grind

Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Had to write this out for someone else so I figured what the heck, this will be useful to reference for anyone who is interested.

Basically this is AluBall plus kneading by trad prep, a synergy, where each makes the other more efficient. The quality of the grog, and powder, is awesome, too.

1. first wash in an AluBall, typically 4 TBS grind to 500 ml water

2. second wash with 400 ml water

- after that I empty the balls into a container and store in the freezer, doing so until I fill the container(s) and have enough for the next wash

3. third wash: Using a large amount of frozen collected makas, 1.5 - 2 cups of grind worth, I thaw them and put in a large nut milk bag, and then soak that in 1/2 gal or 2 L of hot tap water for 10 minutes, then knead for 10 minutes
I can store that bag in the fridge overnight if I want to go on to the next part

4. fourth wash: knead the large bag with 4 cups of water

5. fifth wash: knead the large bag with 2 cups water

6. sixth wash: knead the large bag with 1 - 1.5 cups water

Also, I always save the silky residue after drinking a glass or emptying a jar, if there is any, and smear it on a plate with the back of a spoon and allow to dry, in the sun is best. Then scrape it and mill it and store in a jar as a powder. 1 TBS of that powder plus a cup of water or other liquid is good for a single dose, 2 TBS to one cup liquid for a strong/pleasure dose. Goes great with milk and chocolate powder/syrup for a smoothie.
 
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VictoryRider

VictoryRider

Kava Enthusiast
*SIX* washes??? Wow. I'd think all you'd get by then is wood-flavored water. I must be throwing away waaaayyyy too many
KLs.
 
Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
VictoryRider said:
*SIX* washes??? Wow. I'd think all you'd get by then is wood-flavored water. I must be throwing away waaaayyyy too many
KLs.
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and to do it requires both AluBall AND trad prep, so the whole question of "which is better?" is moot and misleading. They both make each other better. Seriously, the AluBall/kneading partnership nets me twice (or more) the amount of grog for my grind than any other method I had used before. And it's great grog. There's something very pleasing and beautiful about that.

Oh, later washes are as strong but the taste becomes progressively sweeter and mellower.
 
T

Tamika

Newbie
Deleted User01 said:
Another informative article from "The Frugal Gulper". ::chugger::
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'The Frugal Gulper' kindly wrote this article for me, for which I'm very grateful. With the difficulty of getting kava into Australia you have to make every bit count. This is invaluable information!
 
Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
My wife pointed out that the proof the sixth was is good (I drank a nice big shell of 6th wash last night to taper down from my Nambawan triple ball and it was delicious and very very good) is that when you put a jar of sixth wash in the fridge overnight there's plenty of silky sediment that colllects at the bottom of the jar, useful for making kava powder.

I suppose that would be the ultimate proof for any doubters, make a special collection of only sixth wash sediment based kava powder and give any doubter a nice big 2 TBS powder in 8 oz water drink of that and see how they like it. My money is on proof that 6th wash from this method is still potent.

My wife loves that later washes taste really good.
 
Travis

Travis

Kava Enthusiast
I usually do maybe half of this method. I'll do a tbsp and a half in aluball and then do second wash and put into strainer bag. Do a few more tbsp's at a time in aluball and double wash and then do a third traditional prep wash and then that's when I part with the root.
That' what I love about the aluball, instead of starting with a half cup to a cup of root with traditional prep, I can use small amounts at a time. Because who is going to squeeze 2 tbsp's at a time doing traditional method. Pushing it to 6 washes is a bit much for me to do. But God bless you @Krunkie McKrunkface
 
Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Just to put some actual numbers on this, with my method here, the yield on two cups (200g) of medium grind is 3 gallons of grog, plus whatever kava powder from the silky sediment can be salvaged, typically a couple of TBS at least.

By contrast, if you follow most package instructions and go 4:1 and then chuck the makas, the yield on 2 cups of grind is 1/2 gallon. I am yielding 6 times as much grog. Plus powder. And by way of another comparison, my yield from trad prep alone was usually 5 or 6 to 1 on the first wash, but still, even when I would push it to a 4th or 5th wash, I'd usually max out around 1.5 gals from 2 cups of root, certainly never more than 2 gals.

Again, this method yields me 3 gals of grog, good grog, plus powder, from 2 cups of medium grind. I think the therapeutic daily dose for kava is really only 4 - 8 oz of this grog for most of the health benefits one would want: anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, insomnia, and cancer prevention, if there is any such effect. In money terms this would mean basically you could drink kava as a health beverage for a dollar per day or less, perhaps even as low as 50 cents a day.
 
Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Total yield on a pound of medium grind would average 6.75 gallons plus 4 or 5 TBS of powder.

6.75 gals works out to 216 small 4 oz shells or 108 large 8 oz shells. In dollar terms if you are using an average $50/lb grind it works out to around 25 cents for a small shell or 50 cents for a large one, plus a little, plus powder. I make special big flakes of dried powder now that melt under your tongue and give you a nice 5 - 10 minutes of gentle euphoria for a very tiny amount of powder, stronger than the candies, not as strong as the 70% CO2 extract.
 
Kavafied

Kavafied

Kava Vendor
Krunkie McKrunkface said:
Total yield on a pound of medium grind would average 6.75 gallons plus 4 or 5 TBS of powder.

6.75 gals works out to 216 small 4 oz shells or 108 large 8 oz shells. In dollar terms if you are using an average $50/lb grind it works out to around 25 cents for a small shell or 50 cents for a large one, plus a little, plus powder. I make special big flakes of dried powder now that melt under your tongue and give you a nice 5 - 10 minutes of gentle euphoria for a very tiny amount of powder, stronger than the candies, not as strong as the 70% CO2 extract.
Click to expand...
On Kalapu nights we try to stretch a bag per gallon. Start off with the leftover soaked root from the last mix to stretch that out.
 
Krunkie McKrunkface

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Kavafied said:
On Kalapu nights we try to stretch a bag per gallon. Start off with the leftover soaked root from the last mix to stretch that out.
Click to expand...
ah, the KFC of kava. My family would be happy if I brought home a bucket like that tonight. "Relax, honey, you're not making anything tonight. I brought home a bucket."

n.b. the above joke was purely hypothetical. In point of fact I get stuck with almost all the kava prep chez nous. Thanks to the AluBall, though, this is not an onerous duty. I can and do make a half gallon of grog in under 5 minutes using two AluBall setups, double balling, one in each hand.

PS Man, that's some beautiful looking grog you made there.
 
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