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First STB attempt with 25g MHRB – 1st pull after 24h nothing (yellow naphtha), 2nd pull 3 days later with flakes during evaporation – base too weak? +

AciBoy1234

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**Title:** First STB attempt with 25g MHRB – 1st pull after 24h nothing (yellow naphtha), 2nd pull 3 days later with flakes during evaporation – base too weak? + freezer question

Hey folks,

complete noob here doing my very first extraction and already running into issues – would really appreciate your input.

Recipe / setup:
- 25 g Mimosa hostilis root bark
- 150 ml naphtha
- 60 g Rorax (hardware-store drain/pipe cleaner; internet says it contains approx. 25–40% NaOH)

**First pull:** Did after ~24 hours of mixing/shaking/occasional heat.
→ Naphtha separated nicely but was completely clear of any crystals or goo on the sides/bottom. The naphtha itself had a light yellow tint (not super dark, but definitely not water-clear). Zero visible spice.

Left the whole jar sitting undisturbed for another ~3 days (so total basification time before second pull: about 4 days).

**Second pull** (3 days after the first pull): Pulled off **all** the naphtha this time and put it in a small glass dish to evaporate at room temp.
Already after roughly 30 minutes I started seeing tiny white flakes / needle-like beginnings of crystals forming in the naphtha.

**Question 1:** Is seeing small flakes / early crystal formation that fast (30 min) during room-temp evaporation normal, or does it indicate there's only a very small amount of DMT in solution?

My current theory is that the Rorax simply didn't provide enough free base (because of the low NaOH %). The yellow naphtha on pull 1 and zero precip also make me think the pH wasn't high enough to fully convert/free the alkaloids.

I now have real 99% NaOH pellets and was thinking of adding **30 g** pure NaOH to the remaining soup, stir/mix thoroughly (maybe gentle heat), let it sit a bit, and then do fresh warm pulls to hopefully get proper migration into the solvent.

**Question 2:** Is dumping in 30 g pure NaOH at this stage a good/safe idea, or am I more likely to create emulsions, degrade something or just waste product?

Freezer part: My household freezer probably doesn't hit a proper -18 °C. Judging by how things freeze and the general coldness it feels more like -8 °C to -12 °C max (no way to measure accurately right now).

**Question 3:** Will freeze precipitation still give decent results at around -10 °C, or is it pretty much ineffective and I should just plan on full evaporation + scraping instead?

Especially interested in experiences from people who tried weak bases like Rorax / low-lye mixtures at the beginning, or who had yellow naphtha with no precip on the first pull(s) but got stuff later.

Thanks a million for any help / pointers / horror stories – learning the hard way here 😅

Stay safe everyone!

Cheers
AcidBoy1234
 
If this Rorax stuff is only 25-40%NaOH, then what is the rest of it?
When you're going to be smoking the end product, it is worth finding as clean ingredients as you can, not to mention it being efficient. Lye is pretty easy to find.
It doesn't sound like you checked the pH? Test papers are cheap and very useful. Who knows what pH you achieved.
DO NOT just dump 30g of NaOH into the soup, always add slowly with stirring. You definitely don't need to be heating up your concentrated base, just let that stuff sit for a day or two, with the odd shake. Seeing as you've only used 50g bark, I would suggest chalking this one down to experience and dumping it.
Once you've pulled from your new base tea, put your NPS in the freezer overnight and see how it looks. It should at least look cloudy, even if it is only -10C, or even some crystals. Either way, it gives you an idea of freezer efficacy.
 
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