Question about brewing from dried chips

[nicechrisman]

So I've been at this a while, so understand that this isn't nearly my first brew.

I've been experimenting with freezing my chips between pulls when I brew them. I know this helps with fresh cacti as it helps break down the cell walls and stuff, but do you think it helps with cactus material that has already been dried, or have the cell walls been degraded enough by drying that freezing doesn't really help?

This question has been haunting me lately. Am I wasting time and energy freezing them between pulls?

 

[Bezerker]

Logic would say that freezing only opens up the cells because the water inside expands and bursts the cell walls. If there is no water in the chips, then no expansion and no cell breakage.

So freezing chips is probably a waste of time IMO.

Just get yourself a pressure cooker and do 3 pulls for 15mins each at 15psi. This gets all the goodies out. If you don't have a PC, then just do two extra pulls(total of 5). And always taste test your material when finished, there should be no bitterness.

Good luck

 

[nicechrisman]

yeah I still have a pc from my old mushrooms cultivation days. I've been wondering about using it.

Also just to clarify, i'm not freezing the chips while dry, I am brewing and freezing between brews, so they are hydrated while being frozen

 

[ipumaestro]

regardless your method your aim is to expedite solvent saturation, the best means is lysing of the cell walls.

freeze thaw cycles (hydrated plant material only)

or

15+ psi pressure cooking (30-45 x 3)



the pc will accomplish the job quicker






when youre satisfied with your pulls, you might try blending the rehydrated plant material and doing one more acidic pressure cook on the pulpy goop

 

[Frusciante]

Careful, you could get food poisoning possibly by re-freezing cactus brewing and drinking. It happened to my girlfriend.

 

[nicechrisman]

I don't understand how one could get food poisoning by re freezing cactus. I think sometimes people aren't as careful as they could be when it comes to letting a brew sit out unrefrigerated for lengths of time (I know I've been guilty of this) and I can see how you could get bacterial issues possibly, but I don't understand how freezing would do that.

I like your avatar.

 

[ipumaestro]

for most bacteria temperatures below 40 degrees f and above 140 are inhospitable
bacteria also require water to survive

if your product is frozen this should kill the bacteria
if your product is heated to above 140 degrees f the bacteria should be killed

also pasteurization is accomplished with the use of heat and pressure (pressure cookers)
(this was how spontaneous generation was disproved, that bacteria simply dont appear from nothing)

it seems highly unlikely that by performing either of these functions one would get a bacteria illness


even if you have old moldy tea, you can still filter out the pulp of the bacteria and bring it to a boil

 

[Orion]

Careful, you could get food poisoning possibly by re-freezing cactus brewing and drinking. It happened to my girlfriend.

Perhaps the old cactus brew ended up fermenting a bit ? If it wasn't just your girlfriends reaction to the cactus itself that is. It certainly can't have been bacteriological if you boiled it again.

 

[alert]

This isn't really relevant to your question but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. If you have dried chips you might want to consider grinding them to powder and doing a simple methanol extraction will multiple pulls and then evaporating to get a much more potent mescaline containing extract that can be put in gelcaps and eaten.

You might want to redissolve and evaporate with ethanol to remove any traces of methanol from the extract.

 

[Frusciante]

When it sits out to thaw this is perfect breeding ground for food born bacteria to grow, just like wih chicken or fish you dont want to refreeze it because even high temps cant kill all bacteria all the time. Her symptoms were certainly more than a little cactus nausea as she was purging both ends and maintained a high fever with all the miserable symptoms as well for about 24-48 hours. She nor I will use this method with cactus again. I think its easier for bacteria to live in the mucus-y cactus snot than say tree vark or vine.

Thanks about the avatar, its a ram dass drawing.

 

[Poekus]

So freezing chips is probably a waste of time IMO.

Just get yourself a pressure cooker and do 3 pulls for 15mins each at 15psi. This gets all the goodies out. .

Good luck

Exactly.

When I make a brew I also do 3 press. cooker boils each about half an hour. It always brings a potent brew. Letting it cool to room temperature and immediate freezing keeps it good for at least a month or two.

Those who worry about bacteria would do themselves a favour to pull those crystals out. Just make shure you wash your hands after taking a dump before handling them.

 

[nicechrisman]

When it sits out to thaw this is perfect breeding ground for food born bacteria to grow, just like wih chicken or fish you dont want to refreeze it because even high temps cant kill all bacteria all the time. Her symptoms were certainly more than a little cactus nausea as she was purging both ends and maintained a high fever with all the miserable symptoms as well for about 24-48 hours. She nor I will use this method with cactus again. I think its easier for bacteria to live in the mucus-y cactus snot than say tree vark or vine.

Thanks about the avatar, its a ram dass drawing.

yes, I know that book pretty well. I like that quote in particular. I find it has really been showing itself to be true in my life lately.

 

[fractalicious]

I recently was in a nearby 3rd world country and it was pretty backwards.

I did a LONG cold water soak which turned very dark my plant Mimosa tenuiflora supposedly had antifungal and microbial properties.

I wimped out on consumption in the field, I wanted to microwave to a low boil cool briefly and then down it but did not have the microwave, or a stove for that matter.

I guess in the future a crude 120vac submersable coffee heating element might work.

Could one combine some lets say tequila etc ethanol alcohol based liquor to be sure no illness occured?

Appreciate any experiences preferrably or opinions.

 

[ntwhtyouknw]

With Mimosa a soak it shouldn't be problem, just make sure you soak it in a clean jar.