Cyb tek HELP! Currently in the middle of extract..

[SunshineMaker]

I'm currently working my 2nd pull but I have ZERO color coming through the naphtha. Also is saran wrap acceptable when putting into the freezer? I kept temps around 140°f and followed all measurements and times.

 

[Varallo]

Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t need to pick up color. Saran Wrap would be something to avoid, plastics and especially wrapping plastic don’t do wel in extraction as it may contain plasticizers that in turn end up in your extract.

Next time post this in FAQ Q&A

 

[SunshineMaker]

Thank you, will do!!

 

[fractals4life]

There isn't always any colour, the freeze precipitation stage will reveal if anything has been extracted, good luck!

 

[Upnorth]

In a similar boat at the moment. Using shellite as I'm in Australia and it came out completely clear. Put in freezer at -18c overnight for around 13 hours and I got no crystals. Have pulled more today and it came out clear also, that's in freezer at moment but not too hopeful, have recycled the first batch of shellite in case it has some in it and needed more freezing. Using mhrb

 

[1liminal1]

In a similar boat at the moment. Using shellite as I'm in Australia and it came out completely clear. Put in freezer at -18c overnight for around 13 hours and I got no crystals. Have pulled more today and it came out clear also, that's in freezer at moment but not too hopeful, have recycled the first batch of shellite in case it has some in it and needed more freezing. Using mhrb

Did you ever get an answer to this? Did you work it out?

 

[Upnorth]

Did you ever get an answer to this? Did you work it out?

No, I haven't had much luck. I also tried a/b extraction with some acacia acuminata but didn't seem to work for me. I used acrb tek, a/b extraction but when it came to the evap at end it never went milky at all. I'm using diggers shellite.

 

[Animistic]

You could always try a pull with xylene and see if that pulls anything. We're you using cyb's tek like OP? I've used diggers with good results but usually after back salting.

 

[Upnorth]

You could always try a pull with xylene and see if that pulls anything. We're you using cyb's tek like OP? I've used diggers with good results but usually after back salting.

Thanks, yeah was using cybs for the mhrb. Will try xylene and see how it goes, I'm out of mhrb but have plenty of aarb so will give that another go. With xylene you evap instead of freeze right?

 

[Transform]

With xylene you evap instead of freeze right?

Xylene evap will take ages, and it stinks. Better off to pull the alks back into something like diluted vinegar (acetic acid); where you go from there depends on what other solvents and reagents you may happen to have, but you could in principle treat it the same as an acid cook - add base and pull with the shellite. Alternatively, evaporate off the water, mix to a paste with sodium carbonate, dry thoroughly again and pull with acetone, ethanol or IPA.

 

[Animistic]

What @Transform has said is what I do. Pull with xylene, add xylene to diluted vinegar, swish around, siphon off xylene, add lye water (perhaps sodium carbonate would work here too because we're not dealing with all the extra plant fats etc) and then pull with shellite. You use a lot less shellite this way and the xylene and shellite can both be recycled. You end up with really clean yields too which i need because I use vape carts.

 

[Upnorth]

Thanks guys. In the acacia acuminata a/b extraction I did; in the clean up (shellite into vinegar water, then add lye) I did the extraction from that with fresh shellite. I just noticed in the bottom of the vinegar/water/lye solution after a couple of days there is this white powdery stuff at bottom. Would it just be the caustic soda, or could it be the dmt?

 

[Animistic]

Depends on how much lye you put in it I guess. I usually saturate water with lye and add the saturated water to the acid water this way you'll never end up with precipitated lye. How many pulls are you doing? I always go xylene -> shellite via a back salt so my experience will be different to yours. In theory the shellite will more easily absorb the alkaloids on the backsalt because there's not all the other stuff to uptake.

You got a picture?

 

[Upnorth]

Depends on how much lye you put in it I guess. I usually saturate water with lye and add the saturated water to the acid water this way you'll never end up with precipitated lye. How many pulls are you doing? I always go xylene -> shellite via a back salt so my experience will be different to yours. In theory the shellite will more easily absorb the alkaloids on the backsalt because there's not all the other stuff to uptake.

You got a picture?

I mixed 50g of lye in 200ml water before adding it to acidic mix, it went milky for a while then crystal clear over about 10 minutes.

 

[Animistic]

I mixed 50g of lye in 200ml water before adding it to acidic mix, it went milky for a while then crystal clear over about 10 minutes.

Hmm. I'm not a chemist, if it goes milky in the base step to me that indicates there is alkaloids there. (I absolutely love pouring my lye water into an acid filled with alkaloids and watching all the clouds form!) Your description reminds me of when I put just a tiny bit of lye water in and it precips alkaloids but the acidity dominates and the alkaloids redissolve. 50g in 200ml should be plenty strong imo. How much vinegar and what % strength did you add? Usually I find it will go strongly milky and then it settles at the bottom which is what you seem to have, but you're saying it all redissolved so where did your precipitate come from?

That white precipitate isn't going back into the shellite? It looks dmt like to me, especially knowing you extracted from acuminata which seldom would contain nothing.

 

[Upnorth]

Hmm. I'm not a chemist, if it goes milky in the base step to me that indicates there is alkaloids there. (I absolutely love pouring my lye water into an acid filled with alkaloids and watching all the clouds form!) Your description reminds me of when I put just a tiny bit of lye water in and it precips alkaloids but the acidity dominates and the alkaloids redissolve. 50g in 200ml should be plenty strong imo. How much vinegar and what % strength did you add? Usually I find it will go strongly milky and then it settles at the bottom which is what you seem to have, but you're saying it all redissolved so where did your precipitate come from?

That white precipitate isn't going back into the shellite? It looks dmt like to me, especially knowing you extracted from acuminata which seldom would contain nothing.

I used around 50ml vinegar I just added until I got a pH 2-3, basically just followed the acrb tek to a tee. I did 5 extractions with heated shellite. I'm thinking I might just suck all this white stuff up with minimal solution and add some shellite to it and see if it goes into the shellite?

 

[Animistic]

Are you stirring the solvent, lye mixture? 5 pulls with heated shellite should be enough to pull it from a back salt ime.

 

[Upnorth]

Are you stirring the solvent, lye mixture? 5 pulls with heated shellite should be enough to pull it from a back salt ime.

I was rolling it in the bottle for about 30 seconds 4 times per pull.

 

[Transform]

The powder may be some other alkaloid which has poor to no solubility in shellite, or it may be sodium acetate. Try dissolving a small sample of it in a bit of xylene, since that's one place it may have come from (i.e. from the initial xylene pulls). If it refuses to dissolve in xylene but another sample dissolves in neutral water there's a fair chance it's just sodium acetate.

Lye is excedingly soluble in water but the high concentration of sodium ions produced that way would be able to force some sodium acetae out of solution even though it's quite freely soluble. See: common ion effect.

It could still be some other substance, however. And definitely try dissolving a small sample in warm shellite, too.

 

[Animistic]

@Transform coming through with the goods. I stopped answering because it was beyond my understanding lol makes sense it would be a kinda of reaction between the lye and the vinegar. I've just not seen that before.