Pulverized or powdered as finely as possible. I've generally increased H2O content to up to 20mL & have seen no noticeable change in yield. Also, I would never recommend f-ing w/ the mhrb:lye ratio. Think of it as this: lye and mhrb are cousins; they should only be changed together, in like increments; lye and H2O are NOT necessarily cousins. One should only increase lye content if one is increasing mhrb as well.