Hi, i am pretty new to this site and SWIM is in the process of his first extraction,(STB) he asked me to ask you all something. He says that he thinks everything went pretty well except that in his freezer few crystals seem to be sticking to the glass container, he thinks its cold enough and there is plenty of crystals like powder floating in the yellow solution, there are some crystals that do stick but most are tiny about the size of a grain of sand. It has been in the freezer for two days now, when the container is tipped there doesnt seem to be any residue or yellow goo. SWIM added extra naptha not realizing this can make it harder, wanting to get more from each pull, but there definitely is some crystals, quite a bit floating, the extra naptha wouldnt keep it from sticking or growing bigger crystals would it? Should SWIM just evaporate some? What is the normal size of crystals for freezer method? It doesnt look like that kind of white frost like crystals I have seen pictures of. Should SWIM just filter and go for a second pull?

Please end my ignorance.

Thanks

To SWIM:
The most obvious reason for crystals not sticking is that they have not got enough time to do so. The very first thing that happens in the freezer when the naphtha lowers it's temperature is the DMT precipitating out as a fine molecular dust. After a while (a few hours), this dust will attract itself and form crystals that sink and grow on the bottom and sides of the container.
But, you seem to have waited long enough (if you've let it sit there undisturbed). So just do it the bad way, use a coffee filter. Simply pour the naphtha through the filter into another container (for reuse), and quickly squeeze out any naphtha that's left in the filter (if you let it warm it will redissolve your crystals).
Until next time: Do NOT add more naphtha. The thing that matters is the concentration of DMT, which will decrease with more naphtha. Rather evaporate some, to increase concentration and yields. Of course, also make sure you let the naphtha pull reasonable amounts of DMT from the bark-solution, before removing it and putting it into the freezer.

How long have you kept your container in the freezer for?

For me, i like to leave it up to 48 hours before i harvest my crystals. It seems that the longer you wait the more you get if your nap is saturated enough.

Good luck and happy travels

Hmm, ok thanks a lot for all the tips,
I think the problem may be that SWIM got somewhat over eager and kept on checking the container, moving it around, tipping it to see the bare glass.
It has been in there for 2 days now but has not gone much longer then 10 hours without being checked and that was because SWIM went to sleep. heh. Even still the first morning SWIM couldnt sleep very much because of excitement and had to get up and look at it
SWIM had a feeling he might be causing the problem by moving it, but has never dont DMT before and feels like a small kid at christmas. He cant wait to open his presents!

I think I will let SWIM know to be patient for another 24 hours at least and not move anything before he tries a filtering:idea:

SWIM will keep all this in mind.
There is so many little things that SWIM just has to learn from experience. Still SWIM is confident the next STB will go better.
you know what they say, Practice Practice Practice

THANKS!

You got a lot of good tips already, here is what I do:

When I have a few floaters I've found that just pouring the Naphtha out really, really slowly before putting back in the freezer for a bit will normally make the crystals stick to the glass before they get poured out. Just make sure you pour into another container you can freeze or evap from. That way you wont loose anything if it doesn't work too well.

When I pour I twist my hand so the crystals stick to the exposed sides. I have only had one successful freeze precip but read somewhere this works, it makes sense though.

Good luck

This is a great tip, since it works fine. Just turn it very slowly and you'll see that those floaters settle. The big problem is actually often getting them out of your freeze precipitation chamber!

Seriously. I was thinking of using the shorter (1/2 pint or something?) mason jars. Anyone have good luck with those?

I just pulled my second freeze precip and its nicer than the first! More time in the cold definitley helped yields. I use the little tiny 1/2pinters they are perfect.

What I have been doing to get the spice out is adding a mL of hot Naptha at a time till I get it all to dissolve then pour out and evaporate in my closet with a piece of paper over it.

hmmm.. I'm going to have to try that. Thanks!