Making Tinctures - Supplies Needed

Supplies Needed:

• Dry Herbs or Botanicals of your choice
• Vodka 80 proof or Everclear 190 proof
• Jars with lids
• Labels
• Strainer (to use when the tinctures are done)

Herbs are put in a container and 80 proof Vodka or 190 proof Everclear, both are acceptable liquids. The filled jar is usually left to stand for 2–3 weeks and shaken daily in order to maximize extraction. Tinctures can easily be made in less time, so please don’t feel like infusing for 2-3 weeks is required. Each dry botanical will help you decide when finished really means finished, you’ll know because the dried herb material breaks down into awful, spent-looking material.

You will start with a clean jar, I’m using some basic pint-sized canning jars with screw top lids. You can use any type of jar or container that you choose just make sure it has a tight seal and that it is easy to add (and remove) any plant material.

Our target fill is 10% dried botanical and 90% alcohol mixture. So weigh the botanical into your jar, now multiply the weight of the plant material by 9 and add that weight of alcohol to the jar. Cap and shake. Store in a dark cupboard and shake the container once a day. This will help stir the product and allow for maximum extraction. The weight to weight ratio of 1:9 will help your tinctures become as consistent as possible. Each plant material will offer different amounts of extractives that can be given into the alcohol. So keeping a 1:9 is a great ratio to keep.

A note about the choice of alcohol. The higher percentage of alcohol that Everclear offers will allow your tincture to extract more alcohol soluble compounds as well as act like a preservative. So, if I had a choice, I would ask everyone to use Everclear. However, not everyone has Everclear available to them. So, please, adjust for what is available in your area.