issue with first extraction? Your thoughts please.

[almostthere]

Hi there,

so I finally got around to my first extraction and I used Cybs' Hybrid ATB 'Salt' Tek which was very straight forward and I got a good looking yield (haven't weighed it yet) from my first pull and I then added more naphtha and mixed and let sit but after about 12 hours there does not seem to be anything separating. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I add more naphtha?

Thanks

 

[Intezam]

..as far as we understood: 'the layers (emulsion) aren't separating?' Try adding some more NaOH to it and see if that makes the layers separate..

 

[Mesh]

If there's naptha with water, it should distinctly separate to some degree.
Questions, was the bark undersaturated; did it absorb what amt of naptha you put in it?

 

[1ce]

Sometimes if your brew is too thick I have noticed it has a harder time separating. An emulsion is usually evidenced by suspended particles. If you don't see am emulsion add a bit more water and stir.

I have an emulsion almost every extraction, I vac filter the bark off the solution to remove the tiny dust sized particles. I shake my base solution/bark VERY vigorously in a stainless steal container with metal balls inside to aid in mixing. If I don't filter off particles they'll be suspended for days!

If you have some money to burn you could probably source a centrifuge for cheap. You don't need anything fancy. An autosampler or 4-6" blunt syring works pretty great for removing the solvent out of the centrifuge tubes.

 

[Spiritofspice]

Lightly shake the jar just a couple of shakes you want to break the top layer so it can separate or if you can stir it slightly.

Warming in a hot water bath can help as we'll.

 

[almostthere]

thanks guys, I took your advice and added more lye and things are now separating nicely.

 

[Winemaker]

My friend carefully used his front-loading laundry machine.. The vibrations helped lol