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Hi Calum
Id' be interested in getting some made. Is it alcohol based?
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Hi, yes. The cheaper variant is 70% the more expensive is more like 10%
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Great that you are doing this with ethanol rather than propylene glycol. The commercial products in the UK all seem to use glycol but the FAO guide indicates that a drawback of that is the higher temperature needed to make the extraction which degrades some of the compounds in the extract. Could be a good selling point ... although it is also said that some water-based lotions make it harder to disperse the propolis extract if you are mixing them. The glycol products declare themselves 'alcohol free!!' so the equivalent on the ethanol products should be 'propylene glycol free!!' which seems a better selling point to me :).
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e14.htm
Do you ever get feedback on how yours performs compared to the usual commercial products? Does its ethanol base ever give problems with it drying up?
PS fatshark - we really need a 'Like' button!
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Hi
no problems with it being alcohol based, I think most people understand this is the gentler extraction method. .
No problems with it drying up, there is a lid on the bottle ;).
My own product, and the products I produce for others have the advantage of the propolis being from a known source.
Commercial producers rely on buying propolis wherever they can get their hands on it. - that could be from anywhere, really I do not believe there is even a standard test method to reliably identify the propolis source (I suppose its pollen could be analysed - after it is extracted).
That's a big marketing difference. You can tell from which local woods the propolis was most likely harvested from by the bees.
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Great link Gavin. The FAO book is a good read. Especially 're extraction. The recipies are a good starting point too, though they are a bit primative (but then the book is aimed at 2&3rd world beekeepers).
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Attachment 2889 Got to get the half of this filled and labelled for the post tomorrow. Are Santas elves on zero hours contract and free just now does anyone know?
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That looks like a fun evening ... er, not.
I can recommend these though it depends what volume is needed ...
Attachment 2890
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thats a nice bit of kit, nice price too! Will propolis gum it up? Another option is to use one of these and overfill, at about 18 pounds a pop its almost but not quite throw away item ....
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Depends how viscous your propolis solution is ... they work well with blood, er, and syrup ;)