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New/revised practical A/B ~near perfect extraction method~

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rainbowserpent

Rising Star
(last edited February 6 2008...still working on getting the linguistics up to a high standard...suggestions still are loved :D )

Hey, so someone who really isn't me made this A/B tek based on experiences of several groups and a large collection of information over time. This works especially well for pre-powdered MHRB and for anyone having trouble with either STB teks or with efficiency or purity regarding A/B teks. This leaves one with a very pure result off the bat.

It started with the basic marsofold tek and then changed a bunch of things (number of times bark is cooked, pH bark is cooked in, filtering solids from liquids to ensure efficiency, pH bark is basified to, number of naphtha pulls, removed the ammonia wash, replaced evaporation with freeze precipitation). The person who made the tek was frusterated that no A/B teks were efficient enough, and was not the first person to have trouble with prepowdered bark going STB (nor did they want to deal with heating naphtha due to the danger/vapors). Also, directions were made to be as convenient and practical as possible.

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Why to use this extraction? This extraction is preferable if you have pre-powdered mimosa hostilis rootbark, or if you are attempting to extract DMT from the rootbark in an easy and practical manner. Also, it produces fantastic results if the directions are followed, shortcuts are not taken, and the process is understood :)

Materials required:

2 half-gallon mason jars
1 small glass mason jar
1 crockpot (or medium-large stove-top pot)
1 gallon white vinegar (distilled to 5% acidity)
1 pound sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
1 half-gallon VM&P Naphtha
1 glass turkey baster
1 pair nitrile gloves
1 pair safety goggles
1 glass baking dish
1 metal coffee filter
1 glass measuring cup
1 pound mimosa hostilis rootbark

Break up the rootbark in the finest pieces possible and grind it up in a glass-topped blender, a little at a time. (The alternative to whole bark being prepowdered bark. Some prefer to see the bark whole to better tell its quality, but if the source is trusted, prepowdered bark removes this step).

Acidification: Use a 1 part vinegar : 1 part water solution. Put the ground-up Mimosa in a 3-Liter crockpot (or pot on stove), then fill it with the water-vinegar solution until the liquid stirs easy…but not too easy. The consistency one should look for here is similar to a liquidy sauce. Turn the on a setting that will allow the bark to simmer without going into a boil. Continue stirring every 10-15 minutes and let the bark simmer for 2 hours. When the bark is heating up for the first time adding more solution might be necessary in order to keep the correct consistency.

~Burn some incense or sage during this process. Even if you don’t believe in metaphysical things…burn some incense or sage during this process~ Note: This is not necessary, and so can be skipped, but was included.

After 2 hours put the ceramic liner of the crockpot in the fridge and let sit for several hours/overnight. As the bark cools it will separate from the liquid…making for a MUCH easier filtration process. When everything is cold pour the liquid through a metal coffee filter into a measuring container (500mL). If the metal coffee filter fits into the container in such a way that the filter is above the liquid, this is best. Take the wet bark and push the remaining liquid out of it so the bark is semi-dry. Put the liquid into a half-gallon mason jar and put the bark back into the crockpot (only do this once you have filtered all the bark).

Take the liquid and filter that again…depending on how hot the liquid was/how fine the filter was, a fair amount of bark can get through the filter the first time.

NOTE: If enough time has passed for the bark to cool one does not have to use a filter if they correctly pour off the liquid. This step was included because it increases efficiency and because often times minute amounts of particles can be floating around in the solution and can make for slightly less pure spice. While filtering is not required, if time is not in issue, it is recommended.

Repeat the simmering process (for longer this time) and then the filtering process. Up to 4 times can be done (generally each longer than the first…making sure never to let the liquid boil) before the bark isn’t worth cooking again. The bark can now be discarded. Generally, cooking the bark 4 times will result in 2 half-gallon mason jars slightly over half full each.

Basification: Add around 200-300mL of cold water to a different mason jar and add between 6-8 tablespoons of NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to the cold water in the separate container.
*One might not need quite that much NaOH, and as such can play around with the numbers if they are so inclined, but these measurements will produce fantastic results!*

Stir the cold water until the NaOH dissolves (and the H2O/NaOH solution heats up) and then slowly add half of the solution to each jar of acidified liquid while stirring them in order to prevent incredible accumulations of NaOH to hit any particular spot of the original solutions.

As they basify the liquid will go from red to white to brown to black (though see-through black can look brown). Each jar should turn black with around 25% of the NaOH left to pour in each to ensure that the final pH is high enough (13.5+). Having the pH this high helps separate layers (and settle emulsions) during the nonpolar extraction and also ensures that all the DMT will be converted to freebase and extracted with naphtha.

Nonpolar Extraction...(aka extraction of DMT from basified solution):
Depending on how much room is left in each jar add between 100-200ml of VM&P Naptha to the each jar (amount dependent on both space and number of extractions done). Put the lids on the jars and turn each jar end-over-end (around once per second) for 7-10 minutes. Let each jar sit for around 15 minutes, after which point two layers should be visible. There may be a layer of bubbles in the clear layer (generally the jar with the 3rd and 4th brew has this more) which must move into the lower layer before they can be separated. This can take a while, but may not. Use a glass turkey baster to suck up the top clear layer into a glass baking container and repeat the non-polar extraction up to 3 more times. When finished, the basified layer can be put down plumbing.

Freeze-precipitation/evaporation: When all of the naphtha is collected the container must sit for a period of time until part of the solution evaporates (let it evaporate outside or in a place where nothing living will breathe the vapors…it is a good idea to always work with naphtha outside). Generally between 1/3 to 2/3 of the solution evaporating is a good amount, but if the solution starts to become cloudy or crystals start to form it is a good sign that the solution is ready. [note: if it is cold outside crystals can form even if the solution is not ready].

**check for tiny black dots in the solution. This is NaOH solution. If there is some (or other impurities), don’t panic. Use a turkey baster to transfer the solution to another container. If this is done in even a semi-careful manner the NaOH will be left in the first container…you CAN NOT let any be in your final solution. Also, doing this can remove the bottom layer of oil that sometimes forms as the naphtha evaporates down.**

Cover the container with plastic wrap and put it in a freezer (on its coldest setting) for 36-72 hours (sometimes crystals form late). The solution has to be saturated enough for almost all of the DMT to precipitate out in the cold…hence why the prior evaporation was required. Once the DMT has precipitated out of the solution it will mostly freeze to the sides. Remove the plastic wrap and take the container out of the freezer. Pour all of the naphtha into another container (with the suspended DMT) and if possible pour the naphtha out of that container in such a way that the suspended DMT is caught on the sides. (Obviously, do this while it is still freezing). Evaporate the leftover naphtha (which contains oils and a trace amount of DMT) because naphtha is toxic. You can either refine the oil, save it up or discard it.

If everything worked out correctly you should be left with off-white/slightly-yellow DMT powder and/or crystals that you can scrape off with a razor blade. Sometimes you even will get clear crystals. The crystals are denser than the powder and generally smoke better. Clear crystals smoke better than yellow ones. When smoking, use between 20-100mgs and make sure to keep the lighter from burning the DMT (keep it FAR away!). Hold in hits for a long time. Generally, for full effects, one should use more DMT than they plan on smoking (because of inefficiency/burning/not smoking it all) and take several hits. As one is taking the last hit they should be hallucinating hard. At that point relaxing is the best thing they can do.

much love and hope for all :)
namaste
 
Thats very good. I think it should go up here and Erowid should replace either QT or Yoda's tek with it. My only question would be - is the filtering really necessary? The Antarctican has seen no difference in purity between extractions that were filtered and those that were merely decanted. When he gives this a trial go, I'll have him filter half and decant the other. Nice work.
 
Thanks. The reason they put in filtering is because they would end up with 4-6oz of liquid completely separate from the bark, but would get double that if they fully filtered. Feeling that they had bark in their hands and some time to spare, they would rather do extra work for a possible higher yield. I'm sure they would be very interested in hearing the yields without filtering. Another interesting thing of note (which was noted in the tek but possibly should be slightly expanded upon) is that if one is extracting during the winter months (whichever they are) in a cold enough place that it reaches freezing at night, small crystals form on the inside of the naphtha container. These crystals provide a slight problem with freeze-precipitation if removed (they can be redissolved or the naphtha can be evaporated more to compensate), but are VERY pure...completely clear before oxidation. Ones who have tried it found white spice to be a 'letdown' in comparison ;)
 
Okay, heres a couple more questions: Do you use a metal coffee filter each time, or do you use finer filters after the first one? How did you decide that double the quantity of vinegar called for in Marsofold's tek was needed? This isnt really a question, but I think you need to be a little more specific in describing basification. The Antarctican and most other A/B extractors I know have found that an additional 25% lye is needed after the solution goes slippy black.
 
whenever filtering was done it was with a metal coffee filter. The liquid was always cold, and by the second filtration there have been no noticeable solids found in the liquid. do you think that using something finer (cheesecloth?) would possibly yield purer results than just a metal filter? the amount of vinegar was doubled first during several experiments simply because experimenters had figured a pH between 3-4 was ideal for extraction and found the marsofold tek's pH to be on the high side of that. since that has become standard practice results have been getting much purer, though admittedly general experience could be another reason for that. experimenters found that with this number they were generally getting yields higher than what was read in either marsofold's tek or in general literature, and also were not pulling many oils along with it. will have someon go in and add more to the basification section and I'll post it. do you see any other sections that could use additions?
 
[quote:c01b85bc05="rainbowserpent"] do you think that using something finer (cheesecloth?) would possibly yield purer results than just a metal filter? do you see any other sections that could use additions?[/quote:c01b85bc05] I'm the one who questions the need to filter at all, remember? The Antarctican has actually found that too fine a filtering (paper coffee filters) reduces yield. Everything else looks pretty clear to me - you need some noobs to get in there and fuck it all up now. :p
 
I like the crock-pot tek ! And I just wonder how good your bark was - did you get a value for %-yeild..?... And of course I have some thoughts about pH... it's worth measuring. I noticed you didn't have a pH pen to borrow..? You kjust need to use one once to learn the amounts needed. Since all the dmt present in the aqueous, acid extract will become insoluble at pH 11.2, a pH of 11.5 is already over kill. Lye is hard to come by these days, so waste not ! One can pre-dissolve it as a concenrate in water warmed up in the microwave, so you can use a small volume. For eg just 5 tsp in 250 ml makes a strong enough lye-solution to need just 30 ml to basify-to-Jet-black, a whole litre at pH 2. So repeating myself, a pH of 11.5 is basified enough. The use of any more lye to go past pH 11.2 is just not needed anyways. So I'm wondering; the value of pH = 13.5 comes from where..? A pH of 13.5 is screamingly high, and sometimes it's even hard to read reliably. Cheap pH pens loose their calibration and accuracy at the limit of their range (pH 1 - 14), same with the acid extreme - , with uncalibrated pH pens you can overshoot by large amounts in trying to make a pH 13.5 or pH 1.5, beware. ... 13.5 can be an imaginary number, as we shovel the lye on in ... The 'chemistry' reason to save your lye, and for not needing to exceed a pH of 11.2 - 11.5 is because dmt has a pKa of 8.7 ... so we just need to exceed the pKa of dmt by about 2.5 pH points to be sure that ALL the dmt becomes insoluble. 2.5 pH points above 8.7 is more than [b:ecf46dea9a]100 times[/b:ecf46dea9a] 'extra' base already ! 'Basifying' is not the same as digesting the MHRB with a lye stew (at ph 13.5), as in an STB tek ... Try to borrow a (calibrated !) pH pen to measure the pH of when it turns "slippy black" - 11.0 to 11.2 is easy to note, but stir in the lye solution. At pH 10.0 it's still all grey and cloudy-blue. You can calibrate your tek with a pH pen, and learn to eyeball the exact amounts needed. Also, continuing to rant about not using too much lye; if one used a lesser amount of acid ( for eg 2 ml of HCl per liter vs 5ml/L) then you'll need less lye - basifying an extract with a pH of 4, needs [b:ecf46dea9a]100 times LESS[/b:ecf46dea9a] lye than extracting at a pH of 2.0. So compared to using HCL at pH 1.8, acetic acid at pH 4.0 needs just a teeny weeny amount of lye to move it to pH 11.5 - I bet less than a gram of lye per liter will work. In another approx example - just 3 grams of lye dissolved in 20 ml H2O, raises pH in 1 litre of filtered acid extract at pH 1.8, all the way to pH 12 ! Lye is as 'strong' of a base as HCL is a 'strong-acid', you need just a 'titch'...
 
El Ka Bong said:
I like the crock-pot tek ! And I just wonder how good your bark was - did you get a value for %-yeild..?... And of course I have some thoughts about pH... it's worth measuring. I noticed you didn't have a pH pen to borrow..? You kjust need to use one once to learn the amounts needed. Since all the dmt present in the aqueous, acid extract will become insoluble at pH 11.2, a pH of 11.5 is already over kill. Lye is hard to come by these days, so waste not ! One can pre-dissolve it as a concenrate in water warmed up in the microwave, so you can use a small volume. For eg just 5 tsp in 250 ml makes a strong enough lye-solution to need just 30 ml to basify-to-Jet-black, a whole litre at pH 2. So repeating myself, a pH of 11.5 is basified enough. The use of any more lye to go past pH 11.2 is just not needed anyways. So I'm wondering; the value of pH = 13.5 comes from where..? A pH of 13.5 is screamingly high, and sometimes it's even hard to read reliably. Cheap pH pens loose their calibration and accuracy at the limit of their range (pH 1 - 14), same with the acid extreme - , with uncalibrated pH pens you can overshoot by large amounts in trying to make a pH 13.5 or pH 1.5, beware. ... 13.5 can be an imaginary number, as we shovel the lye on in ... The 'chemistry' reason to save your lye, and for not needing to exceed a pH of 11.2 - 11.5 is because dmt has a pKa of 8.7 ... so we just need to exceed the pKa of dmt by about 2.5 pH points to be sure that ALL the dmt becomes insoluble. 2.5 pH points above 8.7 is more than [b:4aa865fd44]100 times[/b:4aa865fd44] 'extra' base already ! 'Basifying' is not the same as digesting the MHRB with a lye stew (at ph 13.5), as in an STB tek ... Try to borrow a (calibrated !) pH pen to measure the pH of when it turns "slippy black" - 11.0 to 11.2 is easy to note, but stir in the lye solution. At pH 10.0 it's still all grey and cloudy-blue. You can calibrate your tek with a pH pen, and learn to eyeball the exact amounts needed. Also, continuing to rant about not using too much lye; if one used a lesser amount of acid ( for eg 2 ml of HCl per liter vs 5ml/L) then you'll need less lye - basifying an extract with a pH of 4, needs 100 times LESS[/b:4aa865fd44] lye than extracting at a pH of 2.0. So compared to using HCL at pH 1.8, acetic acid at pH 4.0 needs just a teeny weeny amount of lye to move it to pH 11.5 - I bet less than a gram of lye per liter will work. In another approx example - just 3 grams of lye dissolved in 20 ml H2O, raises pH in 1 litre of filtered acid extract at pH 1.8, all the way to pH 12 ! Lye is as 'strong' of a base as HCL is a 'strong-acid', you need just a 'titch'...
(this is rainbowserpent, my account is inactive) that's interesting. does this ever create strong emulsions? the reasoning behind so much lye in this tek was first because more vinegar was being used (and in a slightly higher concentration) than in the marsofold tek and a couple of other a/b teks (though obviously, not nearly as acidic as when using HCL). even with the amounts used, the solutions would turn black with somewhere between 20-30% of lye solution left to pour in. Experimenters found that even with a black solution sometimes emulsions would form that required several hours between pulls (especially if and when a 3rd and 4th vinegar brew was done), so they added another 1-2 tablespoons lye and found the emulsion problem to be nonexistant. Agreed that lye is getting harder to come by...though where it can be found it is very affordable.
 
[quote:dac5be4253="DMTripper"]Half a gallon of naptha! For half a pound of MHRB! Isn't that a bit too much? Or should I say, a bit "way too much"?[/quote:dac5be4253] the recipe is for 1 pound of MHRB and the half-gallon was a suggestion on a size to purchase. No more than ~700-800 mL naphtha is used (sometimes less) to ensure that even in colder temperatures the naphtha is able to absorb all of the DMT. experimenters found that the chemistry around naphtha was fairly uncertain (as naphtha isn't always the same concentrations of chemicals, and different settings have different temperatures) and often found themselves pulling DMT after they thought they were 'done' so they decided to err on the side of caution (a dollar or two more in chemicals to them is worth it for the harder to come by end product) :)
 
shakedownshaman said:
i would agree w/ elkabong, you definitely dont need such a high ph, 13.5 burns the molecule & makes the spice weaker than if you used a lower ph when basifying. my 2cents...
hrm. I'm curious. do you know this for a fact or is it conjecture? reason being, if that is the case, wouldn't the STB teks 'burn' the molecule? if you do have prior experience in this category I would love to hear (you too el-ka bong), but experimenters have made amazingly pure spice (in their own bubble, which expands and contracts with the stars ;) )
 
1 pound (approx 500g) of MHRB in the UK is like £70+ ($140)!! unless swim is looking in the wrong places! if this tek was used with say, 100g or 250g - i assume swim would need to reduce the amounts of everything by 50% or 80%. Going by this how much spice would one potentially be left with? enough for...? £70 is a lot to spend - especially if it didn't work (read: cocked up). thx.
 
crystalcompass said:
hey, good to hear! any issues regarding the tek/purity?
My friend didn't run into to many issues. It was his first extraction so he had lot's of "problems" but in the end he realized it was standard procedure. He doesn't have anything to compare his end result to, but it seems very pure, is very white, and is no where near as harsh to smoke as all the horror stories he read.
 
My friend tried this tech and found it could be further simplified, dropping a whole step without any apprieciable loss in yield or purity. He hates insence and dosnt like sage, so he took a gamble and do you know what?
 
magic clown said:
My friend tried this tech and found it could be further simplified, dropping a whole step without any apprieciable loss in yield or purity. He hates insence and dosnt like sage, so he took a gamble and do you know what?
yes, the product came out ;) but who knows..... :?
 
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