Seriously....the picture's colors look like ass...sorry fro the bad lighting. The card its sitting on is stark white. The powder is actually lighter colored than straw... like the exact color of dry oatmeal. I think its about as white as you can get without a MEK purity step.... although all in all I think that if you want super clean mesc you should be using the hcl instead of vinegar..... maybe Fumaric acid (thanks narmz)
I have had the reddish goo before. If vendor used the whole cactus rather than just the skin... that could be part of the problem.
Of course the starting material is important.... if its low in mesc and high in other alks... your getting goo.
I use quite a bit less FILTERED water than called for in the tek (too much is worse than not enough) I premix the lime in while still dry and then add the water super slow and kneed it in with my hands as thoroughly as possible. I break down any little clumps and work it to make sure all the cactus come in contact with the lime and water. The end product is very doughy... hardly wet at all. Could probably form it into a ball.
I let it sit for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to make sure all the bassifying action gets a chance to happen and then I pour on the d-limo just a little more than enough to cover. I let that sit for a close to a day stirring several times. (even have my GF stir it once or twice while I work)
I use a coffee press and try and get out as much limo as I can (several pressings of a few spoonfuls at a time) even on the first pull.
I used to think more limo pulls would pull more impurities and cause more brown goo. But, I'm not sure now as I did 3 pulls on this one, salted it all together and still got light tan hardly sticky powder.
