first STB extraction - questions

[MoarSauce]

I'm going with a mixture of noman's tek, and nature boy's tek (from the shroomery).

So far I have 750 ml water, 50 g lye, and 40 g MHRB (pre-powdered from vendor) in a 1 quart mason jar, it's been about 14 hours since I mixed everything.

In noman's tek, he has only a 1 hour wait until adding naphtha, while nature boy's tek has a 24 hour wait. how much time is actually necessary?

also, after mixing the MHRB into the water/lye mixture, there ended up being a layer of bubbles at the top of the mixture. most of them have gone away over time, but there's still some there. will this be a problem at all when i add the naphtha? seems like it might cause an emulsion or something.

 

[Noman]

In noman's tek, he has only a 1 hour wait until adding naphtha, while nature boy's tek has a 24 hour wait. how much time is actually necessary?

One hour.

(well shit, what did you think I was gonna say?)

 

[MoarSauce]

Ok cool, I'm gonna go ahead and add 50 mL of naphtha.

Does the ratio of materials I'm using look ok (750 ml h2o, 40 g MHRB, 50 g lye)?

 

[Noman]

Yeah, you're good. Just be sure that your solution is free flowing and not muddy. If it's muddy, add more water (no need to add more lye) before adding the naptha.

The reason that I don't wait 24 hours is that I let my third and fourth pulls sit overnight, days sometimes.
That way I get every last bit of yield by letting things break down and migrate over time, while having pulled nice clean spice already before other things in the bark have had a chance to break down and migrate.
Best of both worlds.

Good luck.

Don't throw anything away.

 

[MoarSauce]

Ok, I just added the naphtha.

The solution as a whole is nice and liquid, not really muddy at all. I did notice when I was swirling the jar around after adding naphtha that there's some gunk stuck to the sides/bottom of the jar - is there anything that should be done about this?

 

[Noman]

Nope. That's normal.

 

[MoarSauce]

How long do you usually wait before the first pull?

 

[Noman]

You mean how long do you leave the naptha in?
I just give it three or four agitations, letting it separate in between each, and go for it.
Like I said, I let the last pulls sit for days, agitating when I think about it, and stop when nothing more comes out.

 

[MoarSauce]

Ok cool. I just took the first pull out (about 10 hours after adding naphtha), and put it in the freezer, hopefully some magic happens overnight. I replaced the portion I took out with fresh naptha, I'll probably just keep swapping out the used naphtha from the collection jars and the main jar from now on though.

 

[LandOfOz]

lol love the second post.

IIRC all these long acid cooks and wait times is a relic of when bark strips were more widely used that the airfloat hot coco we mostly use now. its so beat up most of the cell structures have been ruptured already.

 

[MoarSauce]

I took a look at the jar in the freezer (leaving it overnight also but i wanted to see), and there are already some crystals on the sides of the jar, looks pretty much white also so hopefully this'll turn out nicely.

 

[DoctorMantus]

I let the last pulls sit for days, agitating when I think about it, and stop when nothing more comes out.

now im just curious when left for a few days and agitation do you heat your jar to warm the nap or does it not matter?

 

[Noman]

now im just curious when left for a few days and agitation do you heat your jar to warm the nap or does it not matter?

I usually heat the whole jar for a few hours on what I think will be the very last pull.
After that I pull with toluene.