I'm with yah there on wasting ca$h, and I've made plenty of other mistakes along the way lol. I think there's three levels to learning NBE:
1) Novice
2) Intermediate
3) Expert
Me?, I'm a intermediate cause I'm always learning.
But when it comes to extracts I can tell you this,
Liquid herbal extracts work quickly. Because they do not need to move through the first pass of the liver for digestion, they enter the bloodstream immediately and affect their receptor sites within the body within minutes after consumption. So in my opinion absorption is key, especially if your liver function is impaired.
Now for ainterol's PM extract they list it as 3-6 drops = 120-240 mg (1 drop is 40 mg), but it's also very expensive, and when going from capsule (powder) form there's a learning curve. And if alcohol is a concern you can boil out up to 60% in a few ounces of water per dropper. But generally it's like consuming 1/65th of a can of beer or 1/85th of an 8-ounce glass of wine. Keep in mind though you might lose its active strength.
Welcome to the family.