Having attempted Earthwalkers Tek with total yield so far of 0.5g, I followed it to the letter as far as I can tell. The ACRB I assume was of high quality so human error and the learning curve played a role in less than optimum results.

I had some trouble with some of the wording of Earthwalkers Tek and may have misunderstood some of his descriptions in certain stages. I would like to give Cyb's Max Ion tek a go straight up from the pdf but feels like I need to stick to one main tek for a few attempts to work out where I could have improved.

I've seen people blending elements of Cyb's Salt, Max Ion and Earthwalker and for the next attempt, I'd like to make some changes. I came across a post by aprobablewave

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...&m=558220#post558220

I've pasted below for ease of reading.

My questions is, does any experienced ACRB extractors out there see any problems with Aprobablewave's run sheet below and is there anything that could be misconstrued?

I see he's just reworded it like I did and I'm in no way suggesting what follows is his tek. Just seems to be written in a more easy to read format for me than Earthwalker (not complaining Earthwalker, you rock the house. I just need clarification on a few things and I know you've not been about recently. Also, I'm unable to PM outside of mods).


== Step 1: Freeze/Thawing ==
1) Add 100 g ACRB powder to 2 L bottle.
2) Add 500 mL water (tap is fine), gently swirling until thoroughly mixed.
3) Place bottle in freezer until mixture is completely frozen (can take 6 hours or more).
4) Once frozen, remove bottle and allow to thaw. Use hot water bath to speed the thawing process.
5) Once thawed, leave in hot water bath for 2 hours at around 50 C or until the mixture is the same temperature as the hot water bath.
6) Freeze again for a total of 3 freeze/thaw cycles.

== Step 2: Acidifying ==
1) Add vinegar for pH of 2 - 3 (50 - 60 mL) and allow this to sit in heat bath for 1 - 1/2 hours, gently mixing occasionally.
2) Gently swirl, careful not to create an emulsion by causing bubbles or aeration.

== Step 3: Salting ==
1) Measure out 80 g salt and dissolve in 400 mL of hot water to make dissolving easier.
2) Add an additional 600 mL water to the saline solution.
3) Add the saline solution to the acidic mixture in the 2 L bottle. The 2 L bottle should contain about 1.5 L so far.

== Step 4: Basifying ==
1) Measure 50 g lye and SLOWLY add it to 300 mL COLD water in a well-ventilated area. Do not pour water onto lye!
2) When the lye is dissolved, add it to the acidic saline soup that's in the 2 L bottle. It will go almost black.
3) Top off the 2 L, leaving sufficient room for naphtha to pull (about 50 mL). The pH should now be over 12.
4) Place the basic 2 L mixture in a warm water bath for at least 2 hours, gently mixing occasionally.
5) Remove after 2 hours and optionally allow to cool before proceeding. Some say to add naphtha when warm but this doesn't matter for this tek as we're doing a defat.

== Step 5: Adding Naphtha ==
1) Warm about 400 mL of naphtha INDIRECTLY in a hot water bath. Naphtha is highly flammable so do not use direct heat or open flames.
2) Add 50 mL of the warmed naphtha to the 2 L bottle mixture, mixing/shaking gently for a good 45 - 60 seconds, being sure the naphtha reaches all parts of the dark mixture.
3) Allow it to separate fully (can take 3 to 5 minutes).
4) Repeatedly mix/shake again for a total of three times.

== Step 6: Initial Pull ==
1) Once the mixture is fully separated into two layers, pipette out the top non-polar (naphtha) layer with a glass pipette/syrine/baster. Be extremely careful not to disturb the bottom dark red layer or get any dark red specs in with the pulls.
2) Collect all pulled naphtha in a single glass container. It now contains the DMT.
3) Repeat this step at least 5 - 6 consecutively times, adding fresh warm naphtha each time.

== Step 7: Defatting ==
1) Create an acidic solution with around 500 mL of water and a pH of 2 to 3 like in step 2.
2) Add this 500 mL acidic solution to a 1 L glass bottle with a narrow neck.
3) Pour the naphtha that has been pulled from the basic soup into the 1 L bottle with the new acidic solution.
4) Vigorously shake and allow to separate.
5) Repeating shake & separate for a total of ten times.
6) Now pipette out the top brown layer (naphtha) and discard as this contains the plant fats and oils. The bottom (clear) 500 mL acidic solution contains the DMT.

== Step 8: Mini A/B & Extraction ==
1) Measure 200 mL water and add 50 g lye to it, dissolving completely.
2) Pour this into the clear 500 mL acidic solution. It will turn white immediately.
3) Top off the 1 L bottle with additional water, leaving about 50 mL for naphtha as in Step 4.
4) Add 50 mL of fresh naphtha and vigorously shake. Allow to separate and repeat for a total of 5 times at least.
5) Pipette out the top layer, transferring it to a large glass baking dish for freeze precipitating.

== Step 9: Freeze Precipitating ==
1) Pre-evaporate with a fan blowing across the dish until half the liquid evaporates.
2) Cover the dish with plastic wrap or with anything that creates an airtight & watertight seal (like a large ziploc bag).
3) Freeze for 18+ hours so crystals will form.
4) After removing from freezer, drain excess naphtha from the dish into a jar.
5) Tilt dish on its side and face fan to dry for a couple of hours. Do this as quickly as possible.
6) After a couple of hours drying, crystals can be scraped for use.
7) Later pulls can be done until the bark is spent. Later pulls done singly don't require a defat and this is a good way of seeing if bark is still putting out.

Many thanks in advance,
KOS.

For what it's worth I've had good results following the steps exactly as laid out, minus the freeze/thaw.

The write up is sound

It's just a mashup of my Hybrid ATB Salt tek, MAX ION and EW's take on a mini A/B for a cleanup (a good idea would be to read the teks for comparison)... All amounts rejigged for 100g of ACRB.

If you have good bark, nicely powdered, you can't go wrong really.
You won't know what the Alkaloid content (results) will be until you extract...so try it and see what turns up.

Congrats on the Promo

Many thanks! Will proceed with this next week and in the meantime, will keep on pulling from the first extraction to see if it yields any other dmt.

Basic mistakes made on first tek included:
- Used a soup bottle that didn't have a narrow neck thus making pulls harder (less solvent to dip in to). Most likely the pulls were over cautious as not wanting to pick up the bottom layer.
-After adding first solvent, didn't shake up enough. Think this should have been done repeatedly. It was only mixed and turned over for 45 secs and then went straight for the first pull.
- Didn't wait long enough when pulling. Literally waited 5 minutes after adding hot solvent and mixing and then pulled and repeated process. Basically rushed it.

The backsalt was eerily too clean. Didn't get the fatty layer in between but the bark was good quality and advised that it's not a bad thing. Spent a lot of time fretting over whether anything was in there at all. Not until the pre evap went milky that I felt possible success. In the whole A/B Extraction, again rushed the pulls for fear of missing the good stuff.

In summary the time I made available for the tek was too short a time window, working from scratch at 7pm through the night.

Basic tips to anyone attempting their first tek with little chemistry knowledge (from my limited experience) would be to slow down, start early in the day and split the process over multiple days. Wear proper half face respirator masks, I found that out the hard way. Plus read the relevant sections on the Organic Chemical Lab Survival Handbook (free download just google)

Will keep posting updates and thanks again to all those who have contributed to previous posts on my extraction journey. Now... on to making some Changa and trying the fruits of labour

Thanks for sharing the mashup of the Teks - might try that on the next extraction.

And thanks for sharing the safety tips - great thoughts that are often overlooked. Safe travels!

I never understood the salting step. What's the point of dissolving the salt in 400 ml of water, if you are just going to add more water?

Assume the 400ml is so it dissolves quickly as it's boiling, then top it with cold to get the 1lt total... so you're not waiting around for it cool down if you heated the full l litre?

Kos, i didn't see the amount of acrb in your first 'failed' extraction, 0.5 % is weak, but the time of year may have something to do with it as well. Depends on when it was harvested. Winter alkaloid levels are lower, fwiu.

Still, You should be able to pull awe least 1%. The tek you outlined is basically what i use, with varying results. I'm still pulling on my latest, but the first 4 nps pulls have yielded close to 1% from December harvested bark.

Hey KOS

I laughed while reading your post, because your experience literally mirrored my own, right down to the yield of 500mg I did the same thing really, rushed pulls, didn't mix properly etc.
I also overheated my bark to begin with, up to 80 or 90 degrees c. Live and learn!

A question about the steps you pasted from aprobablewaves post..



The next step is then doing the freeze/precip..
Surely one 50ml pull on the backsalt isn't going to grab all dem DMTs?
I would think one might do a few at least? I'm sure its just an oversight, but I thought
I'd ask you if that's what you're doing?

My next extraction will be on 100g of acuiminata, which alegedly has negligible levels of fats..
So I may not even have to tool around with the backsalting

I wish you luck KOS, oh and thanks for that guidebook too!

Well spotted Inviktus! Missed that one. Will look to change by own run sheet to...


4) Add 50 mL of fresh naphtha and vigorously shake. Allow to separate and pipette out the top layer, transferring it to a large glass baking dish for freeze precipitating.
5) Repeat for a total of 5 times at least.

Didn't realise about the seasonal fluctuations. More reading for me!

Let me know how you next tek goes please

Thanks for the info null24. Started to pull again from same soup yesterday so hopefully I can find the rest of it. Fingers crossed.

Ok, but won't the 400ml need to be hotter than if you used the whole liter in the first place? It really comes down to the solubility curve of water. Doing some quick research, it looks like the solubility doesn't increase significantly. I think I'll test this when I get a chance.

Many thanks, look forward to hearing the results.

While we're on temperatures...can the soup be heated up too much in the prep stage?

I'm following Cyb's notes in the max ion and looking to use maximum difference in temps between the soup (cold) and solvent (hot) when pulling. Just wondering if the soup can/should be heated up past 50degrees in the acid/salt/base or is 50 the optimum temperature.

Also, can I crash cool the soup (using decent glassware) from hot to cold to save having to wait to it to cool down naturally?

Many thanks in advance

No mix should get Hot...Ever...45-55c is good.

That's just hot enough to be able to pick the bottle out of the bath with your fingers and not get burnt. (hot running tap heat should be fine)
I heat up a pan of water, turn off the heat, place the bottle in the water and leave it till it cools...then repeat.

So many people, over the years have ignored this temp (or misread the steps) and used 'Very High Heat' and ruined their extraction.
All sorts of problems can happen if it's too hot.
(from pulling tons of Oils to causing 'Jellyfish' structures in the Solvent)

... With heating will come colour though.!...

This is 'Not' fat/oil, (as an awful lot of newbies mistakenly surmise) ...it is the natural dye colourant of the bark and is utterly harmless.

People are irrationally hung up on having clean/white Xtals, (I can only conclude that these Xtals are destined for a street baggie, there is no reason, whatsoever, to shun colour).

If you are consistently getting Goo (from ACRB) , then you have bark with high NMT content (which tends to prevent crystal formation)...
... this is 'Not' bad...just different.

DMT is 'Polymorphic' and can arrive in different configurations, not always crystals.

If you want white...do the extraction at room temperature.
If you want high yield...heat your mix and love the Golden Spice.

You can crash cool if you like...just stick it in the fridge and walk away for a while.

Oh...btw...Don't 'shake vigorously' ... you are bound to end up with emulsions.
Just roll around so every bit if the solvent 'touches' the Base mix...transfer will take place on contact.

Great info as always Cyb.

Yes, I admit, I am hung up on the xtals and have fallen in to the beginners mindset of marking my success on how clean and white the yield is. I think this extends further than teks and is a social norm. People want organic, fresh food. They search for unblemished fruit and vegetables. The alcohol they drink, they look for triple distilled on the assumption it's cleaner. The list goes on.

With this type of social conditioning, it's little wonder why people (including me!) get hung up on getting white (wrongly translated as 'pure'. Since I'm on to making some changa and enjoying that process greatly, even more so, it doesn't really matter the colour or consistency.

No goo as yet but I look forward to experiencing those results when they happen.

Many thanks again.

THANK YOU Cyb! That is one of the most useful pieces of information I've read about this entire process..
Before I get too carried away, am I to understand that' mixing thoroughly isn't needed?
I was under the impression that one must ensure that the two layers become completely mixed up in each other.. hence all that "allow to separate" business. Which made me wonder about people using erlenmeyer flasks, swirling or stirring.. the NPS simply floats around on top when you do this.
So simply touching is enough? That would certainly change how I go about my pulls.

@King of Snakes.. I will let you know how my acuminata extraction plays out

If you shake it hard, you are going to create a 'foam' or 'emulsion' (tiny, soapy like bubbles that mass together in a layer)

Just take your bottle or flask with each end in your two hands and roll it around like bicycle pedals (slowly for a good minute or so then let it settle)....(do this many times to be thorough)
You do want the solvent to mix in with the base mix and scoot through the whole thing touching every bit of the base mix.
You don't just let it sit on top...it doesn't act like a magnet.

The molecules of freebase don't like being in the alkaline soup and much prefer to live inside the non polar solvent...so will transfer to it when they touch.

Chemists do this with an erlenmeyer flask and a magnetic stirrer that creates a 'votex' that mixes it thoroughly.

Once you stop the mixing...the solvent will float to the top over time...if there is a layer of bubbles (emulsion) in the way...it becomes difficult and a pain to seperate.

I've changed my running sheet to include this gentle agitation and not vigioursly shaking and I don't think any further changes will be included as I'm planning on extracting in the next couple of days.

But! A final question. Does anyone know if I can increase the amount of ACRB to 200g without making any changes to the other volumes, or would I need to make wholesale changes to the amounts of lye, salt and so forth to achieve the desired changes in pH? Can I just extrapolate and scale up?

Many thanks in advance.

Extrapolating when scaling does not work (imo) (it creates too much of everything)

It's all about the amount of water (liquid) you are running the extraction in. (You are making the environment (water/solution) either acidic or alkaline to make the molecular changes from Salt form to Freebase form.)
The 'Environment' needs to be Dilute...not Viscous (ie watery...not sludgy) for solvent separation to be easily achieved.

You acid/salt/base the solution...NOT the amount of bark.

So 200g of powdered bark will be nicely 'watery' in around 1.5 - 2 litres of overall liquid.

You are then adding acid or base, to be included, in 2 litres solution...You only 'actually' need a small amount of acid to get to pH4 or below and a small amount of lye to reach pH11 or above...
50-60g of Lye in a 2 litre Solution would be more than enough (you can't over do it) (only 'actually' need around 21g)
It's better to have more than not enough of the Acid/Salt/Base.

Just FYI...All these questions and answers have been asked and answered many times over the years...a little searching will find them.
Adding them here in this thread is helpful to the newcomers who don't search.

just out of curiosity, why is it "essential" to Backsalt/defat Acrb vs. mhrb stb was fine to go straight out the gate? im about to begin my first 100g acrb tek this evening, and have only ever done stb with mhrb. could i just begin with an EW tek out and just put my initial pulls in the freezer? will they be usable? why is a defat and backsalt step necesarry?
thanks!!