SWIM did several successful extractions with the basic stb tek. but one thing has puzzled him. on a few of his jars, the last pull refuses to separate into an extractable solvent layer. there's no trace of the solvent apparent. the jars just look like dark base mixture. even a week didn't separate the layers the last time, and this time he has a few jars that are doing the same thing.

he's not complaining as his yields are good, but he'd really like to get that last bit of solvent out. he never shakes the jars, just gently turns them end over end. he's never had problems with emulsion. these jars don't have visible bubbles. it just seems like the solvent has comfortably integrated into the base mixture and has no plans on leaving those jars without a messy fight.

would adding more lye help? could the base just be spent and only pulling oils that are so dark they're indistinguishable from the base?

SWIM be royally confrused. lil help?

Adding more water and lye helped when I had a similar problem. I also took my home-made magnetic stirrer and set the magnet off to one side, in affect making an off-balanced spinner (a.k.a rumble pack, a.k.a vibrator, a.k.a massage wand), I then used this to gently tap the glass repeatedly, which seemed to help make it separate faster.

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thanks gents.

he added more lye and water, and he hopes it's enough because there's no room left in the jars. when he holds the jars up to the light he can see that there's a layer of solvent floating on the base, but it's dark purple and he can't believe there isn't still some base caught up in the solvent layer.

i suppose he can try the vibration technique, but is it worth the hassle? he's already yielded close to 2% from his MHRB.

chemistry experiment or get rid of evidence. hmmm.......