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thick-lights tek. Though joshisom writes it much clearer
here.
IMO a lot of the ratios and ph levels are quite flexible and wont punish you for not getting them exact.
1. PH 2,3,4 should work. Water amount - the idea is to suck all the goodies from the bark into the water through osmosis, so do it until the final boil looks like weak tea from reusing a teabag too many times.
2. No need for defat.
3. PH 13 or 14 is good. I've read anything over 8 will work. Adding until the solution turns black is a good indicator. Remember your goggles and gloves. Don't piss about with safety.
4. Add a sensible amount of solvent. Lets say you have 500ml of basified solution after reduction, use around 150-200ml of solvent. Idea is to get the solvent saturated with the goodies so don't use too much. You will do more pulls after to get all the goods out.
5. I will let others answer this
