HCL and the Crockpot

[FetusFries]

I've read teks that instruct you to bring ph to around 2 or 3 with white vinegar cover root bark with it in a crockpot and bring to the highest heat for an hour, repeat etc. i havn't seen anything about doing this with HCL insted of vinegar, i did a quick google on it and found nothing about why one shouldn't do it. i thought i would ask before my friend does something potentially stupid.is it ok if he uses hcl insted of vinegar in the crockpot for the salt extraction?

 

[69ron]

As long as the pH is not too low it shouldn't be a problem. The lowest pH you'll need is 4. You shouldn't use anything lower than that or you'll just get more inactive junk out of the plant material.

Once the DMT is exposed to the HCl solution at pH 4, then 99.99% of it is going to become DMT HCl. DMT HCl is very highly water soluble and LESS solution in highly concentrated HCl solutions. So adding more HCl is not really a good thing.

Also, if using HCl DO NOT ADD SALT! If you do, some of the DMT HCl will precipitate out of the solution and get lost after you filter your material! DMT HCl is very poorly soluble in salt water.

If using vinegar, none of those are issues to worry about. DMT acetate is highly soluble in water, highly soluble in pure vinegar, and probably also soluble in salt water as well because its not a hydrochloride. In general, hydrochlorides are not very soluble in salt (sodium chloride) water.