First extraction attempt - couple of questions

[woody]

hello everyone,

I have just attempted my first extraction using cybs hybrid tek. I've only done three pulls so far but still have my basic mix. After the freeze precip I went to check on my dishes this morning and some white fluffy crystals have formed. My first pull didn't seem to have produced anything and in fact it was my third dish which had the most in it.

Anyway a couple of issues I had were that on my first pull I thought the naphta was off colour, not quite brown but milky yellowy if that makes sense, does this seem normal or should it be much clearer?
Following pulls were clearer looking but still not totally clear. (Worth mentioning that these weren't done hot)

When I poured off the solvent there was lots of frozen condensation in my pyrex dishes. I used a fan to try and evaporate the rest of the solvent and managed to scrape out the crystals/powder.
Is the condensation normal here or should I be aiming for completely airtight containers? I think I might have lost some in the melting condensation.
The end result smells of new trainers/flowery as described and I can't smell any solvent so do this sound ok?

Apologies for the barrage of questions and thanks for your patience

 

[Metanoia]

First off, what bark are you using?

Your pulls being tinted yellow or milky is perfectly normal. You'll get more yellow if you're extracting from Acacia vs. Mimosa. Milky means there's good stuff in there The yellowing is just some plant oils/fats that are getting pulled by your solvent. As long as you don't get any of the basic mix in with your solvent pulls, you're fine.

It is worth it to get an air-tight container for freeze precipitation. I use this dish:

If the ambient temperature in your house is fairly warm (as it probably is during May or June) you'll get some condensation no matter what. As long as you can keep it out of the inside of the dish I don't worry as much about condensation as I worry about all the stuff in my freezer being thrown away because it smells/tastes like naphtha lol.

One trick I use when taking the dish from the freezer is to pour off as much of the solvent as I can, then put the dish back in the freezer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or an hour, but on its side so the rest of the solvent runs down and I can easily pour what's left out of the corner before I put it in front of the fan.

And yes, if the smell of solvent is gone and you get only that new sneakers/floral kind of smell it should be fine, just use your best judgment.

 

[woody]

hello Metanoia,

Thanks for your reply. I am using mimosa. That's good to know about the colour of the naphtha.

I went back to my first dish earlier today after I thought nothing had happened and there was what looked like lots of crystals formed on it. I started to scrape it off and it was light brown, oily, and sticky. I've read that brown can be ok but I cannot be 100% sure that I didn't get a tiny bit of base mix in my first pull. (That pulling's a lot trickier than I thought it would be!). Also my naphtha was quite dark on the first warm pull. But it still smells good so I think I might use this bit to practice cleaning or recrystallising.

I'm definitely going to invest in some dishes with lids.

Thanks for your advice

 

[Metanoia]

Yeah if you have doubts, might as well use it as an opportunity to do a recrystalization.

Pulling can be tricky until you learn what works for you. Using a bottle with a tapered neck helps, and a nice glass pipette goes a long way. Also when you get to the last bit of solvent put it in a small glass so that any base will sink to the bottom and you can separate it a lot easier.