cant filter harmalas

[neverwas]

Hi I was doing a 300g batch of rue yesterday using this tek and ended up with a very large amount of liquid. Now, at step 6 where we filter, I decided to reduce the liquid volume first. Now it's really thick and hard to get through the filter. Takes hours for a few milliliters. So I'm wondering how I can get this to work again. Can I dilute with vinegar water to thin it out? Is there a better way?

 

[d*l*b]

In my most recent extract I haven’t bothered with any filtering until the basic stage.

You can decant some of the liquid without getting too close to the precipate, then remove most of the remainder of the liquid with a pipette. As long as most of the fluid is removed you can move on to the next step.

To ensure all nasties are removed it’s a good idea to perform the vinegar/manske steps a few times.

 

[neverwas]

So should I not bother filtering and salt it and leave it In the fridge? Its pretty dark and thick ATM. I'm sure there's lots of impurities in it. Or water it down And filter again before that step?

 

[d*l*b]

Yeah, maybe it’s worth watering it down a bit then filtering, I misread your post and was thinking about filtering in the acid/salt stages. In the initial stage I do the filter twice, once before reduction, then once after.

My process with my most recent extraction–

1.
• Vinegar/water cook ground seeds (in a cotton bag)
• Filter through cotton wool balls
• Reduce solution
• Filter through cotton wool balls

2.
• Add salt, leave to precipate
• Decant/remove most liquid with pipette
• Add vinegar/water and heat until clear

3.
• Basify with sodium carbonate
• Leave to precipate
• Decant/filter

Notes:
• To filter through cotton wool balls I cut the bottom of a 2L water bottle and stuff the neck with 3 or 4 cotton wool balls (unravel them and combine) then place over a pint glass and add the solution to be filtered.
• Repeat part 2 a few times over, most recently I did it 5 times, but that is probably overkill.

 

[neverwas]

I'll get right to it then. I've been using an old shirt to filter though, No cotton balls.

 

[Tribal]

I've found it easiest with harmala extractions to just decant and not bother with filtering. As d*l*b said, just pour off as much as the liquid as you can without pouring out any solids and then remove as much of the rest of the liquid as you can with a pipette, turkey baster, eyedropper or whatever you can.

 

[q21q21]

SWIM usually rolling-boils the whole seeds and gets 70% or more of the yield of ground seed.

Clearly that is not an option on this try but Tribal's advice is very wise. When the harmalas precipitate in the cold-salted brew the thick unfilterable liquid can be decanted and then the harmalas dissolved with warm water then decanted from the seed-mush resulting in an easy-to-filter transparent brew.

After that SWIM uses a sodium-bicarbonate saturated solution to precipitate mostly harmine then a sodium-carbonate saturated solution to precipitate the harmaline.

Good luck!