Thanks for replying Cyb. So my second pull definitely went better, the naphtha layer on my first pull was not half the size as it was when it was first put in(dont know why that happened on the first one). upon squirting it into the dish before i froze it i noticed the naphtha was yellow and upon settling in the dish I noticed brownish color to it(I did not suck up any of the base layer, it was clear yellow naphtha when I sucked it up with an eye dropper), and have attached a picture. Is this just plant oils and fats or is this dangerous caustic solution floating in there?

Not entirely sure what to make of that pic.

If that shot was before the freeze...it looks like some base material got in there (if the mix is too hot or too basic it can suspend micro particles in the nap)

If that shot is after the freeze...hmmm not sure... maybe some fats...not all bark is the same.

Either way....just collect everything that you get after the freeze...A Re-x of the lot will drop out any impurities...



edit: Yellow naphtha is very normal.
The cloudiness is super saturation of the naphtha and it starts to precipitate (cloud) immediately in a cooler environment.

As for heat...just heat a pan of water and set the bottle in it and turn OFF the heat.
Let it cool to room temp over time...then warm up the bath again...and then let cool...
A cycle...this way the mix is warmed but not constantly hot.

yes that is before freeze, I added 50g of lye just like the tek said, so maybe its the heat, i do have to stove on as low as it can go. any idea as to why my first pulls were yellow instead of cloudy white like yours in the tek?

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it

to get that color out of it when you have the solvent before you freeze it add a little bit of epsom salt that has been dried out in an oven and shake it up. it will absorb all the water from the solvent cause even if you don't get some of the water layer there is still some dissolved in the solvent itself. then just pour off the solvent. this should take out all of the yellow/brown color from the crystals. and there is a much better way to get a yield that freezing it. if you just add the same volume of vinegar to the solvent and shake it up for 5 to 10 and separate that possible boil it down to reduce volume then add base again till it stops precipitating out. then just filter it and you can wash with ammonia and its a lot faster. like only takes an hour or so rather than like three days.

^^ Wut!

That is just confusing...
Hijack your own thread please...

look for 1 L Wheaton bottles, with ground glass tops.
they are borosilicate.

For Cybs tek i always use 750 ml alcohol bottles. they're absolutely perfect! and makes separating the layers a lot easier!

I mean .69 g (690mg) this is off 50g mhrb. Second pull .17g and third pull .10

if i were to do 2 mixing jars at once, could I combine the subsequent pulls from each jar into the same baking tray?

Yeah that's fine...

Okay, awesome, cause the baking trays are rather large and seem like they could fit a bit more, so if I did two extractions I could double the amount of saturated Naphtha and then put it straight in the freezer as opposed to putting a pull from one jar in the baking tray, covering it, and doing another pull, putting it into the same tray and then freezing it. Or is that okay too? What is the time window one has from completing a pull and freezing it?

There is no real reason, apart from too deep, that all the pulls couldn't go in together.
If there is a large amount the total can be evapped down a bit before freezing.

Once the spice is in the nap...it will stay there until it gets cold enough to precipitate out.
No time limit.

Thanks for your help, you have really cleared some stuff up for me. I did 4 pulls as I had ran out of time before bed(it was getting late), but my 4 pull the naphtha was as clear as when it went in. I have a 5th pull worth of naphtha in the jar that I will try to pull once i have freezer space and baking trays to use. I don't think ill get a full gram of this one, my first pull seemed strange, but live and learn, there is plenty more material for more extractions
I like your tek, had fun working on it yesterday, now I am waiting it out another 3.5 hours until 6pm which is my 18 hour mark for the second tray, 4th tray will be about 14 hours. Excited to pour it off and dry!

I think the second pull(that had all the brown particles, as in the pic) may have had a little too much heat, but my 3 pull looked nice and yellow and was much cleaner.
Definitely getting a handle on this! Looking forward to future pulling

Thank you Cyb, and everyone else who has taken their time to help me with the questions I have. What a great community!

Pull 4 didnt seem to be frozen enough or something, small bits of spice floating in a naptha solution so i froze it more, and did a 5th pull today, and gonna try for a 6th.
Pulls 1+2 were pretty gunky so I need to re-crystallize them. pull #3 didnt yield much, put it was some nice fluffy yellow/white spice.

Definitely didnt get anywhere near 1 g, but weel see what pulls 4+5 give me. Wonder why my yeild was so low? Im gonna try some more in the near future tho, and I know they're gonna go better!

Maybe you need to evaporate some of the later pulls (3 or 4 onwards) before precip. to help get a more saturated solution that will precipitate properly when you freeze it.

A saturated solution should precip. better than a very dilute solution & you won't get as much dissolve if you're not very quick to pour off the solvent.

It could be the bark you started with was just not very rich in alkaloids, you never know what you're going to get until it's done.