I dont know if it is because its been really humid out...But for some reason, my crystals do not stay crystals!!! The past two attempts in the past 2 days have been difficult. I took the jar of just crystals out of the COLD freezer, but when I put the fan on them to dry them out... The crystals start turning gooey... I got a good yield, some of which was almost white, some very orange, and the rest was just yellow goo! I tried to freeze it again but the same thing happened... when I took them out of the freezer and put the fan on them, they would get soft.

So earlier tonight I took it all and did a nice recrystalization with naptha. They look VERY nice in the freezer, but Im afraid once I take them out to completely dry, they will melt again!!

Am I doing something wrong? On the last step to drying, I just lay the mason jars on their side with the fan blowing directly inside.. Should I cover the opening with paper towel or something? maybe moisture is getting in?

I never had this problem with crystals turning back into mush! Hopefully I can figure out what im doin wrong! I appreciate the help greatly!

I found out this can happen when I left my spice in a car trunk for a few days during the summer.
Needless to say I ended up with orange clumps that were still active, but I prefer the waxy stuff anyway.
It seems like humidity and heat are the enemies, I now keep my spice in a sealed container inside 2 plastic bags in the bottom of a cool dark shelf, and I haven't noticed anymore yellowing.

When swim was doing extractions I noticed that the change in temp. from the freezer to my a/c-less house caused water to precipitate on and in the jar and no matter how much solvent I got out the DMT just ended up dissolving away. I also personally think that using a fan was causing the precipitation of the water too, plus I don't want my stuff blowing away either. I found that a 65 degree to 70 degree room with good circulation and ventilation worked the best for me.

Try flat baking dish(glass), with a fan you won't fail

OK the SAME F-ing thing happened... I left the two shot glasses out, one with a lot and one with only a little... The one with little melted ALL THE WAY, left a tiny puddle of goo and some soaked into the napkin. The shot glass with a lot of crystals melted too and is no longer dry crystals. I have been trying to do something about this for four days and I CANNOT get them to stay into crystal form. Im trying not to get discouraged. I have recrystalized 3 times already and they just melt

SO right now I stuck the shot glass back in the freezer... I dont even know what thats going to fucking resolve. Im sorry, Im having a shitty day and I Was REALLY hoping to see some nice, dry crystals today... I thought it was going to work.

So what do I do?

Did you do what it says in the FAQ link entropymancer posted?

yes I did.

Ok look, first of all, dont worry, nothing is lost until you throw it away.

Why do you say napkin, where in the story was there a napkin involved??? Use warm naphtha to soak the napkin in, to retrieve the dmt.. do the same with all the puddles, redissolve them in naphtha.. now, the next question, how long did you leave in the freezer after you turned it upside down?

The other thing is, even if you cant get the trick to work (which you should), you can always go for the other option which is to let the goo dry. IME its better if, instead of letting the whole thing stand in a container such as a mason jar, to scrape it up just after you take out of the freezer and put it on a flat-bottom wide glass dish.. Then let it air dry. If you keep scraping it up and moving it around, it should help letting traces of solvent evaporate, and it might take a while but it will dry and crystallze. Then just scrape it up.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

Put a big fan on max setting, and after pouring off the naphtha from the crystals, put the shot glass laying on it's side so the fan is blowing on max speed into the shot glass.

Is it tropical where you live? I just don't know how one can fail with a fan. Maybe you have a small fan?

This is EXACTLY what I did! I took it out of the freezer, layed them on the side and put the fan on max... and this is when it melts!

pour out the naphtha after you freeze and get your crystals. put the lid back on and turn it upside down and place back into the freezer. every now and then just open it up while upside down and let that liquid run out. do that a few times then put it in the refrigerator and repeat that process. I always have problem with my crystals losing volume and turning into goo. sometimes you just have to baby it.

if you cant get around this problem then just perform a re-x.

That's weird.

OK do as stated above then. Pour off the naphtha, and then immediately put the crystals back to the freezer, then fan them for couple minutes, then back to freezer, then fan for 5 minutes, back to freezer, then 10 minutes or up to 2 hours under fan.

This should work.

Hi There.

Aren't both Freebase and Fumarates slightly hygroscopic?

So in that sense wouldn't they both become wet in Humid Environments regardless of the traces of solvent -- be it Limonene or whatever?

Thanks...

im from florida nad its very humid here. i also never have issues with my crystals melting though.

as stated above.

remove from freezer, pour off every drop of naphtha that you can, recap it and place back in freezer upside down for at least 2 hours. remove from freezer, keep upside down and remove lid, set lid off to the side.

i then baby it over the next 1 hour. i set the jar on its side for a few mins as the jar is warming to room temp, after a few mins there is more naphtha to pour off. i do this for a while. then i move it it standing right side up, but having a little wedge under it to keep the jar tilted to one side, so as the jar gets warmer more naphtha will migrate away from the crystals.

thats my whole process. the trick is just staying up on pouring the naphtha off as it warms back to room temp.

after you get to there, just put in a well ventilated room, really any room with a/c. i don't blow a fan on it because i feel like the fan actually helps trap extra naphtha particulates in the spice. (its not allowed to freely escape so it gets blown back into the dmt).

its all about trial and error, im still having a blast refining my methods.

not sure if this is still an issue or not, but if it is why not try what endless suggested..

transfer to a wide, flat bottomed dish and hope for the best.

if they melt, use a razor or scoopula or something to spread it out and let it dry some.

scrap, move, let it dry more. Continue repeating until you have a dry powder...


unless your really set on crystals...

though crystals/powder, they all take you to the same place!

I live in the hard core tropics and have sorted the problems you are having out through much reading here and experimentation. I don't post often as I usually don't have much to add to the vast knowledge kept in the nexus, but I can say with full confidence the following -

Do a sodium carbonate wash to get rid of the excess lye. Sodium hydroxide is hydroscopic and any traces will make your crystals melt with the humidity.

Do not evaporate shellite as the evaporating shellite creates evaporative cooling and water condensation forming oxides. Just put the whole lot in a large jar and freeze precip out.

Try these steps and I will be surprised if your problems aren't solved. Let us know how you go in future.

Edit: turn the dmt into changa. Soda wash and freeze precept your next batch and you will have nice crystals.

Do this and you will get your spice in no time. Just keep scraping and turning it around till you see your crystals.