Oneiroi said:
Is there a reason why water isn't used for extraction? It's free and its the most polar.
Cell swelling, assuming your using powder. It will turn the whole lot to cactus snot that is impossible to separate. Alcohols do not present this problem w/ powder. Separates cleanly and no snot. Has to do with how the cactus cells holds water, and won't let go of it naturally when its alive, prob an evolutionary thing since they live in dry climates and need to conserve water at all costs.
But water prob is a better option if your using fresh cactus chunks, or dried pieces, as you won't get very much stot at all. IME though, powdered cactus or blended fresh cactus and water don't mix. Perhaps with a pressure cooker, but still its a royal bitch to separate. freezing/thawing does help though if you do use water. The water crystals break down the cells a bit. I've heard of pectinase & other enzymes used as well with water extractions, as they decompose the long chain molecules that cause the snot. But thats theoretical with very little experimentation done from what i've read. Still an interesting idea though.
Alcohols seem like they would be better utilized if you went stb first with lime, dried the paste, then pulled with dryish alcohols. Mesc fb is very soluble in alcohols, and the base should break down the plant material to an extent to aid extraction. But alcohols do work without basifying, the alkaloid salts are just much less soluble in alcohol than the freebase, and the cells have not been partially broken down by a base.
I think you can use a mix of water/alcohol and not get snot, but what ratio to use, idk. It might help a bit if your using a less polar alcohol, so long as you don't add too much water and get the snot.
