Update on the standard TEK with the boiling water change.
Pros:
- Arm was less tired after stirring, paste has less resistance to hot water.
- Used EA has a much lighter green color. Seems like it should be easier to reuse (not tested yet).
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Yield roughly matches standard TEK for me at ~1.3%
- Large crystals growth with the slow diffusion method. Minimal/insignificant sticking to walls (virtually all the xtals come loose after a swirling). Only used 800mg of citric acid since I know the yield of this cactus and wanted to only add a little extra. Xtalized fine. Added more citric after filtering, no new clouds observed.
- Xatals pop off in "sheets" right after the filter washes. They are easy to handle. With stickier Xtals I rub the filter between my hands to loosen the last few mg, that is not needed here. Xtals are large and near white after rinsing/drying with EA.
Cons:
- Have to boil water which takes some time. I did this first and by the time the cactus power and lime where measured and mixed I still had to wait some time for the water to boil
- Waiting for the paste to cool adds a few hours
- I did a second small addition with 25ml of boiling water since the paste had congealed a bit while cooling. Not sure this is needed, but wanted to get back the "standard" feel of the paste
- Extract needs to rest in the fridge overnight. A new white reside precipitates, but it is easy to decant/filter
- The xtals are so pretty growing in the jar that it is easy to stare at them for too long and loose track of time
- 60 minute speed run may be off the table with this process
In theory what happens with hot water and lime is that chlorophyll (soluble in EA since it is mildly polar) breaks down (is saponified) into chlorophyllin (very polar and not soluble in EA) and pythol (long non-polar organic chain, not soluble in EA either per attached paper). Therefore, the saponified chlorophyll is kept out of the extraction. I think this is similar to the microwave method, but less harsh (and a lot less work).
Overall, I see this as an improvement to the standard TEK. I wonder if it could be simplified further by pulling right after mixing the paste and while it is hot. Maybe not, as some time may be needed to complete the chlorophyll saponification (?). IDK if that is worth testing for me, I'm happy with how this update has turned out.
Below are pictures of the good yielding white xtaline product after it finished growing on the jar walls and after rinsing/drying on the filter