Curing Dried Amanita Muscaria

[Rebis]

Teeter says in his book, ‘Amanita Muscaria: Herb of Immortality’, that curing dried Amanitas for two to three months in a jar will convert the Ibotenic Acid to Muscimlo.

Is this still seen as a viable method?

I ask because my dehydrator cannot reach the higher temperature of 171.F to convert the Ibotenic Acid to Muscamol – and the Lemon Tek method wouldn’t be suitable for me, because I’m not keen on making a storable drink out of Amanita, but would rather make a cup tea out of the dried Amanitas (crumbled into tea leave size bits) in the same way as one would make a normal cup of tea with loose tea or tea bag, as and when I want to microdose, if that is possible?

Best.
Rebis.

[UrsusSapiens]

Well, I guess there are several ways to achieve the conversion by curing it one way or another. H-G. Schaaf in Hamburg teaches several ways, but most of them take some time.
In your case, I actually don't get the point of your objection against the lemon tek... It does not take THAT long to do, and the fact, that the product has a longer shelf live shouldn't be of any significance, since you will use it right away.
As I see it, your problem actually is rooted in the fact, that you can't know for certain, how potent your raw material really is, if you produce only a small batch at a time.
Considering that your muscimole intake for microdosing lies around 1 milligram per dose, you run quite easily into the problem of over-/underdosing for microdosing purposes.

If I were you, I definitively would go with making a large batch in a way, that guarantees a long shelf live and an easy way to guesstimate the potency of that batch. Lemon tek is one way to do this, the DMSO tek seems to be another way. I would even consider making a simplified lemon tek with citric acid, filter it, simmer it down/evaporate it, so one could get a better estimation of the dry mass in the solution, then rehydrate in an 20% alcoholic solution with a known volume for volumetric dosing. But that's just me.

[Rebis]

The trouble is, is that this is all very new to me, and I haven't quite understood all the different processes, and contradictory once at that. I do not want to prepare a large batch, only for it to go off before I can use it all.
On top of that, I haven't been able to gather enough AMs to experiment with, so I've got to choose my options wisely.
I've never taken Amanita Muscaria before, so it will be a bit scary the first time, even a micro dose.

But, having read your post, UrsusSapiens, I understand that the lemon tek method preserves the AMs solution for a long time, so I might try that when I'm ready.

Best.
Rebis

[UrsusSapiens]

There are at least 2 (easy) ways to preserve even a larger batch. The first one is to filter your liquid extract REALLY WELL and to boil your extract down, so you get a powder, pack it into brown glass and add a desiccant sachet to keep stuff dry. Since this way offers you all advantages, I prefer this method especially for really large batches. If I were to process e.g. 5 or 10 kg of amanita, this is the way to go. The powder extract takes up no space, is storable for a year at least, and I could make every tincture/tea I want with whatever concentration I want with a much higher exactness of dosage. HOWEVER - I will need decent filtration means and a GOOD scale, i.e. a milligram scale. Since both won't cost you an arm and a leg, I strongly advice to get this things.
The second option is alcohol. If alcohol is not disagreeable to you, an amount of at least 15%, better 20% alcohol (ethanole, non- methylated, non-denatured) will enhance the shelf life of your liquid extraction by a considerable amount of time, several month at least. If you are microdosing, and you DO NOT OBJECT to alcohol, this is the easiest way. Get some absolute alcohol, mix it 1 part booze : 4 part liquid extract, and you are good to go. If you use vodka, 1:1 is the ratio, but this increases the total volume of your liquid extract - for better or worse. Filtering is highly advisable, because the better you filter your extracts, the better you will get out most of the stuff, that could go stale....

[Rebis]

Ursus, would paper coffee filters do for the filtering?
Alchohol is fine with me.
Thank you for the two methods.

Best.
Rebis

[UrsusSapiens]

I do my filtering this way: 1. step: through a cheese cloth (any fine cotton fabric will do the trick); 2. step: Yep, you guessed it: coffee filter. But I extend this a bit... I have some lab glassware here, so I can afford to grab me a nice glass funnel and stuff some cotton balls densely into the neck of the funnel. Then I place my coffee filter into the funnel and start filtrating. That's NOT the fastest route (a vacuum filtration system would be more effective, and indeed I have one here, but -honestly- I am much to lazy to rig this thing up, if I don't absolutely have to do this.... but that's just me. ). With the exception of very fine bio-matter above the macromolecular level and of the fungus spores (which are about 5-10 microns big), your extract should be sufficiently filtered by now, to let the alcohol do its preserving work.
Rule of thumb is: the more fungus matter you get out of the extract, the longer will be the shelf life, because there is less stuff in there that could rot, deteriorate or get moldy.
Step 3 is actually optional and just my personal "pet method", because I am a bit "anal" when it comes to fungal spores. Spores are some of the toughest things on earth, so I think it's better to get rid of them as well, whenever possible. That's why I do a 3rd filtration step using my Sawyer Mini water filter, that filters down to 2 microns - that should take care of the spores, which are 5-10 micron big, and probably of some cell debris too.
Further filtering would be possible, but much to expensive for the benefits one would get out of it. So I guess my three step method is the best compromise between time, costs and effectiveness. But I am always open for suggestions and opinions about enhancing my methods.

[Caroline]

Teeter says in his book, ‘Amanita Muscaria: Herb of Immortality’, that curing dried Amanitas for two to three months in a jar will convert the Ibotenic Acid to Muscimlo.

Is this still seen as a viable method?

I'd like to have the opinion of other experienced users as well!

About a month ago, I started to notice a difference in the effects I get from the decoction/tea I prepare with the amanitas I collected last fall. They were dried on a radiator and they are kept in an airtight container, in a cupboard. I've been microdosing the decoction/tea since the end of october 2019, generally every other day or once every three days.

At the beginning, a moderate dose would make me sleep way better and have me waking up really early at about 3 or 4 in the morning, feeling very creative and energetic.
Now, I just sleep way better and wake up at my usual time (about 6), without any particular creative flow nor particular surge of energy (just regular kind of energy).

So, maybe it's just a tolerance effect but maybe it's the composition of the dried amanitas that changed slightly (in about 5-6 months), the ibotenic acid (stimulant part of the amanita) being converted into more muscimol?
And maybe it' my airtight container that's not so tight, or the fact that I regularly open that container, which add more oxygen to it each time...?

I'd like to know how other experienced users relate to this or not and how they may explain it?

Next fall, I'm planning to try and find a way to preserve my amanitas better, maybe by making tinctures right after they got dried, or by making capsules with the dried mushroom.... If someone knows how to preserve that creative boost effect all year round, let me know!