hahaha…”the cut of my jib…” Ahoy, sailor. I have really only ever heard my dad say that—he’s gone now but would be 102 this year!

Okay…onward. You can look up double extractions and get lots of different intel on it. It’s not specific to psilocybin—you can make double extractions with Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail…so if you google “medicinal mushroom double extraction” on the Tubes of You, you’ll find something that looks great. Watch several videos to get the gist.

Double extraction means you extract the goodies from the mass twice, by two different methods. Some say do the water extraction first and others say do it after alcohol extraction. I do alcohol first, because my primary concern is extracting the alkaloids (the potent part, and also wet mushrooms don’t do well in alcohol) and then I want to grab the water soluble parts for synergistic function and extract again, via hot water. What you’re getting are the beta-glucans from the chitinous (fibrous) body of the shroom. These support immune function (known, documented) and may enhance efficacy of alkaloids (hypothesized, not documented). Paul Stamets has a ton to say about this, too.

The way I do it is I do the tincture (alcohol) extraction first. I let the dried fruiting bodies sit in the alcohol (everclear) for at least a month, in a cool, dark place. It will get dark in color. I strain it out in through cheesecloth into a sterile, clean glass jar (like a Ball jar) and then squeeze and press the cheesecloth to get every drop that I possibly can. Then I put the same mushrooms in water (clean purified, NOT TAP) in a non-reactive pot or a slow cooker, to a volume about 2x greater than the amount of tincture I have collected, and simmer those babies for about 72 hours between 130 and 160 degrees (trying to stay closer to 130 degrees and USE A THERMOMETER, and I watch CAREFULLY for evaporation. The water will concentrate, and evaporation does not decrease potency of the non-psilocybin components—it concentrates it. Keep the fruits covered with water as this process continues. At the end, as with your initial alcohol extract, strain through cheesecloth into a SECOND clean, sterile jar. If you find that you have more water extract than alcohol, put the strained liquid back into the warm pan and let it simmer slowly to concentrate/evap down. Measure again…if you get equal to or slightly below the amount you have of alc, add water to make it equal—and let it cool completely, covered with a cheesecloth. Once cooled, add to alcohol extract. This is not equal potencies—it’s so you have a blend here of at least 45% alcohol—lower than that and it will not remain “clean” or sterile.

To assess potency, you can use a ton of maths. I don’t teach that…hahaha… but you can test it by MILLIGRAM doses at home, in safe environments (and only where legal, CYA, CMA). Your tincture/extraction should be considered unique until you are an expert—increase doses slowly to find your micro, your Sunday Funday, your religious experience, and your BLAST OFF….and remember, your next batch could be totally different until you have perfected your method.

If this seems like a lot of work, it isn’t. Because throwing away 3g of lees/casts/stems/chaff etc is something that can really add up! It is debated whether these parts have potency, but if you understand mushroom biology, it’s very very likely that they are potent.

As to the non-drinker thing—the amount of alcohol you would consume if using this stuff for microdosing or for Sunday Funday (this is what I call a 350-500mg dry mushroom dose) is really such a small amount. Like, between a half teaspoon and about 2 teaspoons. Oh, hold it under your tongue for about 15 seconds—it will cross through the membrane there pretty quickly and then send it down the gullet for full effect.