Making your own instant

[Edward]

@Sam Handwich also I think the temperature that will kill kl's is anything over 104 F? Might be better to go lower than that and just wait longer for the batch to dry. I'm going to be doing 4 trays at a time so if it takes 3 to 4 hours or even more I won't mind.

 

[The Kap'n]

@Sam Handwich also I think the temperature that will kill kl's is anything over 104 F? Might be better to go lower than that and just wait longer for the batch to dry. I'm going to be doing 4 trays at a time so if it takes 3 to 4 hours or even more I won't mind.

140°F is the temp you're thinking of. The reality is that at 140°F it would take days to cook every kavalactone out of it. I kept mine under 100 to prevent cooked flavor.

 

[Edward]

Ah, ok. I'll keep it low anyway so it doesn't cook it too much. I will keep an eye on it to gauge roughly how long it takes to get it just dry.

 

[verticity]

Excellent stuff fellas. 155 degrees F might be too hot for the KL's? If it worked ok and it's still potent then that's fine but you wouldn't want to cook them too much. I'm hoping to get all of my equipment delivered this week so I am all ready to go for next weekend and a marathon instant making session

KLs can survive the boiling point of water, 220F, AFAIK

 

[verticity]

KLs can survive the boiling point of water, 220F, AFAIK

I think the main problem at those temperatures is that the KLs could evaporate, not be destroyed, so you guys are probably right to keep the temperature low.

 

[Sam Handwich]

140°F is the temp you're thinking of. The reality is that at 140°F it would take days to cook every kavalactone out of it. I kept mine under 100 to prevent cooked flavor.

Looks like the lowest setting on my dehydrator is 95 deg. I'll give that a shot this weekend and will let you know how it goes. Thanks for the advice, this has been a fun project.

 

[Edward]

Look what came today... Excalibur dehydrator (9 trays, probably be able to do 4 at a time with the plastic sheets folded up) and the top quality coffee grinder which has an extra fine Turkish coffee setting . Just waiting for the flex sheets and I'm all ready to go.

 

[Sam Handwich]

Look what came today... Excalibur dehydrator (9 trays, probably be able to do 4 at a time with the plastic sheets folded up) and the top quality coffee grinder which has an extra fine Turkish coffee setting . Just waiting for the flex sheets and I'm all ready to go.
View attachment 5120

I'm really interested in hearing how the grinder works out. I've not decided how I'm going to do it. I dont want to make a large investment because I really don't use instant that much. I may try the mortor and pestle, though I don't think that worked great for @Kapmcrunk. I have a regular blade type coffee grinder but I think that might just make a mess of things.

 

[wanderingwoodsmith]

Im going to use my blade coffee grinder @Sam Handwich
I have ground tons of different things in it, never made too much of a mess, only lost a very minuscule amount to the dust flying in the air because I didnt give it time to settle before opening the lid.

 

[Sam Handwich]

Ok, please let me know how it goes.

 

[wanderingwoodsmith]

As soon as I get some more Kava in the mail I will try it out.

 

[Edward]

I believe the blade type grinders don't grind as finely and produce heat while they grind so the conical burr type are better. I'm sure either would do to start with and if you become an instant fiend then the step up is not that great. I think I paid about £70 for mine, $105 at the moment?

 

[wanderingwoodsmith]

Here ya go guys, if you just want it for grinding instant flakes, this is CHEAP and probably would do a great job.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Manual-Coff...017930?hash=item1ea983fb4a:g:kX8AAOSw1S9WggpD

 

[The Kap'n]

One thing to look out for with conical burr grinders is kava buildup. Depending on how resin laden the root is, a conical burr grinder (stainless steel, not ceramic. Ceramic wont work) could possibly need to be cleaned more regularly than a standard blade type. I tried one of those green tea matcha grinders with ceramic conical burr wheels. Stopped up instantly. I do think the blade type would work though. Someone who's on this instant train want to be the guinea pig and try out a blade type grinder?

 

[Edward]

@wanderingwoodsmith is going to use his. I'll keep an eye on how the conical burr type works.

 

[wanderingwoodsmith]

@wanderingwoodsmith is going to use his. I'll keep an eye on how the conical burr type works.

Actually I just have a blade style grinder, I just threw that ebay link it because I happened to stumble across it.

I will check out mine and my dads flea market, we have some antique commercial coffee grinders from some coffee shops, but they are huge.
I think we have some really old tabletop crank bur grinders as well. I will let you know if I find anything good.

 

[Edward]

That's what I meant, you're going to do the blade type and I'll do the other one.

 

[Sam Handwich]

Ok, blade type coffee grinder results -

it worked pretty well, no product loss either, started with 22g. Finished with 22g.
the only problem I have is that because I cooked the mixture at 155 deg. I ended up with a pretty tough dark brown film on top of the dried grog. This remained pretty gritty even after grinding and will not mix well into water. I will definitely adjust the temp down on the next run.

 

[The Kap'n]

@Sam Handwich looking good! Progress is definitely being made. I love watching this unfold.

 

[Edward]

@Sam Handwich awesome!