If I have ACRB that's shredded, and I want it to be powdered for a greater surface area during extraction, can I use a blender and water?

I have a Vitamix, so I was thinking that during the Prepare Freeze/Thaw stage, that I could take 100g of bark and 300-400ml of water, and just blend it all together to pulverize the bark. The Vitamix could even be used to kick off the initial heating.

My thinking is that having the bark IN the water would blend better than just the dry bark.

Would that work, or would the power of the Vitamix cause the water and plant material to overmix/emulsify?

Thanks!

I tried that... didn't work. Water is just a straight nono as any powder then lumps together and prefents fast blade action. Even my freeze thaws didn't work as good as dry.

Vitamix is best, plus coffee grinder for extra powder. can use a flour sieve to seperate and repowderize.

Getting your bark to a fine powder can be quite difficult, I know this all too well because I collect and process my own. What I've found works best is, once you have it reasonably fine (I'm talking small wood chip consistency) is to soak the bark in a minimal amount of fresh water so that the fibres absorb the water, expanding and softening in the process. Next, freeze the wet bark, thaw it and allow to dry (you can use mild heat or a desiccant if you wish to accelerate the drying process). From here they should be much easier to powderise in your blender. Don't forget to keep any extra water the bark doesn't absorb and add it to your extraction, as it may contain small amounts of spice.

There are no rules.

Try it out and let us know how it works!

That's right! Like my dad always said "don't knock it till you've tried it."