What To Do When You Finish Your Dit Da Jow

What to do with your Dit Da Jow liniment once it has been depleted and all you have left is the herbs is an important question that needs to be answered. If your jar is large enough and you plan on purchasing another herb kit you can add that kit in with the first batch and your second batch will be stronger than the first. Unfortunately most people are using a one gallon or 5 liter glass jar which is not large enough to accommodate two kits.The same problem arises when that second batch is finished, so what is the answer?

Wine Press

A wine press is the best way to get everything out of the Dit Da Jow herbs, this of course can be done with the Iron Palm liniment or any other herb kit. The herbs leftover after you have used all the liniment are called the Dregs. Using a wine press will squeeze the Dregs to the point of releasing all the liniment absorbed by the herbs, this can be the most powerful liniment as the pressure from squeezing the herbs releases most of the compounds and constituents stored in the herbs from the extraction process.

Finding A Wine Press

A wine press which is also called a fruit press are readily available at Ebay and Amazon. On occasion you will see them at swap meets and garage sales. We would recommend one that uses food grade stainless steel for the inner baskets that hold the herbs (dregs) to be squeezed.  See Below:

 

Step by Step

We will guide you step by step the best way to use your wine press to get as much liniment as possible from the dregs. After trying various ways to do it we found the following method works the best. Besides your wine press you should have a large glass pot or measuring cup like shown below. Each wine press will have a short nylon drain tube that attaches to the protruding tube that extends from the front of the outer basket. You will need to elevate and position the wine press so it is higher than your pot or measuring cup so when you start squeezing the herbs the liniment will drain thru the tube into your receptacle. I have found setting your wine press on your kitchen counter right next to your sink works well. Just place your receptacle in the sink with the tube extending over it. You can also set the wine press at the edge of a table and have your receptacle on a chair just below. You can use whatever method works best for your particular situation. This must be done before you start step one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting

Step one is with your receptacle in place start adding your herbs into the basket making sure they are leveled out after you are done. Step Two is to lower your squeeze plate until it touches the herbs but no farther, Do Not Squeeze!

 

 

 

 

 

Now make sure your drain tube is over your receptacle and start turning your handle so the squeeze plate starts pressing down on the herbs. You now will see your liniment passing thru the tube into the receptacle, keep turning the handle until you feel substantial resistance, then stop. Once the liniment stops flowing thru the drain tube slowly tilt the wine press so more liniment flows into your receptacle. Once it stops set the wine press flat again and repeat, it will become increasingly harder to turn the handle but turn as much as you can and stop.

I have found that if you wait 15 minutes or a half hour you will be able to turn the handle some more, this is where patience come in but worth it in the end. The photo below is after doing this on and off for about an hour. I was able pull out about 16 ounces of some extra strength liniment.

Final Steps

Now is the time to take a break and leave the wine press for several hours, the longer the better, as the constant pressure of the squeeze plate forces more liniment out and allows you to turn the handle some more. I have found this is the most important step in getting all the liniment out of the herbs. The photo on the left below shows about another 5 ounces squeezed out by waiting about 8 hours. I forgot to mention that all the liniment squeezed should be put in a glass bottle with an airtight lid. The photo below on the right shows the herbs squeezed tight and compressed so much it looks like a solid piece.

Clean Up

Once all the liniment has been squeezed out you can discard the herbs and clean all the components of the wine press. Some liniments are very resinous and are sticky if this is the case you will need to use some rubbing alcohol to clean the baskets, drain tube and squeeze plate.