Hey guys,

A friend of mine is about to begin his first attempt at extraction using a slightly modified version of Marsofold's tek. Before proceeding, he wanted to clarify a few questions during the NP extraction step of the reaction.

After adding the warmed Naphtha solvent to the lye/mimosa juice the tek says to cap the jug and mix for ~5 minutes and then leave it undisturbed for 4 hours. The question is this: Should the cap be removed permanently after the 5 minutes of mixing for ventilation, or should it just be unscrewed/loosened so that temperature loss is not as great? When reading other teks, some mentioned using cling wrap with holes poked in it during this stage of the reaction and others mentioned removing the cap and immersing the jug in a warm water bath. From others experience, what would be the best way to go about this stage of the reaction? Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Cap on or off post mixing polar and non-polar layer isn't going to affect anything, afaik.

From what i remember, it's a good idea to stop mixing every minute or so and slightly unscrew the cap to prevent any pressure buildup ( always wear gloves and goggles and have vinegar at hand if ever some of that basified to heck liquid decides to jump at you). Screw back on tight, and continue mixing. Once you're done mixing, cap or no cap shouldn't matter.
I used to put the bottle in hot water bath before mixing, afterwards wasn't important because the layers were separated before the bottle had a chance to cool down much.
"Undisturbed for 4 hours" is arbitrary, what you want is for any emulsion in the non polar layer to have settled, ime about 15 mn usually was enough, though this may vary.
Good luck, and be safe!

Ive never had any pressure build up enough to worry about.

agreed

Me neither really, but since i like to get the mix really hot, and then tilt n turn for 15mns, i always felt better unscrewing from time to time, even if it only made a minor pshht. I'm more of a better-safe-than-sorry type guy, maybe too much so

Thanks for the input everyone! Much appreciated! Does anyone have opinions about the heat bath during the NP extraction phase as it pertains to overall yield and efficiency of the reaction?

Hello malphaman,

I would loosen the lid every minute or so. You may get a small build up of pressure in the container - I usually do. Once the pressure has been released, put the lid back on and continue.

Good luck with your extraction.

My friend wanted to thank everyone for their help. He performed 3 pulls of VM&P Naphtha today and was planning on allowing the solution to evaporate down to ~100 ml before freeze precipitating. Is this a good measure to begin freeze precipitation or would he be better suited evaporating more or less than to the 100ml volume?

I would evaporate it down by half of the original amount pulled. Also, i find heat baths unnecessary, due to separation happening quite easily on its own and because of extra impurities being pulled while it's hot. Hope that helps!

Agreed...perhaps do a heatbath for your last pulls, after you have done your "normal" ones and feel you have extracted a decent amount. This way you can have some assurance of getting a relatively pure product initially, but will also be fairly confident you have truly exhausted the mhrb before getting rid of it. Hope the extraction is going well

My friend wanted to thank everyone for their help! After only 24 hours of freeze precipitation, he already sees beautiful white crystals forming! The hardest part now is just being patient