Jagube
Established member
I've taken iboga several times before. This time I did my first extraction.
I first used a magnetic stirrer, but the stir bar would get stuck after a couple of days and eventually the stirrer broke (Probably the motor driver / control circuit. I know it wasn't the motor. I took it apart and tested the motor with a 9V battery).
I replaced the stirrer, but decided not to use it anymore and just soak it at room temperature.
My soaks were a few days long each, and I didn't count them, but it must have been at least 5. It was probably overkill, but I wanted to maximize the yield, wasn't in a hurry, and the process was rather passive. The first soak was the color of Coke, the last one looked more like pale urine.
At one point, after a bit of reducing, I added some bottled water, to dilute the acetic acid, because I was afraid the higher acetic acid concentration might harm the alkaloids.
It started clouding around pH 7 and I finished at around pH 10.2.
When finished, the volume was close to 200 ml.
It looked like a mess and didn't want to settle. After 3 days, the 200 ml of suspension had only come down to 180 ml of suspension and 20 ml supernatant.
So I decided to run it through a coffee filter. That worked much better!
The product left in the filter was sticky, like the fraction that Manske on harmalas discards.
Roughly 50% of that should alkaloids, and 80% of the alkaloid fraction should be ibogaine.
Starting material: 24 g of T. iboga root bark
1. Ground it in a coffee grinder
2. Soaked in 5% white vinegar in a 200 ml jar, covering the bark and adding an extra 10 mm on top.
I first used a magnetic stirrer, but the stir bar would get stuck after a couple of days and eventually the stirrer broke (Probably the motor driver / control circuit. I know it wasn't the motor. I took it apart and tested the motor with a 9V battery).
I replaced the stirrer, but decided not to use it anymore and just soak it at room temperature.
My soaks were a few days long each, and I didn't count them, but it must have been at least 5. It was probably overkill, but I wanted to maximize the yield, wasn't in a hurry, and the process was rather passive. The first soak was the color of Coke, the last one looked more like pale urine.
3. Ran the pulls through a single coffee filter in a funnel, combined them, and filtered again through a double coffee filter
4. Reduced the volume in a ceramic dish in an 8W heated propagator to 60 ml
At one point, after a bit of reducing, I added some bottled water, to dilute the acetic acid, because I was afraid the higher acetic acid concentration might harm the alkaloids.
5. Transferred the reduced pulls to a small jar and basified with dilute ammonia, drop-wise, on the stirrer
It started clouding around pH 7 and I finished at around pH 10.2.
When finished, the volume was close to 200 ml.
6. Collected wet product
It looked like a mess and didn't want to settle. After 3 days, the 200 ml of suspension had only come down to 180 ml of suspension and 20 ml supernatant.
So I decided to run it through a coffee filter. That worked much better!
The product left in the filter was sticky, like the fraction that Manske on harmalas discards.
7. Dried the product in the heated propagator
Result: 2.26 g of dry freebase TA extract
Roughly 50% of that should alkaloids, and 80% of the alkaloid fraction should be ibogaine.