Hello All! I was intending on posting an introductory essay after completing my first extraction but now, in the middle of it, need some advice. I will def end up posting a proper intro but would appreciate some quick advice

First time extraction and will be my first venture with the spice! I am literally in the middle of my extraction so, I'm just going to get right to it. BTW.. I looked to post this in extractions but there was not option to create a new thread (I'm assuming bc I'm new?). Sorry if this isn't the right place.

I am using Cyb's STB Hybrid salting tek. Everything has gone pretty smoothly and I am getting ready to start pulling. I had a heck of a time looking for a mixing container that was just right but settled for something I had on hand. I am going to guess and say it is a little over a liter. My current volume is right at about the 750ml expected. The problem is that my mixing container is similar to an erlenmyer flask (in that it is fat at the bottom and narrows at the neck). With the current volume, my layer of naptha is pretty skinny/large surface area (and in the fat portion). I'd like to add some liquid to bring it up to the narrow neck, making my pulls easier to manage. I probably need another 200 ml or so of volume to accomplish this.

So my question is, if I just add water, will this drop my ph catasrophically (out of the appropriate alkalinity.. ie ph 12). Or should I mix more lye with the water I need to add? And if so, how much. Another 50g to 200ml. Unfortunately, I do not have a ph meter or strips on hand.. and not smart enough with chemistry to figure it out/understand what I should do.

I still intend to leave my intro.. prob tomorrow. This is such a wonderful site and has been of so much help. And everyone is so great! Thanks!

Unfortunately, I will have to put this on hold until tomorrow. I will be taking the mix out of the warm bath and leaving the naptha in. I now have a bit of an emulsion and can't pull without sucking the dark aqueous solution bc my layer of naptha is too thin. I hope this is OK and I can fix it tomorrow.

I just found another thread that said you can't add too much water or raise the ph too much. My plan of attack tomorrow will be to add another 50g lye mixed with 200-300ml water. Put mix back in hot water bath and start rolling and seperating my naptha again (another 4 times before pulling). I hope someone can let me know if this is reasonable And if anyone has a better suggestion I will truly be grateful!

Hello and welcome *EntheoZen*,

just fill it up to the desired height. Also adding some more lye won't hurt. I always use the same tek and recognized a faster and better separeation when using a bit more lye than what is written in the tek.

And another tip...don't heat the mix too much when doing your first pulls. I'd suggest to have it not much warmer than room temperature. This will lead to cleaner spice. Heating the solvent would be the better option, from what I experienced.

Good luck and let us know how it worked out!

Thanks Steppa! And thankyou for the additional advice!

So.. before I called it a night, I had pulled my mix from the heat and let it sit for over an hour. I was able to pull about half of my naptha out (maybe 20ml). It was fairly yellow. I thought I would slowly adjust the temp to get nice xtal formation. It was cold outside last night but not as cold as the fridge. So I stuck my covered dish out there. This morning when I went to get it, there was already decent precip! Gonna put it in the fridge for a few hours before I move it to the freezer. Whoohoo!!

Now I get to start pulling some more! Sounds like I could just top off with water but I may need as much as 300 ml. I won't do 50 more grams of lye but I think I'll do 30. I'll also keep it room temp but heat the naptha for my next several pulls.

Thanks again!

And another quick question. When I pulled last night, I had the most minute amount of what looked to be bark powder (I used powedered rb). I can't even really quantifiably say how much it was, it was such a small amount. No dark liquid. Just a smidge of the powder. I'm sure I'm being overly finicky.. but should this be of any concern?

Just to follow up with results:

First 5 pulls (@50ml Naptha per pull) yeilded ~700mg. Most of this was in the first two pulls.

I did 2 more pulls and combined with the naptha from the first 5 pulls (sucked/poured some crystals when drying out). Washed with sodium carbonate. This is now all evaporating. I'll post again with those yields when done.

Will be having my first experience soon!!!

I would re-x. I am always wary of any dark coloration whatsoever in the naphtha pulls.

Thanks Entheogenerator! I originally wanted to re-x but started thinking I didn't want the loss of product. Since you mention the concern, I will go ahead and do it. I only got that tiniest speck of particle on one pull (and it was ever so small). But better safe than sorry. And I'll end up with nicer crystals! And easier to handle too I've noticed my yellowish product is quite sticky and a little hard to manage. Foud this out while scraping and weighing.

That being the case. I'm gonna use heptane to re-x.

Good call. Yes, you will lose a little bit of weight, but you won't lose any DMT. The drop in weight is from removing a decent amount of oils/fats and other nasty junk. Nothing you'd want to be smoking anyways.