Hello SWIM was just wondering, for Noman's tek SWIM was told if using pre-powdered MHRB one would use 1.5-2x water. But if there was more water wouldn't there be need for more lye too? Wouldn't the extra water mean there would be a lower pH? SWIM has just started his first STB and the question came to mind. SWIM decided to go against adding more water or lye because of this and thought he would ask first.

what do you mean 2x the water? two times the water that is recommended in the tek? I think the tek already uses pre-powdered bark.

Also, most of the STB teks use really large amounts of lye so that even if you added double the amount of water your pH would probably still be good to go.

I generally use the following ratios - and ppl tell me I'm a bit low on the water, but for me it works perfectly with good yields:
100g mimosa / 100g lye / ~750-800 ml water
I've heard others use up to 1,500 ml of water with the same amount of lye and mimosa and still have no problems with emulsion. If you do have too little lye in there you will probably get emulsions and then you can always add more lye...

cheers
Enoon

Ok sweet just thought double checking might be a good idea but this clears things up cheers [:

The way to go is to start with 1:1:15 bark/lye/water and add more water only if the solution is not free flowing. With some prepowdered barks 1:1:15 results in a thick sludge that will trap the NP if not thinned before adding it.
There is no need to increase the amount of lye.

Oh ok just thought maybe adding the lye would bring the water to a certain pH making the DMT fully soluble in the non-polar and lessening the pH would make the DMT slightly less soluble but it seems to all have gone well regardless ^.^ Now for finding ways to improve yield [:

The amount of NaOH used in the STB teks is a lot more than what you need for pH 13.5-14, I think you could add quite a bit more water before the pH drops.