Well, I noticed this after a day but the situation hasn't changed much after letting it sit (undisturbed) for 2 additional days. The yellow-tinted xylene on top sits on what looks like a mound of... let's say peach-colored vomit. This layer kind of slowly blends into the lower, black, what looks like the old lye/bark/water mixture. It's kind of chaotically mixed, with peach melding into black and brown.

Should I let it sit longer or just take the xylene now? I'm not sure if the xylene mixed in with the bark and is still stuck in there, causing the color change, or what, just curious if anyone recommends anything.

In case it wasn't obvious from the first post, this was a STB with water, lye, mhrb.

There have been a handful of pulls with naptha done, and there was probably a tiny layer of naptha mixed in before the xylene got there.

The mixture is about 2.2 liters with the xylene.

Try adding a bit more base to the solution to break up the emulsion and see if that helps.

Well, I added what was a relatively significant amount of base. Same layering seems to occur. I was already at what was about a 1:1 lye to powder ratio, but I'm not sure if powder needs a lot more lye than plain bark.

I might try to get the xylene pulled, as I think i can get most of it without messing with the other layers, but I'm bound to wait a while.