Alastair 8,630 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Spent my whole life hearing about the benefits of propolis but have rarely ever used it. But have decided to give it a proper try so just wondering how people actually use it? Have been told it should be dissolved in alcohol and that an easy way to do at home is to dissolve it in vodka. So yesterday I went and bought a bottle of vodka, but have been trying to get the propolis to dissolve in it but no luck. Any other suggestions? Link to post Share on other sites
tristan 4,362 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 not sure what they use. it may be a type of alcohol eg methanol or iso Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Black 3,520 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 The main rule is not to use anything you wouldn't drink. Vodka is fine. @Alastair use this resource; Value-added products from beekeeping. Link to post Share on other sites
Goran 1,523 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 We use ethyl alcochol 96%. Better dissolving in higher concentration, faster. With less concentration dissolve slower and lower extraction. There were some announces last year will occur on the market some organic/bio whatever dissolver as replacement for ethyl alcochol, but nothing yet. Some scientific researches showed that propolis increase the efficiency of antibiotics when used combined in curing. Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,630 Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Well thanks for that info guys. Dave that's an incredibly useful document and not just for propolis, you are a great asset to the community. From reading the document turns out it's best to use 70% alcohol or better, and therein the problem the vodka is only 37%. However a friend of a friend is a brewing fanatic who stills alcohol & is going to give me 750 mls of 100% pure tomorrow. So that plus instructions in that document I should be up and running. I'll report back here in time, my buddy got a sore throat now so he's going to be the first object of my experiments. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Goran 1,523 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Sore throat - I use sage tea and 6-8 drops of alcochol tincture of propolis in it. I gurgle that at least 2 times a day. Several days ago I used it and pain passed. Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Black 3,520 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Dave that's an incredibly useful document Yes, it's an excellent resource. Provides both methods for the 'artisan' and commercial descriptions to international standards. I have used it often. Link to post Share on other sites
Goran 1,523 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 If interested, it is extremelly effective against herpes as water propolis extract. In fact nothing better showed against it as propolis. Croatian scientific bibliography - Browsing paper Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post Mete33 12 Posted April 25, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2015 Spent my whole life hearing about the benefits of propolis but have rarely ever used it. But have decided to give it a proper try so just wondering how people actually use it? Have been told it should be dissolved in alcohol and that an easy way to do at home is to dissolve it in vodka. So yesterday I went and bought a bottle of vodka, but have been trying to get the propolis to dissolve in it but no luck. Any other suggestions? Enjoy making it into roses 5 Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,630 Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Wow that's pretty clever! Link to post Share on other sites
Mete33 12 Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I collect the propolis off the top bar lugs at times ,often contains squashed bee parts etc,the I kneed it into small balls the once I have enough I Peres each one into the shape of a petal and wrap it around a rose stem. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Cyathea 354 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with propolis, when I was a kid my mother used to have a bottle of the tincture and she would drop a few drops into a little water if any of us had a sore throat and we had to slug it back. Tasted hideous, but it really did work incredibly well. I don't inflict that particular one on my kids Until I saw propolis in the propolis mats i never had an appreciation of the incredible variation in colour that it comes. Amazing stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts