This isn't anything that's causing me a problem, just something I am curious about. We add lye to water to raise it's PH and I would assume that it would take a specific ratio of lye:water to get a specific PH level, but I see that many people use vastly different amounts of water for their extractions but always seem to use the same amount of lye (1:1 with mimosa). I use 300ml per 50g of mimosa, but I've seen others using like 3 or 4 times that amount of water and still the same amount of lye... how does that work? I'd have thought if you used 4 times the amount of water you'd need 4 times the amount of lye, or is it that I should less lye?

Or is it that the lye somehow reacts with the mimosa, so the 1:1 of mimosa:lye is needed regardless of how much water is used?

Maybe a silly question, I'm not a chemist.

People use more lye for powdered bark due to the surface area.

You can get ratios to pH with just lye and water, but when mimosa comes into play or other plant material, it is a different story.

The pH scale is logarithmic and it'll need huge differences in proportions (lye:water) to see any changes. 40g of lye in 1000ml of water will give you a pH of 14, yet 4g of lye in 1000ml of water will give you a pH of 13. If one person adds 40g of lye in 1000ml he'll get a pH of 14, if another adds the same amount in 2000ml he'll get a pH of 13.7, so there won't be a huge difference pH-wise.

The 1:1 lye:mhrb is proposed by Noman since it is foolproof. Normally some lye is needed to neutralise the acids in the bark and then enough lye to lyse the bark. By adding 1:1 one is overbasifying, but that's OK since totally eliminates underbasification and emulsion issues As said above, foolproof!

Thanks. Answered perfectly

I had no idea it worked like that. I had assumed double the water would need double the lye.

So what is the function of water in the basewater? Is it just to dissolve lye? I use pellets. I am not sure if there is a liquid form of NaHO. What would its pH be?

The best way to know.... Get a Ph tester!
They seem pretty cheap on eBay.

I have a pH tester actually, but that was not my question but that is okay. I think it must be broken though.

The downside of pH testers is...they electrode needs to be kept in a neutral solution. All-the-time. They advise to use the neutral fluid in the lid so it stays wet but in my experience this is no airtight seal and it will evaporate out, leaving a crystalline residue on the electrode etc. Who has a memory to check and refill to secure the electrode? I don't. So...I cannot calibrate my pH tester anymore, it gives an error. And it doesn't seem to be a type where you can buy replacement electrodes. pH testers that offer that feature are much more expensive. And they too have electrodes that need to be replaced and kept in neutral solutions.

I wonder if pH paper in the long run isn't just cheaper.

It would be lye mixed with water

Maybe just to get volume then. So there is more surface for the MRB to break down.

I guess the water is needed to hold the DMT that comes out of the mhrb. Also just mixing dry mhrb with dry lye would not break down the cell walls of the mhrb, which is needed for the DMT to come out of it, they would just sit there together not really doing anything... not to mention that without the water there would be no layer for the solvent to sit on once you add it. I'm sure one of our nexus chemists will explain it properly