The monkey got himself 49cm - 7cm(tip to tip) of Pachanoi. Got it from an online vendor. It was a pretty cutting, no damage, no twisting, and even diameter. It was probably grown for maximum volume (so they can sell allot), so I expect it to contain maximum water.
The cutting was stored in a dark place for 2 weaks.
1336g Total weight
969g White flesh & core
319g Green flesh
48g Outer skin & spines
Only the green flesh will be used for extraction. The strips have been airdried at about 35C, which took 2 days.
The weight of the strips of green flesh dropped from 319g (wet) to 19g (dry). Is this normal? 6% dry matter?
The cutting was cut into 2 pieces before stripping. The first piece was all about learning the art of peeling and slicing a cactus.
And I would like to share my findings. Cutting out the spines and peeling the outer skin was easy but time consuming. The skin came of very nice, there was no green flesh sticking to the skin. But when the monkey tried to slice of the green flesh it became more difficult. At first only small pieces of green flesh we sliced of. Any remaining spots of green flesh were scraped of the white flesh. This resulted in allot of wet chips and also allot of slimy goo because of the scraping. It was clear this was not the way. No more scraping. So the monkey started slicing long strips from top to bottom. The picture shows how it was done. The red lines indicate the first slicing to be done. The blue lines indicate how to slice to get the green flesh in the grooves. This way of slicing is easy. No scraping, no white flesh. Nice long v-shaped strips of green flesh (that could be hung on a string to dry).

The monkey is planning to do a STB using calciumhydroxide, xylene and HCl. Yes, he knows all about d-limonene. Read allot of good things about it, lot of benefits. But it is a given fact xylene will be used since the monkey has got allot of it. The monkey has to do some more homework and calculating before he starts mixing stuff together. I will update this thread as the monkey progresses.
The cutting was stored in a dark place for 2 weaks.
1336g Total weight
969g White flesh & core
319g Green flesh
48g Outer skin & spines
Only the green flesh will be used for extraction. The strips have been airdried at about 35C, which took 2 days.
The weight of the strips of green flesh dropped from 319g (wet) to 19g (dry). Is this normal? 6% dry matter?
The cutting was cut into 2 pieces before stripping. The first piece was all about learning the art of peeling and slicing a cactus.
And I would like to share my findings. Cutting out the spines and peeling the outer skin was easy but time consuming. The skin came of very nice, there was no green flesh sticking to the skin. But when the monkey tried to slice of the green flesh it became more difficult. At first only small pieces of green flesh we sliced of. Any remaining spots of green flesh were scraped of the white flesh. This resulted in allot of wet chips and also allot of slimy goo because of the scraping. It was clear this was not the way. No more scraping. So the monkey started slicing long strips from top to bottom. The picture shows how it was done. The red lines indicate the first slicing to be done. The blue lines indicate how to slice to get the green flesh in the grooves. This way of slicing is easy. No scraping, no white flesh. Nice long v-shaped strips of green flesh (that could be hung on a string to dry).

The monkey is planning to do a STB using calciumhydroxide, xylene and HCl. Yes, he knows all about d-limonene. Read allot of good things about it, lot of benefits. But it is a given fact xylene will be used since the monkey has got allot of it. The monkey has to do some more homework and calculating before he starts mixing stuff together. I will update this thread as the monkey progresses.