I keep losing nice looking crystals in the post freeze drying

[CreativeMind]

Glad to be a part of this community! This is my first post so I apologize if it is not in the correct location/etc. I am just drying my 3rd extraction. Each time when I am looking at it after 40 hours it is looking so nice in the freezer. I take it out and put it near a fan, on a drying rack and leave it. It seems like a majority of the crystals that form on the bottom of the glass baking tray just turn into a white, smeary substance. The stuff around the edge of the pan dries nice and is very pleasant to vaporize, but the stuff i'm talking about in the middle is extremely harsh, and acts somewhat like a wax. What can I do on my next extract that could alleviate this?

 

[Voidmatrix]

You can recrystalize what you have.

Question: Are you pouring your solvent off after taking it put of the freezer?

And welcome to the Nexus

One love

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I read as far as, "I keep losing nice looking crystals in the post..."
and thought, "maybe don't send your crystals via the mail then!"

One possibility is that the oily/waxy stuff needs a far longer time for the residual naphtha to evaporate. Void's suggestion of recrystallisation is on point here. This is where using a pure hydrocarbon such as heptane will help the most. It helps to disperse the heavier hydrocarbons which, by the sound of it, may have become trapped in the waxy matrix.

A FASA precipitation might also clean things up if trapped hydrocarbons really are the problem.

Another possibility is that the waxy consistency is leading to different vaporization characteristics and thus the material will require a modified vaporization technique. Perhaps you need to heat it more gently.


[PS - welcome to the Nexus!]

 

[Hyper Turtle]

A thing i like to do is after pouring off the naphtha, put the dish back into the freezer upside down for an hour or so (covered, or rather on the cover). Then take it out, keep it on the cover until acclimated to room temp. This allows more naphtha to flow off without a chance to redissolve the crystals due to warming.

 

[CreativeMind]

Thanks fellas!

My procedure is as follows. I am doing an ACRB tek with backsalting/mini A/B.

After 40ish hours in the freezer I take the pan out, dump the remaining naptha and tilt against something on the counter, with a towel under it, fan blowing against it until it is dry.

I have been trying to avoid recrystallization just because I have really been wanting to figure out the root issue on this problem, but if that is the only corrective measure I will give this a shot tomorrow morning on this latest ex.
Is there any commonly available items that are heptane or is that something that will have to be procured elsewhere?

I will definitely be draining the naptha off, fan for 15 mins, and back into the freezer upside down on the one im working on right now!


Thank you!

 

[Voidmatrix]

I read as far as, "I keep losing nice looking crystals in the post..."
and thought, "maybe don't send your crystals via the mail then!"

This killed me! :lol:

CreativeMind, what are the specifics of the tek you're using?

One love

 

[CreativeMind]

Void

This is the tek I am using ACRB TEK 100g "PICS" (Newbie Friendly) - ACRB TEK 100g "PICS" (Newbie Friendly) - A/B - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus

 

[CreativeMind]

And honestly, this is the one I have had the best results with ACRB. Before this tek I was using the one described in the DMT handbook.

 

[reDeMpTion]

I like that tek, I've gotten really nice crystals from ACRB with it. I try to use minimal solvent in the the mini A/B pulls and just evap it all.

It sounds like you could be getting some stuff from an emulsion if it's smeary and waxy. Most of that should be getting left behind in the in between layer, but I have noticed small amounts of oily residue spread out in mine here and there after the evap sometimes.

I usually get the nicer crystals out with a paper index card before scraping up the rest of the less pretty stuff with a razor. I save that for changa or re-x.

 

[CreativeMind]

How much of a difference between MHRB/ACRB? It seems a lot of the teks were written with MHRB in mind. Honestly im not even sure why I settled on ACRB when I started this journey.

 

[reDeMpTion]

If you were to use most of the MH teks, you would end up with extra gooey results. I used ACRB my first time because MHRB was a lot harder to get at that point.

I like ACRB and have gotten better looking crystals with it actually. It does have more NMT in it. I'm not sure how much difference that makes in the end and the amounts it contains can probably vary a lot. I did get some one time that had extremely low yields and was inactive...so as with all things quality varies.

 

[Voidmatrix]

How much of a difference between MHRB/ACRB? It seems a lot of the teks were written with MHRB in mind. Honestly im not even sure why I settled on ACRB when I started this journey.

If memory serves me correctly, ACRB tends to have slightly less DMT by weight than MHRB and it tends to have more plant fats which is why some defat process is always recommended.

When you're performing your pulls, are you using hot solvent?

One love

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Another thing about ACRB is than it can, depending on the batch, have greater or lesser amounts of NMT which may also lead to oiliness. {Oh, I see reDeMpTion mentioned this previously!}