Best Way To Reduce Acidic Spice Solution

[DudeMeetTyler]

.. I have been using a double boiler set up to avoid the solution getting to hot. This is so inefficient though and takes hours.. depending on the size it can take up to ~ + 8 hours

Is there a better way? How do you guys reduce your acid solutions?

Vovins tek states

You will need to place all of the liquid in a glass casserole dish and place it in the oven and turn it to it's lowest setting. Warm the solution. Again keep it warm do not overheat it. This will be a very slow process and will most likely take a hour or two. You should be trying to wind up with around 500 ml of solution. Check the solution every 15 minutes to make sure it is not getting too hot.

I have never even tried this as I dont know how hot "too hot is"... any thoughts on too hot?

if it is "too hot" will the goodies in the solution decompose? boil off?

To Note:
Im using vinegar as the acid
And the oven only goes down to 170 F

(SO.. looks like Im going to try the oven, just leave the door open. I will report back comparing the different methods)

I Would still like to hear everyones input though

Thanks,

The Dude

 

[endlessness]

Water takes a lot of energy to evaporate, so while there may be better or worse ways, it still will cost quite a lot of energy.

Water evaporation is a function of temperature, surface area and air circulation. If your pot is small, get a large one, or divide your water into two pots. Also you can use a fan to blow across the air on top of the pot, or use a kitchen air extractor (Im not sure if I would blow with the fan directly on the liquid because this might also lower the temperature and im not sure if its worth it or counter-productive in the end, so I use it across the area on top of the pot)

Personally I just evaporate acidic solutions with alkaloids with boiling. The alkaloids should be pretty stable in acidic solution.. I usually put on low fire because too hot fire will caramelize any sugars present and creates these gooey formations on the bottom/sides of the pot, which might or might not trap a bit of alkaloids inside of them (so I always run a little warm water on that after I decant/filter the reduced liquid). Part of this stuff that appears, though, I think its just precipitated plant material because the water is being reduced and therefore it holds less of these materials which before were dissolved, so even evaporating on very low heat still creates some of it, but less than if with high fire IME

In any case, another alternative I hear works well is a food dehydrator. I dont have one, maybe someone else has experience, but some of them can fit a nice pyrex tray inside and makes the whole thing much faster and automatic.

 

[damon]

For spice, rue, caapi, and even cactus, the majority of liquid can be boiled off with a slow simmer. Everything endlessness said is true. If you want to dry it out completely, use a double boiler or something else when it starts to get thick. I wouldn't know about psilocin or other things we generally don't talk about here, but I imagine with some things you might not want boiling temperatures at all. In those cases you would want to keep the volume of water to a minimum, because without vacuum you wouldn't be able to remove a lot very quickly without heat.

 

[DudeMeetTyler]

Thanks Endlessness/damon

I should better explain my previous attempts.. I was using a big pot of water with a metal wire thingy to keep a 2 qt pyrex bowl off the bottom. Water was then heated just under a boil, which heated the bowl which evapped the solution.. While the surface area is fairly large with the bowl, air circulation and temperature are kinda low. And because the water bath was boiling the immediately surrounding air is pretty humid (not sure if that would play a role but for some reason I see it slowing down evap times)

I dont have a pyrex/glass pot though, or else I would straight up boil/simmer the solution (I dont really like the idea of using stainless for this, just a personal thing, I would like to keep it all glass). And the bowl says "not for stove top use", so I figured for now the oven with a glass dish seems like my best bet for the time being (until I find a glass pot).

I would still like to hear everyones experiences though.

Do you find a difference in the final product (colour, yield, etc) when boiling vs simmering during the reducing stage?

Any other differences?

 

[damon]

For a double boiler setup, you want the liquid to be reduced on top, not inside. But I guess you figured that out. Steel is no problem, just stay away from aluminum and non-stick (although those can be used, depending).

 

[seeohhdee]

Dude,

Even though its not the most updated, I also use Vovin's tek. When it comes to evaporation, Endless is right. Double boiling will work, and you are right to want to keep everything in glass. I, personally have done both the casserole dish method and the double boiler method.

With the dish, 170 degrees even with your oven closed is fine. Just do like he says and check on it every so often to stir. This method takes longer but you don't have to watch it as closely.

On the stove top, you will have to watch it more closely because of the higher temperatures (212 as opposed to 170), but it will also go a little faster.

Personal preference, but evaporation is both very annoying and very important. Funny how the two frequently overlap.

Hope this helps.

 

[DudeMeetTyler]

Thanks SeeOh,
I suppose my previous method was more of a water bath than double boiler.

It seems to take a lot longer than the oven/dish method.

Personal preference, but evaporation is both very annoying and very important. Funny how the two frequently overlap. Wink Wink

- seconded!