Suggestions/help with my kava prep

[kl.loonboon1]

1st batch...4tbsp Stone , to 2 cups water. Let soak for 40min. Strained with a generic cheese cloth . the taste was super numbing and the effect was awesome.

2nd batch...5tbsp Stone, to 2 cups of water. Let soak for 4hours. Strained with Bulas strainer bag. Also squeezed longer. The taste was hardly numbing, with the effect being much less than batch 1.

The only thing I changed is strainer bag and went stronger on batch 2. My only explanation is that my generic cheese cloth has much larger holes , and the bula bag is more solid .

Any insight on this would be great.

 

[Vekta]

Try tying off the BKH bag a little loose. When you work the kava really use your hands and forearms. Don't just knead it with your fingers.



The best example I can give you is the way I rack the slide on my .45 when chambering a round on a closed action. Both hands grip from opposite directions and push towards each other at the same time with authority. Use the same kind of motion but instead of pushing- squeeze, wring out, and "scrub" both sides of the loose bag together. The idea is to force more of the kava particles through the cloth as well as agitate and rough up the kava inside the bag. Hopefully the cloth can take a little bit of rough handling.



Hope that makes some kind of sense.

 

[kl.loonboon1]

Thanks for the input. I did wring it out real good, I'm convinced its the strainer bag.

 

[Idgie]

My vote is the strainer bag - I also got one from BKH and after using it 2-3 times just threw it away (like you, the resulting grog was was waaaay weaker than other brews - where amounts\type\kava brand were identical, only difference was the bag).   Fiji bags work great as does the cheesecloth. IMHO.