Naphtha won't float to the top...

[Samadeus]

* STB extraction
* 128 grams of mimosa
* 128 grams of lye
* 1920 ml of water (1:15 to the bark).


I see a super thin layer of naphtha on top, pretty much not even noticeable until you start poking it and you see that it then spreads out like whisps of oil. I could see that it was about 0.5mm thick and clear but slightly brownish.

I suspect that my mixing bowl is too wide-mouthed and therefore makes the layer too spread-out to be properly siphoned.

 

[arcologist]

You probably have wayyyy too much liquid for that amount of bark. 1 liter is more than enough for base mixture + naphtha. You can't see the naphtha because you're using such a large container that the layer becomes very thin. You want the narrowest jar you can still siphon from so that the layer is at least a few cm thick.

Here's a course of action to fix your situation:
* Acquire several 1 liter glass jars with lids of a similar shape to the attached picture. You will want both a wide lid for easy siphoning (>4cm) and a narrow section near the top.
* Acquire a way to accurately siphon the top layer off - either a glass turkey baster or a glass syringe, syringe if possible.
* Fill each jar around 90% full with the base mixture, leaving some room (i.e. <100ml) for naphtha.
* Fill the rest of each jar with naphtha.
* Rather than mixing the layers with a spoon, a much safer and more efficient way is to put the lid on the jar(s) and gently rock them each for 5 minutes.
* Siphon the top layer from each jar, being careful to not suck up any of the black liquid. Combine in one container.
* If you get any black stuff in your siphoned naphtha, just siphon the naphtha off that container into another, the black stuff will sink to the bottom.
* Freeze precipitate the clean naphtha.

 

[Samadeus]

Thank you, arcologist!


The water amount came from the common 1:15 water ratio seen in many places, but I agree that it seems excessive and should be reduced in the future.

I'll now start looking for thinner containers.

 

[Samadeus]

I'm going to try to find actual chemistry-grade bottles with polypropylene caps.


I'm also taking a break from the extraction.

This was just the Universe's way of telling me that I was jumping into DMT too quickly. It had lead me to DMT two weeks ago and all of the equipment had arrived now, but it didn't intend for me to personally extract it now. I am okay with that. It makes perfect sense that it should wait, since I have more important things to do...

All this time during the preparation work, I felt a strong resistance in my solar plexus, telling me that I was rushing this and telling me "Not now... It's not time yet." - so I will now wait until my intuition tells me that it's finally time to proceed.

The Universe knows best.

 

[Samadeus]

Here's something that may help others:


Proper bottles. Made for lab experiments and able to withstand solvents.

http://www.corning.com/lifesciences/us_canada/en/technical_resources/product_guid/bottles/pyrex_screw_cap.aspx

1 Liter, Lab-grade glass, and a cap made of "GL45" which is resistant to solvents! Just get a couple of 1 liter bottles of that kind, and some glass pipettes (avoid syringes since the rubber stopper in them gets eaten by the solvent vapors).