Recipe for propolis tincture with a concentration of 10%

Ingredients and proportions for propolis tincture with a concentration of 10%:

• 100 g of raw propolis,
• 140 ml of water (preferably distilled or boiled and cooled),
• 360 ml of 95% V/V alcohol.

Place the propolis in a glass container, pour in the water first, then add the alcohol. Mix the ingredients and let the container sit in a dark place for 14 days. Shake or stir the mixture occasionally.

The vast majority of soluble substances will dissolve within the first 2 days, but it is recommended to wait for 14 days to obtain maximum benefits.

Heat speeds up the dissolution process, but it’s important not to overdo it. We recommend using room temperature. Definitely not higher than 30 degrees Celsius.

Finally, the tincture can be filtered through a paper towel or poured off from the sediment.

This will create a 70% ethanol tincture. You can also simply use 500 ml of 95% alcohol without adding water. This will also result in a 10% tincture, but with 95% ethanol.

The difference is rather small, but the literature suggests that slightly more desirable components dissolve in 70% ethanol, while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are not beneficial in excess in the tincture, dissolve to a lesser extent.

The numbers provided above may seem unclear, but it’s important to consider the following:

• The content of soluble substances in ethanol in raw propolis: 50% (w/w)
• Density of 95% ethanol: 811 g/dm3
• Density of 70% ethanol: 856 g/dm3
• Mixing ethanol with water causes a contraction phenomenon, which means that after mixing 140 ml of water and 360 ml of 95% ethanol, we will not get a total of 500 ml, but only 488 ml.

Therefore:

500 ml of 95% (v/v) ethanol weighs 406 g 360 ml of 95% (v/v) ethanol weighs 291 g 488 ml of 70% (v/v) ethanol weighs 432 g

As a result of the above procedures, we will probably not get exactly a 10% concentration of tincture. Theoretically, it should be 10.3% or 10.8% respectively. However, it will primarily depend on the exact content of soluble substances in ethanol in the used raw material.