Booze, herbs and dogs: questions from a tea totaller.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:23 am

Everclear is basically pure alcohol.

The only warning (which applies to any organism planning to imbibe the stuff, human or animal) is, as previously noted, being pure alcohol, it has a disturbing tendency to cause alcohol poisoning.

I don't think you'd have a problem with a few drops--except for possibly slightly inebriated dogs.

--James

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:34 am

susnfx wrote:I have no idea, Doc, but I want to hear the rumors that start in town when you hit the liquor store!

Susan

Actually you might be able to get it mail order with a script. Some states allow that for institutions that use grain alcohol for research work maybe the same thing exists for business use.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:48 am

Congratulations wrote:I saw a monkey drink beer once.

When did you ever see me drinking beer???

And what the heck is the purpose of making a tincture? It seems this site is loaded with tincture makers. Will it cure the common cold?

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:48 am

s1m0n wrote:
tansy wrote: I've known hounds that love beer.
A very wide range of animals will happily drink beer, actually, including dogs, horses & cattle.

I had a friend from Assam in India. This was an interesting guy; he'd taken tiger census in Bangal and been bitten both by a rabid dog and a venomous snake. Anyway, they had Tibetan mastiffs and golden cats to chase leopards away. There was also a brewery in town. Every few years an elephant or two would smell the brewery and break in and drink a few hundred gallons. Evidently elephants are sensitive to alcohol, and they're not passive drunks, so they'd go on drunken rampages. In a way, it'd be funny to watch, but I think running in the other direction would win out for me.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:59 am

watch from a distance.....many things are funnier with distance

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:14 pm

My wife's grandmother who was an apothacary in Germany after the war use to make nalewka which is sort of an aged tincture. My wife inherited the recipes, some of which she still makes for cousins in Europe. Most are down right toxic I think, except for gin, but some of her cousins swear by them. They have one they want every spring, for spring cleaning I guess.

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:19 pm

I just glanced through all the above, but I didn't see anyone recommend Alcool, so I will do it here: Try Alcool. It is very pure and very high alcohol content. It is used by bartenders to jazz up fruity drinks. When mixed with grape juice the local frathouse kids call it a "Purple Jesus".

djm

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:49 pm

djm wrote:Try Alcool.

Otherwise know as pure grain alcohol. "Alcool" is the french word for "alcohol'; because of bilingual packaging rules, it has become the term often used in english canada for cheap white allegedly flavorless alcohol.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:54 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:
Congratulations wrote:I saw a monkey drink beer once.
When did you ever see me drinking beer???

Here's one.

djm wrote:I just glanced through all the above, but I didn't see anyone recommend Alcool, so I will do it here: Try Alcool. It is very pure and very high alcohol content. It is used by bartenders to jazz up fruity drinks. When mixed with grape juice the local frathouse kids call it a "Purple Jesus".

That, sir, is most certainly not what we call Purple Jesus around here. Around here, Purple Jesus requires a bathtub.

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:05 pm

s1m0n wrote:
tansy wrote: I've known hounds that love beer.
A very wide range of animals will happily drink beer, actually, including dogs, horses & cattle.

Some parrots will, too.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:26 pm

susnfx wrote:I have no idea, Doc, but I want to hear the rumors that start in town when you hit the liquor store!

Susan

Yeah I've been fussing about that a bit. I went to the grocery store across the street the other day and asked the lady at the counter "So, what can you tell me about booze?" She thought it was pretty funny. She knows me and was enjoying my discomfiture.

I'm working on clever disguises. Fortuneately I'm an old Inspector Clouseau fan so I shouldn't have any trouble...now where did I put that hunchback costume?

Doc

HDSarah · Post by **HDSarah** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:44 pm

Doc Jones wrote:
susnfx wrote:I have no idea, Doc, but I want to hear the rumors that start in town when you hit the liquor store!

Susan
Yeah I've been fussing about that a bit. I went to the grocery store across the street the other day and asked the lady at the counter "So, what can you tell me about booze?" She thought it was pretty funny. She knows me and was enjoying my discomfiture.

Ah, but we'll do it for the dogs. I'm a vegetarian, and I remember the first time I bought hot dogs to use as training treats for a dog. I hid them under something else in my cart, and slunk around the grocery store hoping not to run into anyone I knew.

I vote for making your tinctures with the purest grain alcohol you can get, and then adding something like liver to make the taste and smell more appealing to the dog.

As for animals liking beer, when I was in graduate school I had a dog who adored beer and coffee. It was funny because I never drank much of either substance. She cut her tongue once on a broken beer bottle when I was walking her off-leash down a trail. It was a minor injury for her, but my usual annoyance at people who litter was greatly magnified that day!

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:55 pm

Doc, I'm assuming you already know this but I'll share it anyway for those on this list who might not.

Some chemicals are more solute in water than alcohol.
Some chemicals are more solute in cool water than heated water.
Dried herbs usually need extra water in the processing.
Richo Cech's "Making Plant Medicine" and James Green's "the Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook" mention the most commonly used ratios of alcohol to H2O.

If a chemical is more solute in water than alcohol, the alcohol is only added as a preservative, 20%.
If you're using herbs from an Asian herbal tradition where alcohol is not part of the tradition, follow what ever process they suggest to extract the chemical constituents and then add alcohol to 20% if a preservative is needed.

That shared,

for tinctures I usually use either a mixture of Everclear (or a Polish version of Everclear named Spirytus Rektyfikowany (192 proof)) and distilled water.
The distilled water not only for purity but to better absorb the mineral balance of the herb.
I only resort to vodka (which comes pre-diluted) if I'm trying to start tincturing herbs in the field as soon as wildcrafted.

You're a better judge of what a dog's liver can handle than me but are you sure you don't want to try vinegar, glycerin, or oil as part of the solute instead of alcohol? The shelf life is shorter but refrigeration can extend it a bit.

Btw, I think there's a cult of grey haired Birkenstock wearing ladies like me out there buying 1.75 LT bottles of pure alcohol by the case that liquor stores recognize as a market.
I've never been looked at strangely when I buy the stuff, not even when I have them load it up in my collapsible wire shopping cart for the walk home.

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:07 pm

hyldemoer wrote:I think there's a cult of grey haired Birkenstock wearing ladies like me out there buying 1.75 LT bottles of pure alcohol by the case that liquor stores recognize as a market.

Mom's Little Molotovs - it's a growing cottage industry.

"No-one makes Molotovs like Mom!"

djm

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:13 pm

hyldemoer wrote:Doc, I'm assuming you already know this but I'll share it anyway for those on this list who might not.

Some chemicals are more solute in water than alcohol.
Some chemicals are more solute in cool water than heated water.
Dried herbs usually need extra water in the processing.
Richo Cech's "Making Plant Medicine" and James Green's "the Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook" mention the most commonly used ratios of alcohol to H2O.

If a chemical is more solute in water than alcohol, the alcohol is only added as a preservative, 20%.
If you're using herbs from an Asian herbal tradition where alcohol is not part of the tradition, follow what ever process they suggest to extract the chemical constituents and then add alcohol to 20% if a preservative is needed.

That shared,

for tinctures I usually use either a mixture of Everclear (or a Polish version of Everclear named Spirytus Rektyfikowany (192 proof)) and distilled water.
The distilled water not only for purity but to better absorb the mineral balance of the herb.
I only resort to vodka (which comes pre-diluted) if I'm trying to start tincturing herbs in the field as soon as wildcrafted.

You're a better judge of what a dog's liver can handle than me but are you sure you don't want to try vinegar, glycerin, or oil as part of the solute instead of alcohol? The shelf life is shorter but refrigeration can extend it a bit.

Btw, I think there's a cult of grey haired Birkenstock wearing ladies like me out there buying 1.75 LT bottles of pure alcohol by the case that liquor stores recognize as a market.
I've never been looked at strangely when I buy the stuff, not even when I have them load it up in my collapsible wire shopping cart for the walk home.

I'm looking into the vinegar and glycerin options. I like the looong shelf life option of the alcohol though.

Doc