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Kavalactones Extraction

Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
Good Morning everyone,

I have been working on a product for the last couple months and need some advice in the most effective way to extract Kava lactones from kava, I cannot afford CO2 extraction (presuming it would cost several $100's of dollars), so that's off the table and I don't want to use instant unless I absolutely have to (again expensive). The idea is to find a way to extract as many KL's as possible from medium grind or fresh root.
So far I have tried PG & VG (Propylene Glycol & Vegetable Glycerin) extraction with some success, but it's not strong enough for my purpose. Ideal KL content would be in the neighborhood of 160-200mg per 1 ml, which is quite high, hence the post and need of assistance.
I have searched KF thoroughly and have not found much help. I am open for suggestions, because I am running out of ideas.

EDIT: the most helpful article I have come across was this one;
http://kavaforums.com/forum/wiki/how-to-optimize-the-extraction-of-kavalactones/


-Thanks & Bula!
 
Last edited:
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Ethanol extraction is inexpensive, efficient, and in my opinion, safe (although opinions vary on this point). For example Gaia capsules are made with ethanol extract, and are considered "OK"--if not fully endorsed--by True Kava. Some (most?) people seem to believe that CO2 extraction is somehow "safer" than alcohol extraction, but I have never seen any actual proof of this; That is, I have not seen any reliable measurements of FKB content of CO2 extract compared with FKB content of ethanol extract of the same sample. I have theoretical reasons to speculate that CO2 might actually extract more FKB, but I don't think anyone really knows.

@Mrbinx69 used an ethanol/water mixture to make his candies--I would ask him for details about his process.
 
Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Kava Connoisseur
Extract the kava in the everclear and some water strain it out after you feel confident in its extraction ... then put a dropper full in warm VG then add your PG and vape away.
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
Mrbinx69 said:
Extract the kava in the everclear and some water strain it out after you feel confident in its extraction ... then put a dropper full in warm VG then add your PG and vape away.
Click to expand...
Everclear using the process that @verticity mentioned correct, or no? I have never attempted it before and yes Binxie I knew you would know it's a vape juice ;)
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Have you tried Henry's friend's coconut oil extraction? I didn't get it to work for me personally, but I only tried it once.
 
Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Kava Connoisseur
But instead of cooking at 240 or so. You'd want to do a slow cook at 130 since that's are agreed kava highest temp
But once again don't try and put kava coconut oil into VG and vape lol. It won't be strong enough .
Your gonna need everclear to get the amount of kavalactones per hit your looking for .
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
Mrbinx69 said:
But instead of cooking at 240 or so. You'd want to do a slow cook at 130 since that's are agreed kava highest temp
But once again don't try and put kava coconut oil into VG and vape lol. It won't be strong enough .
Your gonna need everclear to get the amount of kavalactones per hit your looking for .
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks guys!!
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
The coconut extraction that kavadude mentioned would be interesting for other experiments ;) - Agreed though, not ideal for vaping, this was V1.0 of my vape juice, I made it Mango/Pineapple flavor, tasted excellent, unfortunately, as I said before, not enough KL's.
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
If I could get fresh root, I would always use fresh root.

However it will probably jack up your cost significantly unless you happen to live in Port Vila
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Winpig said:
Any recommendation on fresh vs dry? for better efficacy?
Click to expand...
Fresh might be hard to find. Also, you would have to use more fresh, due to the moisture content. Dry is more concentrated because most of the water is already removed. I would recommend that the powder be ground very finely for best efficiency.
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
I do have access to fresh root, but @verticity makes a good point about moisture content. Generally speaking, it is easier to get the med grind we are all used to..
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Winpig said:
No I have not, do you have a link?
Click to expand...
I did try the coconut oil method. It sort of works. There is no reason to limit the temperature to 130F, though: you can heat the oil to the boiling point of water using a double boiler. (But don't heat it any hotter than that!)
The problem with coconut oil, though, is that once you get the coconut oil extract, I don't know of any way to separate the KLs from the coconut oil. With alcohol/water, you can just let it evaporate (or use a rotary evaporator, if you want to be fancy). Coconut oil solidifies near room temperature, so I don't think it would work well for vaping.
 
Groggy

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
verticity said:
I did try the coconut oil method. It sort of works. There is no reason to limit the temperature to 130F, though: you can heat the oil to the boiling point of water using a double boiler. (But don't heat it any hotter than that!)
The problem with coconut oil, though, is that once you get the coconut oil extract, I don't know of any way to separate the KLs from the coconut oil. With alcohol/water, you can just let it evaporate (or use a rotary evaporator, if you want to be fancy). Coconut oil solidifies near room temperature, so I don't think it would work well for vaping.
Click to expand...
So heat it at 212 with the water/alcohol combo (maybe a 50/50 mix) - Again initially I am trying to keep costs down, so for now fresh root is off the table. It seems alcohol extraction is the way to go, from what you guys are telling me so far..I am holding off on the equipment, verticity, until I can achieve 200mg per 1ml (if I can't then I might have no choice)
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Winpig said:
So heat it at 212 with the water/alcohol combo (maybe a 50/50 mix) - Again initially I am trying to keep costs down, so for now fresh root is off the table. It seems alcohol extraction is the way to go, from what you guys are telling me so far..I am holding off on the equipment, verticity, until I can achieve 200mg per 1ml (if I can't then I might have no choice)
Click to expand...
You can do it without the Soxhlet extractor. It might not be as efficient. The boiling point of a water/alcohol mixture is less than the boiling point of water, so you would not be able to heat it to the water bp. Also you would not want to have your solvent actually boiling, unless you have a way of recovering the solvent that evaporates off (like the Soxhlet does). So heat it to just below the bp of the mixture, which for 50/50 ethanol/water would be approximately halfway between the boiling points of water (100 C) and ethanol (78 C), or about 89 C (=192 F)

bpcompn2.gif


You would need some way to maintain and monitor the temperature, like a heating pad and an accurate thermometer. A heating pad that can power a magnetic stir bar would probably be a good idea, so you can let it stir for a long time while maintaining an even temperature.
(This kind of thing:
Amazon product)

After extracting, you would then need to filter the solids out using the finest micron filter you can get. You can get 5 micron filters from Duda Diesel.
Amazon product
 
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