how to tell if bark is spent

[jfreak]

quick question. On a recent dream i saw someone extract 3 pounds of ACTB. So far yielded about 10 grams of very nice stuff. He did about 4 boils, and a 2 day long soak in acidic water. I saved the bark and have it soaking in isopropyl and will be evapping that down and rehydrating to extract. My question is how do you know when your bark is spent? My iso is a nice deep dark red should i expect it to yield a decent amount more? If the washes or soaks still pull a dark red color can you expect it's still yielding? do they get clearer when it's spent?

 

[Shadowman-x]

i usually tell by eye. expoentially diminishing returns per pull, 4-5 hour or half hour boils will usuauyll do it, the wter goes from dark to quite clear.

 

[jfreak]

well last time i just chucked the bark after it started pulling a little lighter. but this time i didn't really have the time so i saved it after a few boils and days soaking. it started pulling considerably lighter but that was only with acidic water. I put all of it in 70% iso and it's been in there for like 4 days and is pretty dark looking so i'm crossing my fingers. I'm thinking of heating it too when i get the chance to try and pull more, idk if there's any point if it's been soaking for days though. perhaps I should filter that alc out and save it. then boil the bark in some fresh iso and see what i can get.

I'll report back with the results when i get the chance. If i can get a considerable amount more out of it it stands to reason that most people are wasting a lot of stuff if they throw their bark out after only 3 or 4 boils like i see many people do. the yield is already approaching 1 % for acacia trunk bark so I'm hoping I can reach 1.5 or 2% like i see some folks pulling off.