bluntmuffin
Rising Star
- Merits
- 42
Good afternoon everyone,
I have been performing the HCl version of 69ron's tek and have performed it with success twice before (1g, then 1.2g from 90~g dry). I have been experimenting with freezing the cactus before dehydrating. I had two pachanoi cactus stem pieces.
From both, I removed the spines with my ingenious spine removing tool.
From the more pachy one, I just froze it with waxy skin on and spines removed.
When I defrosted this one, it just sent liquid everywhere. The cactus sagged, and the waxy skin was noticeably weakened (making it much harder than I had anticipated to remove - do NOT freeze before removing skin - it's WAY harder). I spent ages, collecting the liquid and scraping the flesh from the skin with a knife. Finally I had removed all the skin and had a pile of flesh and a cup of liquid (which I dehydrated to reduce the volume of). There was a small amount of fermentation before I managed to dehydrate the flesh. I hope this didn't kill too much product.
From the scoppier one, I sliced into sausages, then removed the wax and core, and froze as sausages in plastic bags (next time will use airtight bags to reduce ice formation). Then when I defrosted these, I again collected the copious amounts of liquid (which was taste tested to indeed be full of bitter alkaloids) which I reduced the volume of in a dehyrdrator. I also dehydrated the rest of the flesh into chips.
So then a few days later, I ground the chips (120g total from estimated wet weight 1.5kg+), mixed in about 32g CaOH (I used an excess to account for the liquid, which was a gluey consistency). Then I mixed lime and ground chips in a beaker, and poured over the cactus gloop (300mL worth) and stirred to a thick consistency. Now here's where I think I made my mistake. I estimated (poorly this time) 80mL (I probably was closer to 150mL) of water to add to the stock to reduce the lumpiness. I added it, and stirred vigorously. I then added the NP solvent. However, I have now noticed that this mixture's consistency is far too thin, and it's swallowing up NP solvent. I've been adding a gross excess of NP solvent to allow it to rise to the surface, and then drawing from there. I'd estimate at least 150-300mL of NP solvent are still trapped in the cactus gloop. Is there any way I can get most of it out? I do realize it is still possible to complete the extraction by using an excess of NP solvent, however, I'll have to probably do something like 6 NP washes of the cactus to account for the only half I'll be removing each time.
SO ESSENTIALLY: I added too much water, and now lots of NP solvent is stuck in the cactus gloop and only very little rises to the surface. Is there anything I can do?
And while I'm at it. Does using one of those coffee plungers increase yields?
I have been performing the HCl version of 69ron's tek and have performed it with success twice before (1g, then 1.2g from 90~g dry). I have been experimenting with freezing the cactus before dehydrating. I had two pachanoi cactus stem pieces.
From both, I removed the spines with my ingenious spine removing tool.
From the more pachy one, I just froze it with waxy skin on and spines removed.
When I defrosted this one, it just sent liquid everywhere. The cactus sagged, and the waxy skin was noticeably weakened (making it much harder than I had anticipated to remove - do NOT freeze before removing skin - it's WAY harder). I spent ages, collecting the liquid and scraping the flesh from the skin with a knife. Finally I had removed all the skin and had a pile of flesh and a cup of liquid (which I dehydrated to reduce the volume of). There was a small amount of fermentation before I managed to dehydrate the flesh. I hope this didn't kill too much product.
From the scoppier one, I sliced into sausages, then removed the wax and core, and froze as sausages in plastic bags (next time will use airtight bags to reduce ice formation). Then when I defrosted these, I again collected the copious amounts of liquid (which was taste tested to indeed be full of bitter alkaloids) which I reduced the volume of in a dehyrdrator. I also dehydrated the rest of the flesh into chips.
So then a few days later, I ground the chips (120g total from estimated wet weight 1.5kg+), mixed in about 32g CaOH (I used an excess to account for the liquid, which was a gluey consistency). Then I mixed lime and ground chips in a beaker, and poured over the cactus gloop (300mL worth) and stirred to a thick consistency. Now here's where I think I made my mistake. I estimated (poorly this time) 80mL (I probably was closer to 150mL) of water to add to the stock to reduce the lumpiness. I added it, and stirred vigorously. I then added the NP solvent. However, I have now noticed that this mixture's consistency is far too thin, and it's swallowing up NP solvent. I've been adding a gross excess of NP solvent to allow it to rise to the surface, and then drawing from there. I'd estimate at least 150-300mL of NP solvent are still trapped in the cactus gloop. Is there any way I can get most of it out? I do realize it is still possible to complete the extraction by using an excess of NP solvent, however, I'll have to probably do something like 6 NP washes of the cactus to account for the only half I'll be removing each time.
SO ESSENTIALLY: I added too much water, and now lots of NP solvent is stuck in the cactus gloop and only very little rises to the surface. Is there anything I can do?
And while I'm at it. Does using one of those coffee plungers increase yields?
