On this page the BFVEA will place questions received by visitors to this website and answered by Committee members or experienced Producers.  If you would like to ask a question please email by clicking here.       Q.  I have made some flower essences but unfortunately one stock bottle of a new essences has visible bits when the bottle is shaken.  Is there anything that I can do.  C. from Amersham  A.  Sediment may have occured due to several factors:- 1.   The bottle wasn't sterilised properly.  (What many don't realise is that you must sterilise the bottles you buy before you use them and that includes the glass pipettes).  2.   The bottle was left open for too long - air contamination. 3.   The bottle or pipette came into contact with human skin - contamination 4.   Enough alcohol was not used as a preservative - bacteria will grow  5.   Storage of essences is important.  They need to be kept as cool as possible especially in hot weather.  You need to chuck this bottle out and make a new stock bottle from the Mother tincture. Q.   What is the percentage of alcohol you should use in a stock bottle? A.  30-40% of alcohol even in a 10ml/15ml bottle should be used.   Cheap alcohol does not preserve as well as the good quality stuff i.e. don't use supermarket own brand vodka and beware of cheap brandy, it is full of dyes to give it that caramel colour. Answered by Elly Yule of Grassdancer Essences and BFVEA committee member Q.  How can I get hold of the booklet that you publish on bottling and labelling? G from West Sussex A.  The BFVEA represents flower essence practitioners and is a membership association however BAFEP is the organisation who represents producers of flower essences and publishes a booklet on bottling and labelling.  For more information and to receive a copy of their booklet go to http://bafep.com Answered by Dawn White of 7Seven Way Healing and BFVEA Committee member Q.  I have a query about using expired essences. A.  There are two issues here - one legal/food and the other an energy issue. Essences that are past their best before or expiry date should not legally be sold in the EU/UK.  It is also a Trading Standards issue. However if the person buying KNOWS they are out of date, they may decide to still accept them as well-made essences can still be perfectly robust years out of date.  Answered by Sue Lilly of Greenmantrees A.  I recently started using a very out-of-date essencfe but which seemed to really fit my needs.  A well made essence, it seems to me, need not go 'off'. To my great delight a dream I had just the next morning showed me just how potent it was!  A recurrent nightmare with a very anguished, impotent ending suddenly allowed my unconscious to find a surprisingly potent way forward. It also seems right to require a sell-by-date so as to fit the law requirements as a category of food stuff. Answered by Carol Rudd BFVEA Committee member and Editor of the BFVEA free e-newsletter A.  There are essences made by Dr. Bach in the 1930's that are still potent today.  If essences are well kept there is no problem with old Father Time.  Answered by Erik Pelham of Butterfly Essences and BFVEA Co-Chair