"4) used syringes for volume measuring instead of just scaling the water and EA"

I meant in my past tries I was weighing out the water and EA because I didn't have anything small enough to measure in volume. This time I had 2mL increment syringes to use for both water & EA separately. I thought maybe some tiny chance I contaminated the syringes but they were new.

I don't have MEK or Heptane to experiment, and they're not easy to get in my area.

I first noticed the goo ~20hrs after adding citric acid and cloudiness dissipated mostly. It was just collecting on the bottom in droplets.