I've done my first extraction with 1 kg mhrb using a stb tek, I did my first pull and mis calculated the amount of naphtha I needed so I done one pull with 800ml naphtha (that's all the naphtha I had) i then done 2 washes with sodium carbonate and a cold water wash plus Epsom salt. I then freezed this solution for 48hrs. The next day I did another 3 pulls with some newly purchased naphtha, this solution was slightly more yellow I repeated the washing process and Epsom salts, filtered and freezed.
After 48 hrs of freezing from the first pull I decided to drain the solvent from my lovely white crystals (appox 1.5g) but as soon as I left the crystals out they started dissolving :-( It seemed as though I lost around .5g ;-( I left the rest under a box fan with some slight heat for about 2 hours and it seemed to work and leave me with around 1g of nice and white waxy crystals.
I've now got the other 3 pulls in a container in the freezer that have been there for around 72hrs but I am worried that as soon as I drain the naphtha I'm going to lose more of my yield. Could sombody please tell me where I'm going wrong or offer me some advice on how to get these crystals from the solvent without losing any yield. I have read a few people saying to put it in the fridge before drying, would this mean after the majority is drained ? or with the rest of the solvent ? I have also read that people use coffee filters?! (I'm worries this will soak up the crystals?) also would a heat fan be a good idea or would a normal cool fan help?
Any help will be greatly appreciated :-)
'I HAVE NO SPECIAL TALENT, I AM JUST PASSIONATELY CURIOUS' Albert Einstein