lyewater eating naptha :X

[opiated]

swim has been struggling with this for a good while now, maybe 4 seperate extractions.. his first two, this never happened.. he hasnt changed any of the ratios of anything.. what causes naptha to disappear? its like the black layer just eats it.. is the mixture too thick? any help would be greatly appreciated thank you

edit: and once the naptha is gone is it gone for good? or is there a way to get it back out... swim feels he wont get as much as he can out of the bark

 

[LemonScented]

tilt your jar, is there some seperation at least? was it a stb or a/b extraction? are you sure the mixtures not coating the sides and hiding the naphtha. let it sit for a long time and use a turkey baster to suck up the top layer. is it clear or is it not seperating. if its not seperating perhaps its too thich; try adding water, check your ph and add more lye if neeeded. that may help.

 

[opiated]

thats what he was thinking of doing, more lye/water.. its the third pull some more lye prolly wouldnt hurt anyhow.. its an stb extraction.. the reason i know its eating it is because say he put 200ml (for example) of naptha per vessell and only got back about 100.. he's going to let it try to seperate all night and pull the nap. off in the morning.. thanks

 

[Noman]

Just add water.
STB's, when the bark is powdered very fine, indeed eat naptha.
Happily, all you have to do is add water and maybe a little more solvent and it'll pop back out.

 

[opiated]

*siiiigh* so the stuff didnt seperate over night.. so swim put 5 more tbs lye per 1/4 lb of bark.. his vessels will only hold 1/4lb worth of bark/water each.. and 16 more oz of water apiece.. and another 100ml naptha apiece.. got home from work today and he found that nothing changed except more naptha is missing he knows theres still a good amount of spice left in the mix because his first pull was EXCELLENT.. the second pull which is in the freezer now yielded barely anything at all... he usually averages 3 grams of spice per pound of bark.. he has maybe a gram and a half so far.. so theres GOTTA be more in there.. he dunno wtf the deal is, as he has done this the same exact way each and every time.. maybe when he is spinning the bottles end over end he is agitating it too much? he cant figure it out and he's about to put his head through the desk

 

[opiated]

ALSO.. one point i forgot to mention.. he is getting SOME seperation.. BUT.. there is the clearly defined naptha layer and directly under is a cloudy brown which is well defined, THEN its the water/bark mixture.. im thinking this cloudy shit might be where it is.. isint it called an immisible layer or something? could i precipate this cloudy crap with success? thanks for any help

 

[Noman]

Separate out the cloudy brown and agitate it with warm basified water a couple of times.
That should wash the goop holding it together out of the solvent.

 

[opiated]

thank you noman for all your help im gonna try that this evening or tomorrow morning and see what happens.. hopefully thatll do the trick, if not im just gonna pour this crap down the drain and order another lb.. is there anything i can do in the beginning steps to prevent this from happening? also, i'd like to use one of those big 5 gallon office water cooler things as a vessell instead of 1/2 gallon liquor bottles like ive been using but i dunno if the lye will eat thru that thick plastic or not.. this will make it easier on me by not having the mix quite so thick, there will be alot more room for water instead of me trying to cramp it all in small bottles, which will probably solve everything.. again, thank you much

 

[freedominphilly]

also, i'd like to use one of those big 5 gallon office water cooler things as a vessell instead of 1/2 gallon liquor bottles like ive been using but i dunno if the lye will eat thru that thick plastic or not..

Those 5 gallon bottles are completely safe. Just don't keep it capped for any prolonged period of time...if the lye water is warm and you cap it, the bottle will lose pressure inside and start to squeeze itself as it cools...SWIM has had the seam on the bottle crack from that, but not from the lye eating through.

 

[acolon_5]

This is a common problem with STB teks. Everything turns to sludge and the naphtha gets trapped in the sludge. It isn't gone, just trapped. Thin it out as suggested, by adding more water and you should be fine. Seperate it into two jugs if need be and water down. I doubt you will need to add more lye.