# propolis tincture recipe



## MethowKraig

I've mixed propolis with everclear, but it took forever to dissolve. A couple weeks. Poured off tincture every few days. I'd like to find a better way.


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## BMAC

I drop the propolis right in the bottle of everclear and cap it tight and stick it in a pan of 130 degree water. Keep it at that temp and vigorously shake once in a while for 1/2 a day and thats all it takes. Make sure you let it settle overnight and pour off the good stuff leave the junk behind on the bottom!


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## Seymore

What's everclear? Someone told me or I read to put it in vodka. I've got a nice round hard ball sitting in vodka since last year! Lol.


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## BMAC

It's legal high octane shine


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## Seymore

BMAC said:


> It's legal high octane shine


Ohhhhhhh.... Thanks!


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## Monkadelic

It's a pain to find everclear here, you can also substitute a very high proof grain alcohol.

I'd heard 200F in the oven, is that too high? Thanks


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## Baldursson

NOOOOOOOOOOOO do not put in a 200F oven. It is flammable with a boiling point of about 170F. Think at the very least you could have a fire and ay worst a build up of vapor till you have an explosion.


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## Bear Creek Steve

Ola Gennetika,

CAUTION: Never allow alcolol to be in the presence of an open flame!

Propolis Tincture:

Part 1:

A) First buy an old working electric coffee grinder at a flea market or Goodwill store.
B) Put your propolis chunks in a plastic baggie in your freezer for a couple of days.
C) Take a few chunks of propolis from the freezer and grind them immediately to a powder.
D) Dump the powder on a piece of paper and return it to the freezer. Grind more if necessary.
E) Pour about two inches of White Lightening (Everclear) in a disposable glass bottle with a lid.
F) Add the powdered propolis to the fluid in the bottle while swirling and gently shaking, then cap.
G) Place the capped bottle on top of your water heater or furnace and shake daily for 4-6 weeks.
H) Much of the propolis will dissolve but the beeswax, bee legs, and wood shavings, etc. will not.

Part 2:

I) Form a funnel shape out of a piece of fly screen and line it with a paper coffee filter.
J) Place the funnel/filter over a throw away container, possibly bottom ½ of a milk “bottle” box.
K) Pour the slurry of propolis and alcohol through the funnel/filter
L) The resulting clear dark fluid will be a fully saturated solution, or high concentration propolis tincture.
M) The dregs in the filter can be used as the partial feed stock for the next batch of tincture you make.
N) Bottle the tincture for topical use only and use yourself or sell. You may want to reduce the 
Concentration.


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## Seymore

Wow, Steve, excellent! Thank you for sharing!


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## Scrapfe

I want to use propolis to stain or finish wood. Will this recipe work well for that purpose?


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## Monkadelic

Baldursson, thanks. Everything I'd read online said 200F, so I appreciate your wisdom! 

Steve, thanks for sharing your technique!


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## Bear Creek Steve

Scrapfe,

Re: propolis as a stain of wood finish; try it and let us know. Color of course will be determined by how dark your propolis is. For this purpose you can use denatured alcohol which is much cheaper but it must never be taken internally. Denatured alcohol is a poison.

I have heard that you can paint the insides of hive bodies with this propolis solution because it mimics the insides of natural bee trees. Allow the alcohol to evaporate before installing in the hive.


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## John_H

Dr. Marla Spivak from the Univ of Minn. was at the fall Missouri State Beekeeper's meeting and talked quite a bit about propolis. Here is a link to a page on making tincture from their web site. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~reute001/htm-files/Propolis%20extract.html

I made some of the 30% solution with Everclear last fall.


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## Scrapfe

Bear Creek Steve said:


> Scrapfe,... Re: propolis as a stain of wood finish; try it and let us know..


I know propolis makes a good wood stain, sealer, or finish. The violin maker Stradivarius used propolis on his musical instruments and I hear his fiddles are still in demand. Propolis stain is sometimes known by the name “Italian varnish.”

I have some propolis already dissolving in 90% rubbing alki. I have no idea how much it will make the grain rise, or how deep into the wood it penetrates. These are two questions I need answers or at least ‘guess-ters’ to. 

I have never before used propolis for a wood project. I want a deep rich color. How much do I need to plan on saving so I have enough for my project? I don't know how quick and thick it will load up on the sandpaper or how quick and hard it will dry. I am looking for information. I plan on buffing my project with fine steel wool and then paste wax and polish the bejebers out of it and after I am satisfied with the finish. I would think that 90% rubbing alki would carry the propolis and quickly evaporate. I am making myself a new Sunday got to meeting walking stick out of a 1 1/4 inch hardwood dial, a brass hame knob, and a replacement 7/8" rubber cane tip. For decorations I plan to inlay it with unfired .380 auto FMJ slugs. I have also considered using either paint thinner, mineral spirits, or turpentine to dissolve my propolis in.


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## gennetika

Bear Creek Steve said:


> Ola Gennetika,
> 
> CAUTION: Never allow alcolol to be in the presence of an open flame!
> 
> Propolis Tincture:
> 
> Part 1:
> 
> Part 2:
> 
> 
> Thanks Steve fo your recipe, i think its gonna be a total success over here.
> omar.


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## Mbeck

Does anyone sell their own homemade tincture? 
I would thing that selling something made with alcohol for consumption could be a problem with 
all the rules governing consumable alcohol.
It there a way to dissolve in everclear boil off alcohol and replace carrier with something less 
regulated?

I always giggle a little when someone jumps on these type of threads and recommends propolis dissolved in 8 oz hard hard liquor as a cure!


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## Scrapfe

Mbeck said:


> ... I always giggle a little when someone... recommends propolis dissolved in ... hard hard liquor as a cure!


Yea, I giggle a little bit too when I try those cures. 

An old German woman with an accent as thick as a Wurst told me to, "...Mix up honey, lemon juice, hot water, und ein pint of Snaps, 'trunk' zit all down at once Kinder, und du will forget all about zee Cold!" It works!!! I forgot about everything!!!!


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## lorcoalaska

I tried glenlivett and propolis. No dissolve.....so put it in a hot cup of coffee..down the hatch.


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## blueskydixon

Last year, I made it like Bear Creek Steve said. Lay out the newspaper, it stains everything! I've tried drinking it straight and it's awful. If I add it to a shot of water, it is tolerable (and it mixes oddly for a clear brown liquid). It stains cups, so I use a disposable one. I've added it to tea, and it was good, but also stained the cup. I've been trying it on tick bites, improvement on less itching and swelling, but it stains the skin. One can say, if it's used as furniture stain, it stains just about anything. I made 4 oz and I've barely made a dent in it. I bought bottles with glass droppers on Amazon and they work great for storage/applying.


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## Twilsey

John_H said:


> Dr. Marla Spivak from the Univ of Minn. was at the fall Missouri State Beekeeper's meeting and talked quite a bit about propolis. Here is a link to a page on making tincture from their web site. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~reute001/htm-files/Propolis%20extract.html
> 
> I made some of the 30% solution with Everclear last fall.


This recipe worked perfect for me, a very controlled method, outcome is you know what % solution you are extracting.


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## thesecurityeagle

Twilsey said:


> This recipe worked perfect for me, a very controlled method, outcome is you know what % solution you are extracting.


Does anyone have this actual page cached. I remember reading this before but the page is now missing. I would appreciate a response as I was going to use this to make a batch of tinctures.


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## Ravenseye

You can try this. It's a decent summary of the recipe. Almost exactly what I use. 

https://beeinformed.org/2011/09/13/propolis-and-human-health/


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## Dennis Sitter

Put the propolis in the freezer in a zip lock bag. Freeze for a day. Take it out and hit with a hammer. Will shatter into a powder. Put in a jar with everclear. Will dissolve is a couple of days if you shake it every time you pass. I made a couple of pints this way this spring. Made some with rubbing alcohol took his way longer to dissolve.


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## Ravenseye

Good vodka will work too. As high a proof as you can get. Everclear can't be found around here so I sometimes use good vodka.


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## ABK

I know this thread is about using it in tinctures, but I know my grandma has always used it by dissolving it in butter. You can go from raw propolis to final medicinal product in 1 day and be reaping benefits from it already. Also doesn't involve alcohol, if you don't want to administer it to your 5 year old.


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## antonioh

It looks that it´s hard for you to get your hands on 70% alcoholin that side of the pond...

It´s easy here so ... this is how I do :


370 g própolis in a bottle (no need to grind), add 70 % alcohol until it makes (própolis + alcohol) 1 litre.

Keep it in a closet away from light 

Shake well twice a day for 1 month

Decant carefully after 1 month. The wax bits will remain on the bottom and you will get a clear and very dark brown tincture that have a concentration of about 25 ~ 30 %.

How to know the tincture concentration you have ?

Get a 10 cc seringe , block the tip (with plastic, plasticine or wathever you like), put it upside down and fill it with 10 cc of your tincture. Let it evaporate until the remain has the consistency of honey. Reed what level has the seringe (for instance 2.6 cc, that equals 26%). That will be your concentration.


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## blueskydixon

Here are the notes I've written down in the past. 
*Making Propolis Extract*

This sheet will explain a method for extracting propolis for use. Propolis extract is made by dissolving propolis collected from honey bee colonies into alcohol and straining out the precipitate.
The best alcohol to use is 70% ethyl alcohol (also known as grain alcohol or Everclear). This would allow the tincture to be used internally or externally. You can use rubbing alcohol if the tincture will be used externally only.
Although rare some people are allergic to propolis so precautions should be taken. All precautions with regard to alcohol should be taken.

*Propolis Extract Procedure*
1. Collect propolis from the bee hive. The propolis should be clean and free of wax, paint, wood etc. The propolis should be in small pieces. The smaller the better but no larger than a marble.
2. Determine the percentage propolis you want to extract. It is not recommended that concentrations higher than 30% be extracted. If you require a higher percentage, make a 30% extract and concentrate it as described below.
3. Place the proper amount of alcohol and propolis (see chart below) into a container and seal the top. Shake and store in a warm dark place. I put it in a brown bag on the counter.
4. Two or three times per day shake the container and return to warm dark place. Continue this for 2 weeks.
5. Filter the liquid through a coffee filter. The liquid is now ready for use.
---AND THEN THESE NOTES---

* Propolis Tincture Concentration Procedure*
1. Make extract as above to a known percent. Find the percent you made above in column 1 in the chart below. Then in column 2 find the desired percent propolis. Follow across to column 3 to find the amount of extract to evaporate
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
start extract %
desired extract %
% volume to reduce
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10%
20%
50%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10%
30%
66.7%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10%
40%
75%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20%
30%
33.4%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20%
40%
50%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30%
40%
25%
 
 
 
 
 
 
 If you have 10% extract and you want to have 40 % you would have to let 75% of the alcohol evaporate. If you started with 1 cup, you would let it evaporate until you have 1/4 cup remaining.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Let the container set with the cover off until the correct amount is evaporated off. You can hurry it along by warming it up. Be careful because alcohol is flammable.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
*Propolis Salve (3%)*
1. Start by making a 30% extraction mixture.
2. Mix 1 part extract with 9 parts petroleum jelly by weight. Start with extract and slowly mix in the petroleum jelly. You can liquefy the jelly by heating in a double boiler but you must continue to stir until it solidifies or the propolis will settle to the bottom.

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

oz. petroleum jelly
oz propolis extract (30%)
teaspoons propolis extract
 
 
 
1.75
0.19444
1.5
3.75
0.41667
3
7.5
0.83333
6
13
1.44444
10.25


 
***BY THE WAY, THIS SALVE STAINS CLOTHING***
---AND FINALLY, THESE NOTES---
Propolis Tincture:

Part 1:

A) First buy an old working electric coffee grinder at a flea market or Goodwill store.
B) Put your propolis chunks in a plastic baggie in your freezer for a couple of days.
C) Take a few chunks of propolis from the freezer and grind them immediately to a powder.
D) Dump the powder on a piece of paper and return it to the freezer. Grind more if necessary.
E) Pour about two inches of White Lightening (Everclear) in a disposable glass bottle with a lid.
F) Add the powdered propolis to the fluid in the bottle while swirling and gently shaking, then cap.
G) Place the capped bottle on top of your water heater or furnace and shake daily for 4-6 weeks.
H) Much of the propolis will dissolve but the beeswax, bee legs, and wood shavings, etc. will not.

Part 2:

I) Form a funnel shape out of a piece of fly screen and line it with a paper coffee filter.
J) Place the funnel/filter over a throw away container, possibly bottom ½ of a milk “bottle” box.
K) Pour the slurry of propolis and alcohol through the funnel/filter
L) The resulting clear dark fluid will be a fully saturated solution, or high concentration propolis tincture.
M) The dregs in the filter can be used as the partial feed stock for the next batch of tincture you make.
N) Bottle the tincture for topical use only and use yourself or sell. You may want to reduce the 
Concentration.


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