hello everyone

im going to put this on hold for a bit until i can find a safer way to do this.

in the last month i have done 2 attempts (4 jars total) and had another spontaneously de-emulsify. fortunately instead of a jar breaking open all that happened was that the lid went flying off and it started spilling over the side into the pot that i put the jars in case the jars cracked open.

the interesting thing is that the jar was not any warmer than the other jar, so there was no exothermic reaction, but something is causing all the solvent and all the air bubbles from shaking the jar to become trapped and then release all at once, and i need to figure out why this is happening and find a way to stop it.

if anyone has any clue what is happening or how to stop it please let me know, i have only had 2 out of the last 9 jars do it, but thats still a pretty high number.

just speculating, not the heavier magnesium saturated water seperates from the non saturated water, and then a dome of powdered bark froms on top of it, just enough to form a net for the solvent.

from there the air bubbles become trapped either inside or under the solvent and when something happens, (like a hole opens up in the layers) all the solvent and air jumps out at once.

this maybe be as simple to fix as stiring the jar regularly, or using a bigger jar, or using a mixture of table and epsom salts (something i have not tried yet and need to) or any of a number of other things, but i honestly dont know what is happening.

that said the results from the first two jars of four came back

after four pulls of 25g

jar 1 pre shredded 690mg, 2.76%

jar two whole bark 720mg, 2.88%

i still think with a combination of salts this could be pushed even higher, but without a better understanding of how to stop that bubbling problem i'm very skittish to keep trying.

so if anyone can provide any insight into what might be happening, please.

thank you.